Here are two more images. One shows the arching steps from the south tunnel and the second shows the south column profile from the north tunnel-showing the column is recessed from the roadway column. I think I have dimensions for the pedestal so we can estimate the offset of the two columns. I will look later today. Jerry, I’m curious, can your software create a file for 3D printing?
It can in an indirect way using the most basic file format for 3D printing. I use the SketchUp 2017 application, and can export .STL and .DAE (Collada) files, in addition to SketchUp. I haven't tried anything with 3D printing but, through Googling, have some information.
1) The SketchUp model must be a solid. So I will make a copy of the Underpass model and on that copy, I will collapse the groups so the model are one entity (or alternatively divided into several entities that each are one group) with all the faces oriented the same way and "leaks" corrected. Because my models are made from scratch and not from intensive on-site scanning that usually over-samples, the facet-count is low, so the file size will be small.
2) The best straight-forward format is .STL.
- "After you check that your model is ready to be 3D printed, you need
to output your model to a format your 3D printer understands, also
known as the STL format." -- SketchUp ( Link )
- "For example, if you are looking for the “easiest to use” among the
properties of the best performer in any software area, STL is the best
3D print file type. ... Though it has limitations in resolution/file size,
cannot contain texture or color information, and in many regards is
considered primitive, it has the advantage of universality. ( Link )
I did a sample using the walkway arch. I don't know if it's the complexity or my inexperience, but it became a six-hour project. The "leaks" can be a minute amount apart and not readily visible (the Solid Inspector will highlight in red the general area affected). I kept at it until I succeeded.
Alternatively, I could create .STL files as is (with no "errors" corrected) so others could correct them using more-modern software. Those exports won't be for while, when the model is at a reasonably-accurate stage.
Now I'm using 2017 software (including the version of "Solid Inspector 2"). It may be that a modern 3D printer could itself have software that corrects the minute "leaks"?