Curves not curves

[barry1]

You know how sketchup uses straight lines to make curves, arcs, circles etc… if i have a section of a ‘curve’ and i want to add increments so that it actually is a curve (for laser/CNC) How best to go about it?
This is to to do retrospectively… i guess i could re-draw with more sections, but surely there is an easier way than this?

[danbetteridge]

Hi Barry

I have used this workflow in the past for exporting to cnc.
If you save out the file as 3d dxf (NOT 2d) then a proper vector gets produced along with the faceted SketchUp ‘arc/circle’. If you the delete the faceted element it should be good for cnc. Please let me know if this works for you as I’ve only used it a few times as an export to Rhino.

Best regards

Dan

[DaveR]

@barry1

This is to to do retrospectively… i guess i could re-draw with more sections, but surely there is an easier way than this?

Dan’s suggestion of exporting as a 3D DXF file is important no matter how many segments your curves are made of. Still, if you want to make them appear more smooth in SketchUp, Fredo6’s Curvizard has a tool to do that.

[barry1]

Thanks @ DaveR - i did try that extension but couldnt find an option that actually let me ‘up’ the amount of segments… ? Probably user error… seems best option is just to redraw the parts but with higher segment count from the outset.

[DaveR]

@barry1

best option is just to redraw the parts but with higher segment count from the outset.

Best option would be to draw the curves with the larger number of segments in the first place.

With Curvizard, select the curve and then choose Smooth Contours. Reduce the angle to something lower than it is. In this example the number of segments will be increased from 20 to 45.

[barry1]

Got it now… thanks! @DaveR
Much appreciate