pilot error now has the section flattened but having trouble now getting that section to lie flat on the axes...probably missing a trick somewhere i expect...?

actually...nm... it exports as an .svg without needing to put it on horizontal axis

@dave r said:

Unfolding doesn't work because why?

[attachment=0:vmt1pqlx]<!-- ia0 -->2014-03-26_13-42-15.png<!-- ia0 -->[/attachment:vmt1pqlx]

If Carsten, Jeff and I understood what you're after correctly, unfolding would work fine. I used Jim's Unfold plugin.

I'm late to the party as usual.

i must be suing flattery wrong as it cuts it up into sections joined at the corners... (just going off to update my flattery plugin)

@cotty said:

@anbar said:

It can't be unfolded with an unfold tool as it needs to remain a continuous piece without joins... so the usual paper-folding options are no use here.

Are you sure?

[attachment=1:ieppamhx]<!-- ia1 -->flattery.jpg<!-- ia1 -->[/attachment:ieppamhx]

lol.. well i thought i was sure!

thanks folks... appreciate it.

This might be tricky to explain so please bear with me...

Make a circle of diameter 25mm.
Make it into a disc with a height of 3mm, then reduce the upper surface to .92 using the scale tool.

You now have a 3mm thick disc with a slanted edge.
Cut that in half and remove the joints so that you are left with just the slanted edge that is half of the original circumference of the disc.

How can i take that edge-surface and make it flat?

It can't be unfolded with an unfold tool as it needs to remain a continuous piece without joins... so the usual paper-folding options are no use here.

What i need to end up with is a flatshallow-U-shaped piece that can be placed over the edge of the original slanted-edge 25mm disc, that will then lie flush against its slanted edge.

Ideas much appreciated as i am totally stumped on how to do this.

D12dozr: weld works in SU, but when you export the lines are no longer "welded".

Thanks Trog,

I downloaded the trial of AutoCAD and ahve edited the files in that, closed-polylines etc and will see waht the cutting service make of that. Very expensive program though so once the trial ends I'm not sure what to do.

I will take a look at Inkscape and see if that does the trick: I'm not too bothered about having to use a secondary program if "all i have to do" is close lines. SU is so much easier to design in I cant see myself trying to learn a new package (like autocad or Corel etc) ... the designing of 3D objects in SU is second-nature for me now...and changing those into 2D sections is simple.

If only i could export them whole!

Hi all,
I am designing some items in Sketchup Pro from which I will have some parts cut by laser.

For this I am exporting the sketchup file to .dwg or .dxf and it all works fine (i colour the edges by editing materials colour edges, blue, red or black) , however, the cutting service have said that the lines need to be 2closed polylines" for the laser to cut all along a line, at the moment the lines are 'not closed' meaning that the laser stops at the end of every little line (section) then restarts again, causing problems.

Is there any way to export with "closed polylines" or a plugin to do the same?

I have searched for closed-polylines however it seems to crop up mostly to do with importing into sketchup from CAD, rather than the other way around.

Help, as always, appreciated.

Anbar

i'll keep digging, I imagine its permission knowing the joys of windows 7 - the directories for the temp iamgses were not made for starters.. cheers.

OK, i've added your iamgetools, checked all the files are there and started sketchup - all works.

Imported a PNG with trans background, selected it and chosen "imagetrimmer" - it spends a while "making edges" etc, but then appears to do nothing once that has finished running...

"An Instance of the new Component is placed at the Origin"

this does not happen.

using 8-pro on windows 7, java is installed.

@mitcorb said:

Am I understanding that you wish to automatically vectorize in Sketchup any png, or jpg, or bmp that you might happen to import? That is what I got from reading your query three times. Of course, it's getting near bedtime here, so....

yes, that.

Is there any method to take a vector image, say a nuclear hazard symbol, and get it translated onto a surface as the actual shape?

At the moment I am placing an image on the surface and tracing its outline, which is ok for simple shapes, but complex shapes, such as heraldics are rather difficult.... I guess that what i am after is some sort of Tracing plugin..

@dave r said:

There are a few plugins for unfolding. Jim's Unfold is one and

sounds ideal - TVM!

One of the things i use Sketchup for is to design etch-brass model parts: I make the item in "3D" then ahve to fold out the various pieces onto the same plane so that i can then generate a flat pdf of the parts.

Is there a plugin that allows you to fold/unfold parts without haivng to do everything manually with the rotate key?

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for a simple plugin/tool for use with Sketchup8 Pro: just to make simple domes, spheres and the like, without having to create them from scratch.

Any ideas?

A