The principal use of this shape was to create a proper sized human mannikin, for use as a "fit test" tool in the design of an RV trailer I am working on. Since the main goal is the design of the trailer, it's no longer practical to continue to wrestle with this part of the problem. I simply cut out a squared off "robot" shape with the standard SU tools, and will make do with that, for the moment. I really appreciate the excellent responses, and may come back and pursue this subject further. But, for now, thanks to all of you for your willing help.

TheDuke

I did that, and two small segments showed red and green. All the rest were black. It is an irregular shape with about 150 segments, and those were the only two that were aligned with any of the axes. I assume that DXF doesn't have any depth info in it, so I thought the resulting shape would be flat. It came in flat on the ground plane, and it looks absolutely flat when I rotate it.

Any ideas?

TheDuke

I outputted a line drawing of a shape in DXF from another CAD system. I then Imported it into SU. The shape came through perfectly, and I went through it and made sure it was completely closed at all the intersections. I can now erase and manipulate all the line segments, and can even rotate it. But it will not form a surface, so that I can use the push-pull tool on it. I even drew over one of the line segments, like the Dummies book suggested, but that didn't work, either. No surface.

What should I do?

TheDuke

I'm an old, old, CAD user, but I've just jumped into SketchUp. I want to locate a library of various basic vehicle parts, such as wheels, tires, latches, handles, lights, etc. Either that, or models that contain them so I can disassemble them and use the parts. Also, models of various makes of cars, trucks or SUV's that I can add to trailer models as tow vehicles.