Exporting as a 2D graphic

holdenc

Another option may be, since you're on a Mac, Print to a pdf.

pbacot

How does eps produce a better quality (I see no difference)

Print to pdf is a completely different animal.

LARV

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

They´re vector in both .eps and .pdf. No difference in quality. Vector is vector.

driven

@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

LARV

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.

driven

@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&#058;     no
Pages;          1
Encrypted;      no
Page size;      36000 x 36000 pts
Page rot;       0
File size;      9712 bytes
Optimized;      no
PDF version;    1.3

note 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&#058;     no
Pages;          18
Encrypted;      no
Page size;      1224 x 792 pts
Page rot;       0
File size;      8472815 bytes
Optimized;      yes
PDF version;    1.6

lots more detail and a PDF version that has lots of extra functionality...

skylabridges

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!

driven

another approach would be to use Layout hybrid mode and see how they look in Illustrator...

skylabridges

Yes I tried layout also, but had the same outcome...

LARV

"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.