Export a pdf and no shadows? what is wrong

aussie · 22 Jul 2008, 04:49

Spent more time than I should have trying to work out what I am doing wrong. I have made my model turned on the shadows then went to export it as a pdf and the shadow do not show up. I was trying to get the image into photoshop, I tried every way I could think of. At first I wanted to export a pdf as a wireframe model (no shadows) worked great, then I wanted to export a pdf with just the shadows, but that didn't work (I wanted to lighten up the shadows in PS). Use the print function didn't give me the quailty I was after.
I finally ended up doing the shadows in PS and got the image in a title block, the final image(render) is to be finished by hand.
Please fill me in on what I am missing here.
Help please

Tobobo · 22 Jul 2008, 07:19

Aussie,

If you are using the Pro version i suggest you export your model to Layout.

But this is no good if you have the free version (which doesn't come with layout). I suggest that you might have to regress to using Jpgs from sketch up.

There will be more help on the way i'm sure

Good hunting

Gaieus · 22 Jul 2008, 07:31

Hi Michael,

Please, scroll down here and read the last

Caution line: "Some graphic features of SketchUp, including textures, shadows, smooth shading, backgrounds, and transparency, cannot be exported to PDF and EPS."

You can try, however, what Toby is suggesting if you have the Pro version or even a virtual PDF printer like PDF Creator - provided you are not trying to export to scale.

aussie · 22 Jul 2008, 14:08

I am using pro, I tried exporting as a jpeg but the quality is very bad the line work is heavy. I will try exporting to layout and see if I can achive the image quality I am after.
Thanks for your help

Alan Fraser · 22 Jul 2008, 14:19

The linework shouldn't be heavy on jpg output unless you are still exporting at screen resolution. If you have no luck with pdf, then try exporting jpg again but change the image resolution in the Export Options box to at least 3000 pixels wide. It will go all the way to 9999 pixels...the higher the resolution, the finer the edge lines. Resample back down to what you want in an image editor like Photoshop. Also don't export such high resolutions with anti-aliasing still checked, it will take forever and, in any case, it doesn't give as good a result as the bicubic filtering applied when you reduce the image size in an editor.

aussie · 22 Jul 2008, 14:29

Thanks Alan,
I will give it a try