Using Sketchup Pro 2019, when exporting to a dxf, the resulting dxf is missing the curves from text. I’m using the exact same workflow that I have been using since well before 2018. I took my test file, downsaved it to Sketchup Pro 2018, exported again, and it
works correctly.
A search of the forum didn’t show anything quite like what I am experiencing.
For both 2019 and 2018 I am using these settings:
Export>3D Model
Save as type: AutoCAD dxf
AucoCAD export options:
Version 2004 Unchecked Faces Checked Edges Checked Construction geometry Checked Dimensions Checked Text Unchecked Materials (2019 only)
Screenshot of my 2019 export, opened with AutoCAD 2012:
Update: I did some more tests and confirmed SU19 is not exporting any curves to the .dxf. Not just the curves contained in the text, but any raw curve geometry is simply not showing up for me.
I am exporting to Autocad version 2004. Also tried Autocad version 2010 and it also does not work. (both opened using Autocad 2012.)
Additionally, I exported to Autocad 2018 dxf. I do not have a newer version to open the file with, but when I imported the resulting 2018 dxf back into a new 2019 sketchup file, the curves are missing.
That leads me to believe it does not have to do with my version of Autocad, but rather Sketchup’s native exporter and that something changed with Sketchup 2019 to cause this behavior.
(Note in my first post that I am not exporting faces. When I do export faces, the result is the correct polyface mesh for the entire letters and numbers. However if I delete one of these polyface meshes, the underlying linework is still missing the curves.)
Also There are at least 4 other licenses of sketchup 2019 in my office and we all have the same issue.
I would appreciate if someone else could try to export to a .dxf with one of my files above and tell me if you can get the curves to appear using sketchup 2019.
I haven’t looked into things in great detail, but I see the same issue as you. When faces are exported the curves are retained and when faces are not exported the curves are lost. I don’t know why.
I don’t know how you are using it but the obvious thing to do from what I see is export with the faces, that gets it done as far as I can see. The only other thing I think of is to explode the curves before exporting without faces if the faces pose a problem for some reason.
Thanks so much for double-checking my results, I really appreciate it.
This is part of a workflow preparing panels to be cnc cut. Often each file will contain around 100 panels, and the text name/number is used to identify each panel and needs to be legible (and needs to stay in it’s block reference, not be exploded to raw geometry on top of the panels).
Exporting faces causes some other issues, and exploding and trying to extract curves from those faces (for the curves that are panel edges, not part of text) would significantly slow us down and potentially introduce more errors (and there fore more tiime in Q/C) as often each panel edge needs to be on a specific layer that relates to the type of cutter bit to be used.
It’s frustrating that 2018 works fine and 2019 doesn’t, and I can’t find any documentation of what may have changed in Sketchup that caused this.
I thought it were some kind of cnc project when I spotted you had edges assigned to layers other than 0. That’s something I’m currently looking into getting setup myself.
I think you can leave the Component/Group block reference as it is, what I meant were to go in and just explode the text itself, thus removing the “curve”. Maybe we’re crossing wires and that still hinders, anyway it’s still a messy workaround for something that should be simple and that did work before. Hopefully the SketchUp team will spot this and take a look into it.
I think from the Release Notes some work has been done on the exporters. Maybe that could be part of it.
