Tracing a heart pic for 3d printing

my wife says she is eternally grateful for this:) how do you vectorize in sketchup?

thanks

Vectorizing in sketchup requires you to do it by hand with the sketchup draw tools or use a plugin.

I’d recommend you vectorize it in inkscape and then export as dxf and import into sketchup. However, for dxf import you’ll need sketchup pro or access to someone with pro.

For future reference, here is a quick version of how to make a heart shape using arcs.
You can shape it any way you want with more complex arcs keeping an eye on the inference colours and points.

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I tried using inkscape. That was my very first thing i did before i posted here haha. I saved as .dxf and imported it. But when i try to use the tools, it has that red symble. I adsume i must explode it haha. Anyway, when i zoomed in on the inkscaped vector i made, it shows a ton of lines. Its really strange. What options in inkscape did you use, or shoukd i use when it comes to tracing? Thanks. Oh i do have sketch up pro:) and yes it is a legal copy:) thanks much

Thanks box for that:) how did you make that little movie? Thanks

I answered that just the other day in another thread that may be of interest to you.
Recessed Hole Help - #15 by Box.

ok, so after using inkscape, and importing the dxf file. i select it using the arrow tool and right click. the explode option is all grayed out. This is driving me crazy. it should not be this complicated to vectorize in inkscape and import haha. where am i going wrong. Here is a pic of the vector image in sketchup after i have zoomed in:

https://goo.gl/photos/p1e9QUhngKkwgHxM9

When i am zoomed out, it looks like a soild line. In inkscape, i used multiple scans with grays as the option. 13 scans to be exact

thanks guys.

EDIT::: Something interesting just happened. if i draw a line from the top left inner part of the heart to the middle left of the heart, the image all of a sudden becomes editable… confused i am

https://goo.gl/photos/4hmXzaD96nGTP33U6

I used Gimp’s threshold tool to convert it to black and white and then used MS-Paint in B&W to clean it up a bit before saving it as a color BMP. The basic process is explained in this video:

Tracing isn’t that complex depending on how accurate you want it.

■■■■!!! ok cool. now, when i use the 2 point arc tool, i amnot getting those same dots as you to connect the arc to another arc. Are you holding ctrl? Becasue once i complete a arc. my SU will not find the end point of it to attach the other arcs to it.

thanks:)

No, if you are still using 2013 as your profile says, you won’t get those dots.
But you should get the aqua inference colour.
So it should be as simple. The dots are only showing you the ends and the ceter of the arcs.

Definetelly!

I hadn’t looked at the original image until Box used it for this gif

In this case you should have imported the original image into sketchup directly and use the draw tools to trace the subject as Box did.

No need for Gimp or Inkscape.

With complex images, Inkscape can be of help as it can convert a raster image into a vector image (there is even better software for that but Inkscape is free).

However, depending on the resulting vector, image you might have to clean it, either in inkscape or SU. I try doing the most I can inside SU as it’s where I feel most at home.

ARG, my profile keeps selecting that version. I am version 15.3.331

I am going to assume that 15.3 does not have those dots because i cant see them haha.

thanks

Thanks JQL. yeah i am finding that using inkscape for this is becoming way to complicated. I know SU should be able to do what i want, its just a matter of finding the tools and the ability to learn said tools. It is very difficult to trace in version 15 because once i complete an arc over the heart, I can not see the line any more since it is black and blends in with the image. i am hoping that 15 has the cool dots that “box” was showing. that will help me alot. Nor does it show the aqua color on the image. Now if i draw arcs on the outside of the image, it works fine. Im wondering if i should import the png file instead of the trace. i think the arc tool is thinking that each line in the trace is an “endpoint” hence why i cant see the blue line

thanks

Go to the styles menu and change the edge colour.

ok cool. i will do that. Still trying to get the aqua color to show up but it wont over the heart image. so i am going to import just the png path file from gimp that i made. see if that allows me to do this. I think the vector image was causing the arc tool to think every place was an endpoint haha

man, your trace is way more accurate than mine haha. i turned my precission down to 1/64, which is the lowest, but it is still not as good haha.

Here it is in 2015

thanks for that. that helps alot. Dang! OMG OMG i got it!!! i had to turn off enable length snapping!!! WOOT. ok. now its time to practice some more… Thanks to everyone on here for this help. i will post a pic when i can. need to run to school im late haha

Ok, so i have things mostly figured out. Now when i go to print this, how thick will the base of the heart box be? since the plane in SU seems to be pretty thin, do i need to extrude(push/pull) that by a 64th of an inch as well? or just leave it be? thanks

as promised, here is a pic.

https://goo.gl/photos/puz2mWbqKRP9qDCh8