Extruding .DMG .DXF in sketchup.
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Hi all, my first post is a question.
I've imported a text document from illustrator as a .dxf and want to push/pull each letter individually but i'm not sure how to fill the interiors of these letters and allow myself to manipulate them in this way. Is importing as a .dxf the best way? Any advice will be useful.
Thanks!
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If the letter has a continuous perimeter it should 'face' readily.
If the letters are very small scale everything up say x10 as they'll face better - you can always scale down after you're done.
Use a Style that has distinct thin edges and thick profiles and clearly marked End-points.
Also ensure the Style's default front/back colors are clearly distinguishable.
Switch View to Monochrome mode as it's easier to see if faces are reversed later on...
If the letters are grouped/components double-click to edit, editing down until you can select individual edges etc within a letter.
You can try drawing over an edge and seeing if it makes a face...
Sometimes seemingly perfect loops can fail to face, try drawing diagonals across the form to see if that forces a face to be made
Alternatively use the rectangle tool to draw a large rectangular face over the whole lot of edges.
Select it and all of the edges available - right-click context-menu 'Intersect with Selection'.
Now if the letter's edges can form faces they will have
If the letters edges are not continuous you will see end-points or thick profiles.
Assuming this is the case... zoom into any end-points and heal the gaps either by drawing a line to join the ends or with nothing selected use the Move tool to grab a line's end and snap it to the other and thereby close the gap that way...
Once you've go a faced set of edges use the erase tool to remove unwanted edges [like a rectangles perimeter or diagonals used to force facing]. Also you might have inner faces lie the center of an O, to remove those select the unwanted face [one click] and press the 'Delete' key...
To make the form 3D use the PushPull tool on the faces, either move the face to where you want [e.g. snapping to other objects] or you can type in an exact thickness for the extrusion in the VCB box. Subsequent use of PushPull remembers that last used value, so you can quickly double-click on other faces to extrude those by the same amount... If there are thousands to do and you don't relish RSI there are multiple-pushpull scripts or even one-liners available... -
GOT IT! It was a case of fixing up the perimeters and intersect faces with selection.
I'm a new sketchup user learning to navigate the software so all the above will be really helpful.
Thanks very much!
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