bbuche Posted September 1, 2007 Share Posted September 1, 2007 I was wondering if anybody has tried doing this and what they did to get it to work. I can go to create/object/adobe illustrator artwork 13 and it will bring up illustrator just fine but usually when I use say like freehand it opens an ironcad/freehand blank page then I go and find the artwork that I want to import cntrl c copy, paste it onto the freehand/ironcad page and then exit and then it is in my ironcad 2d page. Well the problem I am having is I dont get a blank page in innustrator and there is no exit and return to ironcad even if I did so I am looking for a little help. Thanks Brian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbuche Posted September 5, 2007 Author Share Posted September 5, 2007 IronCAD guys you have nothing for me? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tlehnhaeuser Posted September 5, 2007 Share Posted September 5, 2007 Brian, I'm a little confused (which is not hard to do). Are you looking to put the illustrator image onto a IronCAD 2D drawing or vice versa? I have done both, going from Illustrator to IC 2D need to export as bmp file and insert into IC. Going to IC to illustrator I have exported as DWG or DWF and opened in Illustrator for geometry or image export. Hope I understand you right. tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IronKevin Posted September 5, 2007 Share Posted September 5, 2007 We only have Illustrator on a MAC so I can't test this here. Can you run this one by Adobe Support? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Allen Posted September 5, 2007 Share Posted September 5, 2007 Hi Tom, The idea is to insert the artwork from Illustrator into an IronCAD drawing, while keeping the same sharp edges. Rasterizing to a bmp doesn't quite yield the results we're looking for. (Plus raster images of a high enough resolution to look good when printed take up a lot of space.) We've tried saving as pdf & importing, but that rasterizes at too low a resolution and angled lines become jagged (text can become unreadable). In the past, we've used Freehand to insert detail vector illustrations into IronCAD. In general, we'd create a new Freehand object in IronCAD, which opens a blank file (as Brian described above.) We'd open the Illustrator file in Freehand, copy & paste into the blank file, then "exit & return to IronCAD." The result is a clean, sharp illustration that is virtually indistinguishable from an IronCAD line drawing. Plus, the object is scalable, so it doesn't get jaggy when it's very large. Unfortunately, everyone uses Illustrator & nobody uses Freehand - so we chose to upgrade Illustrator to keep up with the newer file format. That creates a problem when we try to get the Illustrator file into Freehand. Ideally, we'd like to have a simple, one-step solution for getting Illustrator files into an IronCAD drawing, without losing the sharp edges of the vector artwork. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IronKevin Posted September 5, 2007 Share Posted September 5, 2007 Sounds like we just need a good .ai translator. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbuche Posted September 7, 2007 Author Share Posted September 7, 2007 Please Please Please Please Please Please that would be awesome Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbuche Posted November 8, 2007 Author Share Posted November 8, 2007 any updates on this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tlehnhaeuser Posted February 24, 2010 Share Posted February 24, 2010 Yes any update? It appears now that I can't even do the workarounds in the new versin at all. For Instance, All I want to do is use the DXF from Illustrator to create a 3D extrude in IronCAD. It will not work even though the geomtry appears to be clean. If anyone has any ideas I welcome them. Tom Citros.dxf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Allen Posted February 24, 2010 Share Posted February 24, 2010 (edited) Open your dxf in CAXA Draft. Explode it until it is just splines (you have several levels of blocks in that file, so you'll need to explode a few times.) Use the Arc Fit Spline tool (use a fit error of .005) on each group of splines. Delete the original splines (leaving the arcs.) Then save the file. Start your extrude in IronCAD & import the DXF. Edited February 24, 2010 by Mike Allen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cborer Posted February 25, 2010 Share Posted February 25, 2010 As I remember Rhino can import .ai files. Carlo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tlehnhaeuser Posted February 25, 2010 Share Posted February 25, 2010 Thanks Mike and Carlo I will give both a try. It sounds like we need a good .ai translator Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Allen Posted February 25, 2010 Share Posted February 25, 2010 The Arc Fit Spline tool in CAXA Draft has already saved me loads of time & frustration trying to get Illustrator artwork to extrude in IronCAD (the DXF/DWG output from CAXA can also be used in earlier versions of IronCAD, by the way.) It's just a matter of setting a small enough fit error to give an accurate representation of the original splines. But we still need a simple way to get a scalable version of .ai artwork (including fills & gradients, etc.) into an IronCAD drawing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tlehnhaeuser Posted February 25, 2010 Share Posted February 25, 2010 The Arc Fit Spline tool in CAXA Draft has already saved me loads of time & frustration trying to get Illustrator artwork to extrude in IronCAD (the DXF/DWG output from CAXA can also be used in earlier versions of IronCAD, by the way.) It's just a matter of setting a small enough fit error to give an accurate representation of the original splines. But we still need a simple way to get a scalable version of .ai artwork (including fills & gradients, etc.) into an IronCAD drawing. 27942[/snapback] Hey Mike, then next time you do this, can you create a video? tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Allen Posted February 25, 2010 Share Posted February 25, 2010 Here are two videos. The first shows how to use Arc Fit Spline. Note that the lines are almost black, when I bring the DXF in. You can control the color of the lines by using a lighter stroke color in Illustrator. One thing that might not be apparent, is that after I fit arcs to the splines, I click to select the splines & delete them - this can take a fair bit of trial & error, the way I am doing it. Sometimes I accidentally get an arc, instead of a spline & have to escape out of the selection. I'm not good at using CAXA, so there might be a more efficient way to select the splines. Arc_Fit_Spline.7z The second video shows importing the DXF into an extrude command in IronCAD. Files out of Illustrator generally come in very small, so you will have to scale the curves in IronCAD. Also, they normally don't come in anywhere near the origin of your grid. Normally, I make a rectangle at the desired size to use as a guide for scaling. Extrude_Logo.7z Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tlehnhaeuser Posted February 25, 2010 Share Posted February 25, 2010 AWESOME Mike thanks t Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tlehnhaeuser Posted May 11, 2010 Share Posted May 11, 2010 Hey Mike, Is there a way to set the "resolution for the Fit SPline? When I try to do this Geico gecko outline, it s too coarse. Tom 10_0093_silouette_pose5.dxf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Allen Posted May 11, 2010 Share Posted May 11, 2010 When you pick the Arc Fit Spline tool, there are settings at the bottom of the screen. "Fit error" is the control you want to change. Lower values will result in more arc segments fitting to the original spline. 0.01 seemed to work fairly well for your file. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tlehnhaeuser Posted May 11, 2010 Share Posted May 11, 2010 When you pick the Arc Fit Spline tool, there are settings at the bottom of the screen. "Fit error" is the control you want to change. Lower values will result in more arc segments fitting to the original spline. 0.01 seemed to work fairly well for your file. 28677[/snapback] Aha U R T M Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbuche Posted May 12, 2010 Author Share Posted May 12, 2010 just want to say this topic has gone a little astray from my first request. I was looking to import into the drawing but good ideas for inporting into a scene. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IronKevin Posted May 12, 2010 Share Posted May 12, 2010 Something like this: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbuche Posted May 12, 2010 Author Share Posted May 12, 2010 nice I like it kevin def going in the saved folder Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.