Exporting Kicad 3D models to Sketchup

[crashbang_proto]

I’m reallly loving Kicad, so much so that I’m using it for a project I hope to commercialise. For that, though, I’m looking to use the 3D model generated by Kicad with other 3D objects - and Sketchup seemed a reasonable choice.

Has anybody successfully exported a 3D model from Kicad to Sketchup? I have looked at the Kicad Up project, but it seems to have stalled around 2012… and unfortunately requires a Linux box which I don’t have.

Would be grateful for any inputs!

Cheers
Andrew

[s_light]

Hi Andrew,

have a look at the linked topics (at the end)
there you will find some information about the 3D things…

in default if all components you use have 3D information available -
KiCad can export this as vrml file - (file extension *.wrl)
some software has trouble to load this wrl-file - the parts live in an sub-directory and are linked from the main file -
in the main file are the bare pcb.
i have no Sketchup - so i cant try it out…

the 3D modells are getting better with the time - and if you are able to install the current beta version (with winbuilder or other source…) you get the new github library’s - they are a real step forward. and the pcb / trace / via rendering has also updated a lot in the last time (seen against the old stable download)

hope that helps.
sunny greetings
stefan

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[crashbang_proto]

Hi Stefan

Thanks for the info. It has sent me on a long winding road into the world of FreeCAD, MeshLab, Blender, etc… I’m using the bleeding edge version of KiCAD, and love the 3D engine… so couldn’t resist looking at how to animate that. If I reach a resonable workflow I’ll post back.

Cheers
Andrew