SoliForum - 3D Printing Community — PDF to 3d

Re: PDF to 3d

null@example.com (IronMan) — Mon, 18 Nov 2013 18:23:11 +0000

Sorry, been away a while...

Yeah, this one is a bit better, but not much. The issue is that these look like they were scanned in from a manual drawing and still has too many extra entities and open splines, etc. to make automatic extruding difficult.

You'd need to spend so much time repairing the sketch, it might be easier to just redraw it correctly in CAD!

Re: PDF to 3d

null@example.com (gwfami) — Sun, 03 Nov 2013 18:16:08 +0000

Here's one that is slightly better, just a test of the stabilizer so I could test extrusion.. Still can't get them to extrude.

IronMan wrote:

There are many dual profiles and shared contacts as well...if you can get a better dxf, I could extrude them en masse!

Re: PDF to 3d

null@example.com (Randavian) — Thu, 31 Oct 2013 14:34:04 +0000

I have actually wanted to do this as well. I have a few balsa wood plans for rc planes and I hated the thought of tracing it all by hand to get them into 3d space. I hope something gets figured out that would make it easier.

Re: PDF to 3d

null@example.com (IronMan) — Wed, 30 Oct 2013 14:02:26 +0000

There are many dual profiles and shared contacts as well...if you can get a better dxf, I could extrude them en masse!

Re: PDF to 3d

null@example.com (gwfami) — Mon, 28 Oct 2013 14:40:03 +0000

Thanks. I had hoped to avoid hand tracing, my hands are too shakey. Can't even draw a crooked line straight.

d12dozr wrote:

Thanks, I see what happened. The DXF comes in as a group, so you just have to double-click the group to open it, or you can right-click -> Explode to work with the geometry outside the context of a group.
BTW, I don't know how accurate you need your model, but those plans don't look like they converted well enough to give clean geometry. If I had to do this, I'd convert the PDF to a JPEG image, import the image and trace over it. Its a little more work, but the results would be worth it.

Re: PDF to 3d

null@example.com (d12dozr) — Mon, 28 Oct 2013 07:15:33 +0000

Thanks, I see what happened. The DXF comes in as a group, so you just have to double-click the group to open it, or you can right-click -> Explode to work with the geometry outside the context of a group.

BTW, I don't know how accurate you need your model, but those plans don't look like they converted well enough to give clean geometry. If I had to do this, I'd convert the PDF to a JPEG image, import the image and trace over it. Its a little more work, but the results would be worth it.

Re: PDF to 3d

null@example.com (gwfami) — Sun, 27 Oct 2013 16:15:32 +0000

Sure, Here's the file.

Re: PDF to 3d

null@example.com (d12dozr) — Sat, 26 Oct 2013 17:43:54 +0000

Can you share the DXF file?

Re: PDF to 3d

null@example.com (gwfami) — Sat, 26 Oct 2013 17:42:31 +0000

Not working. Got it to be brought into sketchup as dwx, but couldn't do anything with it once it come in. Just sat there like a background pic.

Re: PDF to 3d

null@example.com (d12dozr) — Fri, 25 Oct 2013 13:48:45 +0000

I realized you may not know how to install and use that plugin...let me explain.

1. Download the plugin. Link is on the bottom right of this page.
2. In Sketchup, go to Windows > Preferences, and select "Extensions" on the left side of the window. Click "Install Extension...", and find the RBZ file of the plugin you downloaded. Sketchup will ask "Do you want to install this Extension?", click "Yes"
3. Initiate the plugin from the "Plugins" menu.

This is all legit, although Sketchup would rather you use the official Extensions Warehouse for safety reasons. Jim, the author of the plugin, wrote the plugin long before the Extensions Warehouse was released. He's well known and trusted, so the plugin won't hurt your system.

Hope that helps!

Re: PDF to 3d

null@example.com (d12dozr) — Fri, 25 Oct 2013 13:30:03 +0000

gwfami wrote:

Anyhow, the free sketchup 2013 will not import dxf, that's a pro feature only.

You can import DXF in the free version of Sketchup with the plugin I linked to above.

Re: PDF to 3d

null@example.com (gwfami) — Fri, 25 Oct 2013 13:24:27 +0000

3d-oodler wrote:

The article talks about DXF files, which free Sketch up will import.

Yeah, meant dxf, brains kinda goofy now I guess.

Anyhow, the free sketchup 2013 will not import dxf, that's a pro feature only.

http://help.sketchup.com/en/article/114366

Re: PDF to 3d

null@example.com (d12dozr) — Fri, 25 Oct 2013 10:16:18 +0000

There are a couple ways to do this in Sketchup.

1) Convert PDF to JPEG. Import JPEG and trace the lines manually in Sketchup.
2) Use the method linked above...Convert PDF to DXF using Inkscape. Use this plugin to import DXF to Sketchup Make (the free version).

Re: PDF to 3d

null@example.com (Tomek) — Fri, 25 Oct 2013 07:23:47 +0000

You can also use programs like Inkscape to outline many types of vector images like PDFs. But that's getting a bit complicated to produce 3d from that kind of input and workflow.

Re: PDF to 3d

null@example.com (3d-oodler) — Fri, 25 Oct 2013 03:37:06 +0000

The article talks about DXF files, which free Sketch up will import.