SketchUp 3D Model - Diamond Pattern Tread Plate

[Jeffry Fontaine]

I have finally finished another SketchUp 3D model project.  This time it is a 3D model of what most folks would recognize as a diamond pattern tread plate.  You see it in factories, aboard ships, and covering the floors of some armored vehicles.  I decided to give it a try and I am quite pleased with the results.  I had started this one last year and had to set it aside because it was starting to drive me crazy because of the need to focus on the small details in the model.  While it looks simple enough each of the faceted diamond shapes were the end result of creating one master and then cloning it to create a basic "X" pattern which was then cloned again many more times until it filled a 48.0" X 96.0" rectangle.  The individual diamond shapes along the edge of the rectangle had to be clipped which was easy enough to accomplish on one and then cloning it again but it did require a lot of patience and I think that was where I left off last year before taking it up again this evening to change it once again but this time with the X pattern centered inside of the rectangle.  The subsequent cloning efforts resulted in overlap along the edges which is where the meticulous effort were required to trim the individual diamond features along the edges of the rectangle to give it some depth and content.  The thickness of the plate is 0.375" and I am glad it is done.  It certainly looks better than some paint on textures that come with SketchUp.  If someone were adventurous they could actually print this out as a 3D object in any scale desired. 

Click on html or image to view the other three images in this FB album. 



If you wish to download the 3D model it can be found at this link: ------> Diamond Pattern Tread Plate (48.0" X 96.0")

[Tophe]

Congratulations! :)

[RussC]

Great idea, and one that should be available as a texture for many uses. Trucks and trains use a lot of this stuff.

[Doom!]

Nicely done, amazing how sometimes something that seems like it should be simple really takes some thought to figure out. Looks great!

[Jeffry Fontaine]

Thanks for the comments.  I suppose the real indication of whether this was a useful model or not will come when I see it being used by other 3D modelers for their own projects.  Sometimes it is the simple and uncomplicated things that help more in the creation of something. 

I was curious to see if I could actually create something that could pass for tread plate after finding nothing but an add-on texture (or is that a "skin") in SketchUp to represent this in a model it was just a matter of trying to get it right and I think I did even though most of this was done without taking measurements and basing it on what I felt looked right which probably made it more complicated than it should have been. 

[Jeffry Fontaine]

Yet another variation on the tread plate theme. 

This time I went with circular shapes and discovered I had to reduce the size of the model in order to allow it to meet the upload file size limits at the 3D Warehouse.  Too many polygons and next thing you know your model is 30mb in size.  Now it is but a fraction of the original file size and uploaded without issue. 

Link to my 3D model at SketchUp's 3D Warehouse:  Tread Plate - Circular Pattern (24.0" X 24.0")

[Jeffry Fontaine]

Another diamond pattern tread  plate.  This time the pattern is centered around a square with the diamonds centered at each corner. 


Link to my 3D model at SketchUp's 3D Warehouse:   Tread Plate - Diamond Pattern 3 (24.0" X 24.0")