Illustrator to Sketchup

Trying to create some #d extrusions with artwork i have created in illustrator, and am hoping someone can tell me the correct way to import these into SU.

This issue i am having is that all the objects I am creating are nested, and when I explode them they all become a collection of thousands of stray edges. (according to SolidInspector2)

Any suggestions of what I am doing incorrect?

Platform: Mac OSX 10.15.4
Illustrator 24.1
Sketchup Pro 18

My current workflow:

  1. hide all layers
  2. show layer for export
  3. select all
  4. export as Autocad
  • version 2010/2011/2012
  • scale 1 inches to 1 units
  • options: Preserve appearance, export selected art only

Reason why i have 5 pieces was I thought it would be easier to have the objects at different heights if they were already separated.

Including my illustrator file, dxf files, and SU file.NWNJBA-logo-solo3.eps (4.1 MB) 3d extrusion.skp (982.9 KB) letters.dwg (33.0 KB) beebox.dwg (11.0 KB) NW.dwg (17.2 KB) Inner Circle.dwg (11.6 KB)

After importing the dwg file, just an example for a letter. You can apply this technique to the whole drawing, to get a Solid Group set ready for printing.


For stray edges, you can use a Weld plugin.

1 Like

Some comments…

The model imported the groups into a separate layer (or tag in 2020). Delete that layer and let the geometry go to the default layer. Otherwise when you explode things you’ll end up with geometry not on layer0.

Eneroth Face Creator can make faces on everything in one go, no need to go into each group or component. You will still be going into each group, but you may as well make the faces before doing that.

The part about softening edges to avoid seeing the line segments doesn’t mean it will print looking smoother. There is a another way to may the letters look nice without doing the smoothing step. When you’re in a group, to delete extra faces and to push pull, select everything and use Eneroth Auto Weld. Then when you push pull the remaining faces, the outsides will look smooth.

Auto Weld does cost $10, but then you’re already getting Face Creator for free, no harm in sending a little bit of money to the developer who is saving you a lot of time!