Import 3D files, -what to do?

Hi,
Trying to import from Häfele 3D database, so many option but I don´t get it right.
http://teccad.hafele.com/Default.aspx?laid=106&Mandant=HDE&KundenID=9999999

SketchUp is not in the list, and the company has not answered me…
It should look like as the small picture on their website, but I get as the bigger picture.

Any solution?

Thanks!
Magnus

Is that a minifix bolt…or something similar? I tried downloading from their site. I chose a 3D dwg as a format and it imported okay.

It looks like yours has imported with none of the faces filled-in…just the wireframe. This might be because the import options have the units set too low (although I can’t imagine them being anything other than in mm} Try importing in larger units…like meters, and see if that is more successful. You can always scale the import back down to the correct size with the scale tool.
If the faces are too small, SketchUp just refuses to fill them in. You can, however, scale something already filled-in down to that smaller scale…

Hi Alan,
Tried that, but it didn´t change…
Maybe I did it wrong…

It looks better to me than your first image. Select all of the geometry, right click and choose Soften/Smooth. that’ll make it look much nicer.

Hi Dave,
Sorry, still not good…

How about sharing the file you’re starting from?

262_09_211_1.dxf (305.4 KB)

262_09_211_5.dwg (268.8 KB)

I need to import lot of screws to my drawings from Häfele, their for I need to learn how I can use theirs CAD library.

I appreciate all help I can get.

Thanks!

I imported the dxf with the units option set to mm and it looked just like your failed import. I then changed the import units to meters and it imported just fine. The options button is on the Import dialog box.
If you then start to rescale the oversized import and type 0.01 followed by Enter you get the bolt back to the smaller size…about 354 mm high…although 354 mm seems very big for a bolt. Are their units set to microns perhaps?

Please, could You upload a screenshot?

I did the same thing Alan said to do. Then I softened the edges and scaled it down.

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Here you are

I suspect I might be correct about the micrometers. I’ve never seen a bolt that big…certainly not for connecting furniture. I would try importing with the units set to cm and then rescale to 0.01.

As Dave says, don’t worry about the edges showing; they can be softened easily enough. I must say that it is a typical example of over-engineered CAD. You could probably build it in SketchUp so that it looked the same yet only had about 30% that number of faces.

Hi Alan,
Yes, typically german :wink:

Okey, thank You for the help. Now I on the right way.
Well, if You have 15 different screws, and I am not so fast in SketchUp yet.

How are these components going to be used? Do they need to be as detailed as the ones you’ll get from Hafele? I regularly need to show hardware such as screws, nuts, and bolts in projects but I generally get away with very lightweight components and they communicate what I need to show.

Hi Dave,
I have a furniture, a flat package, like IKEA, that a customers, need to put together, and their for I need as good as possible, to avoid problems in the future.

/Magnus

From experience creating plans for many woodworking projects, I think you’ll find the detail in files like the one you shared will be overkill. The components will be difficult to use an bloat the file size without benefits. Best wishes, though.

Just to prove my point about SU files being much lighter on geometry…but to be honest, you could easily go much less detailed than this.

2 Likes

Or you could draw a cross section and make it into a 2D Face Me component. See my 3Dwarehouse Woodscrew examples - search for Woodscrews at 3dwarehouse.sketchup.com. They are a mixture of a 3D head, and 2D shank and screw thread, where the thread is a PNG image, on a rectangular face with hidden edges. The shank and thread are a FaceMe component, with the component Z-axis along the shank, so the FaceMe rotation is about that axis (even when it is rotated horizontal, as in the example below).

I just used an image for the detail. Makes the model much ‘lighter’ in faces and edges.

Model as shown (two pieces of wood and two screws) - 70Kb on disk. Add 100 screws and the file size only goes up to 74Kb

temp.skp (71.0 KB)

5 Likes

2d Face Me… ingenious!!