Exporting as a 2D graphic
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I have a sketchup file of a fairly complicated building that I would like to export as a 2D graphic to work on in Adobe Illustrator. I need to get vector line quality results.
So, I have the image of the building, I wait for like 7 hours for it to export as a 2d graphic .pdf through SKP, and it all looks fine. However, on working in Illustrator, even though the file is only 10mb and Illustrator should easily be able to handle this, it keeps making Illustrator crash. I've spent two hours with adobe online support and I sent them the file, and it also crashed their computer, so they thought it would have been to do with the way the file was created.Does anyone have any ideas where I've done something wrong? I have layout, and also vector rendered the image in their, and that also has the same results. I have done this kind of thing before from sketchup, and I'm feeling a bit frustrated it isn't working this time. I have even downloaded other vector rendering programs, but the file seems to crash in there too.
The only thing I can think of, is that the mode is using a section plane - and this might be causing it to act this way? Although I have done small tests of simple shapes with section planes and they have worked without a problem.
I am running on Mac OSX 10.10. 16GB RAM, and have Sketchup Pro
Any idea's gratefully received!
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No idea whats causing this. Maybe try opening the pdf in Inkscape (open source) and re-save again into some vector format? Nothing to loose.
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It might be a bit of a kludge but do you need to export the whole building - is it just a facade you need or whatever. I understand it's never ideal to start running two files but I do sometimes do this for large/complex files. Also just in case its useful have you checked that you don't have any lost object kilometres away from your building?
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Yes it is all rather odd. I've deleted everything that you can't see on the model, and have pasted this into a new document. I am exporting this agin to see if it works. I've tried opening the pdf's in other programs and saving again, but they still don't work. I can't tell where the problem is coming from, knowing that I've done this kind of thing before. It's weird because I can open the pdf in acrobat and zoom in and the lines are perfect vector lines, exactly as I want, but doing anything else causes the program (Illustrator, Acrobat, Affinity) to crash. So I can't work out where the problem is coming from, as the crashing isn't program specific, rather file specific. Anyway, I'm hoping it's some glitch, and the new renderings will work (as I have to have this project completed within a couple of days and am running out of time and options! It doesn't help that each vector render takes like 6 hours to complete!) In the mean time, if anyone else has any advice, it would be gratefully received!
S
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Hi
sometimes it helps to open the exported PDF file in Acrobat Pro and export from there into a new PDF
which then is "better compatible" to your used Creative Suite for some reason... -
Thanks all for replying. Still no luck unfortunately!
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have you tried exporting as .eps?
an 18MB skp takes less than a minute and produces a 2.5MB .eps...
it also produces a better quality image than .pdf export...the other thing is, what are your 'Display Style' set to before export?
john -
Another option may be, since you're on a Mac, Print to a pdf.
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How does eps produce a better quality (I see no difference)
Print to pdf is a completely different animal.
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@driven said:
have you tried exporting as .eps?
an 18MB skp takes less than a minute and produces a 2.5MB .eps...
it also produces a better quality image than .pdf export...the other thing is, what are your 'Display Style' set to before export?
johnThey´re vector in both .eps and .pdf. No difference in quality. Vector is vector.
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@larv said:
...They´re vector in both .eps and .pdf. No difference in quality. Vector is vector.
neither are pure vector...
they 'can' both contain vector data, images and text...
how they achieve that depends on the library used for their creation...
in EPS lines are vectors, it doesn't support transparency and embeds bitmap images without compression, which can produce larger file size...
PDF was developed to extend EPS and is closely related,but...
in PDF lines can be raster or vector and it supports image compression...
the main benefit of later versions of PDF is transparency support...
however, the PDF engine/library used by SU on a mac doesn't export transparency and compresses images as jpg's...
added to that, actual line quality looks lesser than it's EPS parent can produce to my eye...
It's compressed image quality can vary depending on the view content and file size can sometimes spiral exponentially...
If quality is the primary goal, export the edges as EPS, the texture and the shadows as tif and combine them in post...
In some cases the visual differences between EPS and PDF requires making both with identical settings, opening in Preview and toggling to 'spot the difference'...
In my experience the line look stronger in the EPS versions...
john
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Regarding quality, after eight years of doing infographics for seven different newspapers, sending vectorfiles as both .eps and .pdf to print, none of my colleagues has ever noticed or heard of any difference in quality between the two. We would know if there was one that is noticable to the eye...
This goes for Illustrator files. If there´s a difference with other software I don´t know.
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@LARV, theres a big difference between newsprint and high quality output from 3d data...
we were discussing the quality of file export of SU on a mac before you chipped in...
so, do you have a mac?
do you export pdf or eps from SU on your mac?
this is what SU procuces on a mac...
Producer; Mac OS X 10.10.5 Quartz PDFContext CreationDate; Wed Sep 30 18;44;09 2015 ModDate; Wed Sep 30 18;44;09 2015 Tagged; no UserProperties; no Suspects; no Form; none JavaScript: no Pages; 1 Encrypted; no Page size; 36000 x 36000 pts Page rot; 0 File size; 9712 bytes Optimized; no PDF version; 1.3note the PDF version, have a lookup how old and restrictive that is...
for your newsprint it probably would look more like this
Creator; PScript5.dll Version 5.2.2 Producer; Mac OS X 10.5.8 Quartz PDFContext CreationDate; Thu Aug 11 11;21;12 2011 ModDate; Thu Aug 11 11;21;44 2011 Tagged; no UserProperties; no Suspects; no Form; none JavaScript: no Pages; 18 Encrypted; no Page size; 1224 x 792 pts Page rot; 0 File size; 8472815 bytes Optimized; yes PDF version; 1.6lots more detail and a PDF version that has lots of extra functionality...
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So, when I did test pdf renders of smaller sections on the model, they came out fine and I was able to use them. So, based on this I assumed it was perhaps one of the more complicated sections on the building it was struggling with. So, I took out a couple of these sections, and I've rendered it as an .eps, and it does seem to have worked (ish). I am still not thrilled with the results, as it is still running very very slowly in illustrator (the eps file is 30mb though), but for now, it does seem to have worked enough for me to get by with. Thanks everyone!
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another approach would be to use Layout hybrid mode and see how they look in Illustrator...
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Yes I tried layout also, but had the same outcome...
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"do you export pdf or eps from SU on your mac?"
Like I wrote, I was refering to Illustrator files. If there´s was any difference with other software I don´t know. Skylabridge wrote; "I have a sketchup file of a fairly complicated building that I would like to export as a 2D graphic to work on in Adobe Illustrator. I need to get vector line quality results". Both .eps and .pdf will open as vector (=vector quality) in Illustrator.
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