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Importing a Logo (dwg) to make into 3d - extrusion?


MILK BONES

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Hey

im a student who has just started using Vectorworks this semester (i have 2011 and i am running it on Mac version 10.6.7 if thats any consolation...)

anyway im creating a 3d kitchen and i have made a rangehood so thats all fine, my problem is that i need to include the logo and it needs to be slightly extruded so i can get a few more marks.

Basically ive tried doing it through importing a transparent .png but it just comes up wrong (blacking in parts that dont actually exist), Ive tried saving the logo through Illustrator as an .eps which turns up fine when i import it but i dont know how to make it into something i can extrude... Ive saved it through illustrator as an Autocad file (.dwg - i go import>single DWG file>inside the dialogue box that comes up i select 'convert objects to: All 3d>click OK>click Done) which comes up how i want it but i dont know the next steps to take to make it so its extrudable, it just refuses... so i messed around a bit and converted it through using the option in Modify>convert>Convert to 3D polys - which after i apple+u (ungroup) it seems to have made it into a bunch of lines... but i can work out how to make that into a shape i can extrude????

could responses have directions in them if possible as i am still new to to this program and will probabally get lost xD

Thanks :)

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If you are trying to extrude Text, then try the command: Text> True Type to Polyline. You will end up with a Group. Select the Group and use the command: Ungroup. Then select all the items that were formerly in the group and Extrude.

As far as extruding other objects, you can extrude any shape in VW's. But you cannot extrude an imported image b/c it's not a VW's object. You might try tracing over the imported image in order to make an extrudable shape.

Post back if you have further questions...

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Thanks for replying quickly :)

Oh okay, so how would i go about making lines into a solid shape to extrude (say im at the point where i've got the lines, whats the option called or where would i be looking for to make it into one shape?). I think i did it once by accident (though ive been searching for hours now and cant find it), it gave me a kind of paint bucket and it put a fill inside the shape i made and made it whole, though i didn't try extruding it... main thing is it needs to be extrudable.

Its the BOSCH logo btw, its not the text that im so much worried about, as i could probably find a similar font anyway and do the truetype to polyline as you mentioned just now, its the circle part of the logo that im looking to include also thats the main issue...

http://www.appliancegallery.com.au/media/28-Bosch.jpg

[*the one i have has been edited so its just a black logo on a transparent/white background]

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Hi Milkbone

Usually there lots of ways to do things in VW. Here are a few ways to stick stuff together. Read more about them in VW help.

Notes - Commands are up in the menus. Tools are in palettes. Many tools have several modes.

1. Compose Command (Modify Menu)

If the lines, arcs, open polylines, etc are snapped end to end, select them, then:

Modify>Compose. Segments become a single object.

If any of the segment ends are not coincident, those segments will not compose.

2. Inner and Outer Boundary modes of Polygon Tool (Basic Palette)

The paint bucket you mention is middle mode of the Polygon Tool. Invoke the Polygon Tool, click the bucket icon (Inner Boundary tool) in the mode bar located in upper left area of the drawing window. No need to select the bounding objects - just click the paint bucket cursor inside the bounding shapes. This creates a new, closed polygon bounded by surrounding objects. The original shapes are retained.

Try also the lasso (Outer Boundary) mode - drag a lasso around the bounding shapes. This is great if bounding objects overlap - no need to trim them.

3. Connect/Combine Tool (Basic Palette)

Compose and/or trim lines, arcs, and open polys. Explore the modes. Read VW Help. Click the tool, then click adjacent segments in sequence - they highlight as you hover.

4. Add Surface Command (Modify Menu)

Overlapping 2d surfaces (circles, polygons & polylines, etc) can be combined into a single surface: Select them then Modify>Add Surface. Explore the Clip, Intersect and Combine into Surface commands, too.

5. Join Command (Modify Menu)

This one is only for wall objects and dbl lines, but does what it implies.

Suggest you drag/drop the logo image into your drawing and trace the edges with 2d tools. Use Clip Surface cmd on two concentric circles to create the outer ring of your logo. Similar for the "D" ends of the inner shape. Extrude the shapes. This will give you a really simple, sharp edged model of the logo - vertical sides. Learn about Multiple Extrude, Extrude Along Path, and Fillet Surface (Model Menu) as possible ways to model the tapered (filleted?) profile implied by the logo drawing.

Good luck.

-B

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Hi, Milkbones - Pretty good demo. Good call on the Illustrator trace. Too bad the VW trace tool is not as effective as the AI one. Also, good use of the paint bucket tool.

Not sure why you applied the Convert to Polygon & Compose steps. Conversion breaks up curves into myriad straight segments. Compose keeps all the new vertices. Edits with all those close packed vertices are almost impossible.

Anyway, way to go!

-B

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