NURBS curve export problems

[Stuart Allen]

When I export a drawing as a DXF or DWG file, then open in Illustrator, the NURBS curves are very distorted. The one on the bottom is the original curve, the one on the top is the curve after export. Anyone have any thoughts?

thanks, Stuart

[Benson Shaw]

Just an idea - try exporting as pdf or ps or eps file instead of dxf. It may end up converting nurbs to beziers but retain the shape. I used to do this with polys but took illlustratior off my cpu, so can't check nurbs for you. Also, export and import of dxf/dwg polylines between Illustrator and VW had scale changes and sometimes there was vertex stacking or new points created by export process far away from the original object (centers of large radius curves integrated as vertices?). So if you reimport dwg to VW, zoom in to check on the points. Delete extras and check for continuity by re export and re import. Maddening, eh?

Good luck.

-B

[Stuart Allen]

I can export as pdf or ps or eps file, but the curves are faceted in Illustrator, rather than continous lines with bezier control.

[islandmon]

Try:

prior to convert to NURBS Curve apply 'bezier, cubic or arc smoothing' to the curve.

[Stuart Allen]

I've tried smoothing to no avail. The lines were already bezier controlled before converting to NURBS.

Interesting addition to the problem. If I re-import the DXF file to VW, the NURBS curves are not distorted, so apparently VW is able to interpret them properly while Illustrator is not. Hmmm...

Any other thoughts out there.

thanks,Stuart

[islandmon]

As I recall illustrator has what called "curve flattening" located within the Inspector.

Try setting the value higher or lower as the case may be.

[Stuart Allen]

Didn't find any "curve flattening" option in Illustrator, but I did find a solution - albeit a slghtly cumbersome one.

In VW, rotate 3D model to appropriate view, then "convert to lines", "combine" curve segments, apply "smoothing", export as eps... The resulting file displays nice, smooth curves in Illistrator.

thanks,

Stuart