I have many SVG floor plan files that I need to get into Sketchup. I use Adobe illustrator or Corel Draw to convert these files from SVG to DWG, The problem is when I then open the files in Sketchup, the black colouring of the walls is always missing. Please see an example that I have uploaded, which shows the image on the right in Sketchup with the missing black colouring. Is there any way to fix this for many files, so that they import into Sketchup better?
The .dwg file is only made up of edges. No faces. After importing the .dwg edit the component and trace the edges to create the faces. Better, don’t open the component for editing. Use the imported .dwg file as a reference to draw the floor plan with the native tools. If you use the imported edges you’ll have a load of cleanup ork to do. If you draw new geometry you can avoid that cleanup work.
Thanks for your suggestion, but I was hoping for some workaround to get the faces into sketchup. Yes I can trace or draw, but its going to be very tedious for a lot of files. Are there any workarounds?
You can try using an extension like Make Faces from the Extension Warehouse. From what you showed in your screenshot I think you’re going to have a lot more work to do to clean up your model. Iknow which way I would go.
Part of the problem is that not all closed loops of edges are to be handled the same way. For example, the walls are filled black but the windows and the stairs are not. Properly handling these differences would require complex and fragile logic - something a human can do because we understand what the drawing is meant to show, but hard for software.
Can you attach a copy of both the svg and the dwg, may have a way.
Here you go. It won’t allow me to upload SVG, so I uploaded it here:
This IS the way!
Agreed. This comes from nearly 2 decades of practice doing this. Part of the issue is that a 2D drawing isn’t organized (layers/tags) or grouped (outliner) the way the SketchUp model needs to be. If you want to speed things up, look to tools like Flextools or Medeek BIM to build stuff and punch windows in faster.
Agree with all the others…my approach on simple DWG import is
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import your file into a clean SU to the correct scale or adjust on import…
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delete all the tags… (rarely needed and usually an unreliable mess)
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then regroup
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place that group in its own tag ( I usually use “-DWGS” )…
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lock it…
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then just create a simple rectangle… ,(edges only)
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group it,…
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set its width to your wall thickness…
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Use the just move, copy, rotate and scale [stretch] tools it as needed to define all your walls (and openings)
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Select and explode them… then regroup and put in a tag (walls)
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Edit that group deleting and trimming excess edges
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Pull that into 3d if desired
Much faster and too many issues with overly complex, inaccurate and poorly organised dwgs…
PS: I use a similar approach for urban plans, just walls become roads…
Yep. Even with my CAD files which I do clean up with just the layer info I want it’s still better to just use it as a reference. I started using this method back in v5 or so.