The SketchUp extension SketchUp STL allows you to export your model to an .stl file. But starting the export process only creates an empty/white dialog window.

The SketchUp STL dialog window pops up but it is all white. There are two options to fix this:

1. Install IE8 in your prefix
2. Change the extension code to not show the popup dialog

Install IE8 in your prefix

The dialog depends on IE8 to display its contents. You can install IE8 with e.g. winetricks. I noticed some program crashes, so I looked for another solution.

Change the extension code

In my case, I don't need to change the default settings shown in the dialog box, so I can skip it. The dialog window must therefore be completely bypassed in the code and the default settings used. This can be done by changing the file exporter.rb file in the directory <path-to-prefix>/drive_c/users/<username>/AppData/Roaming/SketchUp/SketchUp 2017/SketchUp/Plugins/sketchup-stl.

To bypass the dialog, find method self.do_options and replace it with the following code:

  def self.do_options
    # Read last saved options or use defaults
    ['selection_only', 'stl_format', 'export_units'].each do |key|
      OPTIONS[key] = read_setting(key, OPTIONS[key])
    end

    # Set default units and formats
    units = ['Model Units', 'Meters', 'Centimeters', 'Millimeters', 'Inches', 'Feet']
    formats = [STL_ASCII, STL_BINARY]

    # No dialog window is needed, use the default options directly
    export_entities = get_export_entities
    if export_entities
      path = select_export_file
      begin
        # Perform the export with the current settings
        export(path, export_entities, OPTIONS) unless path.nil?
      rescue => exception
        msg = "SketchUp STL Exporter:\n"
        msg << "An error occurred during export.\n\n"
        msg << exception.message << "\n"
        msg << exception.backtrace.join("\n")
        UI.messagebox(msg, MB_MULTILINE)
      end
    end
  end