Circle not smooth because it is aproximated by line segments

This is the type of drawing I need, but I need vector lines.

If you zoom in to this drawing, you will find that it is not a vector drawing. Only the dimension lines, drawn in Layout are actually vector.

Select the viewport, go to the SketchUp inspector, and choose Vector from the render options.

Is this curve smooth enough?

What are the radii of the arcs?

Thanks!

That looks smooth. I canā€™t be certain it would satisfy my boss, but it looks smooth. I know if I look at that in Illustrator it will have numerous control nodes along that curve. Iā€™m not sure if that matters to the Shop Bot or not.

I think it would help if someone with Shop Bot experience could answer this. I will look for a Shop Bot thread.

Thanks.

I used 96 segments for the arcs when I drew them. If that isnā€™t smooth enough, you could trace the curves youā€™ve drawn in SketchUp with the Arc tool in LayOut.
Spaceboys Thing.layout (57.0 KB)

Exporting 2d views as 3d models to .dxf will give you true arcs and circles.

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Do you mean arcs drawn in Layout? or side views of 3D models from SketchUp?
I really would like to be able to just export side views of my model. Should I be starting in Layout, drawing side views, and then use those to create my 3D model in SketchUp?

Iā€™m talking about directly from Sketchup.
Do this as a simple test.
Draw a circle flat on the ground plane of a specific size. Or several circles and arcs.
Go Camera/Standard Views/ Top
Camera Parallel Projection.
Go File Export/3D Model
Select .dxf
Click options and tick only edges. Click Ok
Name your file and Click Export.

Open the exported file in whatever software you have that can read .DXF and check the circle.

What if those circles have depth? What gets exported then?

This is all about utilizing the fully constructed 3D model to produce 2D vectors for cutting.

What gets exported depends on your settings, but by default Sketchup will export your full 3d model:

  • circles and arcs will be exported as circles and arcs
  • edges will become lines
  • faces will become polyface ā€œfacettedā€ surfaces

This kind of file would probably not be suited as a source for a CNC cutter. I would guess that the best way would be to draw the part outlines separately flat on the model ground plane and export only them as a 3D model. I am not familiar with the available ā€œflatteningā€ or ā€œcutlistā€ plugins to determine if they would be of help here.

Anssi

I was hoping, from what I saw of Layout, that it would provide these 2D flat views in vector format for cut files. It looks very helpful for making building plans.

It does. Set the rendering method of the SketchUp views to Vector and export to DWG or PDF. The export consists of straight line segments just as the corresponding exports straight out of SketchUp do, so, to get smooth-looking cutting paths you must increase the segment count, within reason, in your circles and arches as advised by others in this thread.

Anssi

Thanks Anssi,

I was experimenting with the file that DaveR uploaded:

I tried to ā€œSimplifyā€ the curves to get rid of the unneeded node points, but I discovered some of them were not connected and there was more than one copy of the curves. Iā€™m not sure what impact this would have on the Shop Botā€™s ability to use the file.

I have asked this before but no one answered; Is it possible to draw the vector side views in Layout, and then use those lines to build my 3D model? or is it not linked in that way?

If all this worked well together it would be incredibly helpful.

Thanks!

If you looked at the SKP file, you would see that it was a 3D shape that I used because you want to work from a 3D model. So in reality there would be two arcs.

Simplifying the curves would have reduced the number of nodes but youā€™d go back to the rougher looking arc you were trying to get away from.

You could make a 2D drawing in LayOut using its Arc and Circle tools to draw the curves. Then export a DXF/DWG and import into SketchUp. The curves will be segmented again in SketchUp.

You could do what Box already suggested several times in this thread and export your drawing as a DXF or DWG directly from SketchUp using the 3D CAD export option and the arcs will be translated to smooth curves. Iā€™m not quite sure why you havenā€™t tried that.

Dave,

Simplify is a function in both Adobe Illustrator and Inkscape which reduces the number of nodes while keeping the shape of the curve intact. The same arc can be created with bezier curves with only two control nodes, which is what Iā€™d like.

Thanks, that answers my question about that. So, that functionality is not built in.

Because I did not understand that the arcs will be translated to smooth curves. I thought I would be getting segmented curves, and the whole object in 3D when what I need is a 2D vector drawing. Also, DXF or DWG arenā€™t the format Iā€™m being asked for. But I will try that to see what I get. If there are too many steps and too much work involved my boss would inevitably tell me to ā€œJust draw it in Illustrator, because thatā€™s what I wantā€. I am trying to avoid doing the same work twice in two separate programs.

Thanks.

Upon doing more research, I found that the software for Shopbot has new ability to import SketchUp files directly.

I have not tried this, but it sounds good. I would like to hear from anyone who uses this.

Thanks!

Your video was very educational and has helped me get started with the basics of sketch up. Although, I was only viewed this video after I started making my designs. Is there a way to change the number of sides of a circle after multiple shapes have been drawn?

You might be able to change the number of sides. It depend on what youā€™ve done to them since you drew the circles.

I donā€™t belive i have one too much, i have only added some arcs and circles

You would need to redraw the perimeter because it is no longer considered a circle with the crescents intersecting it. If it was me drawing it, I would probably just start from scratch. You arenā€™t that far into the model.