forum.datacad.com

To all,

I'm beginning to use SKETCHUP PRO 2013 more often these days with DATACAD, i.e. DC for everyday 2D & SU for 3D. However having said that, I also use the imported DC 2D elements as in part of the final plans in SKETCHUP LAYOUT, as I don't need to always produce all of the existing building in 3D, especially when I have projects for extensions to properties that are only small in scale to the main part of the building.

Anyway DC text or any CAD text for that matter can't be imported into SU as part of the imported DWG file for some reason. This would be very handy & time saving if it could in the future, but in the meantime I was wondering if DC could explode text into lines & arcs, then you could import the text with your DWG file. I think I've seen something like this before somewhere, perhaps not DC, but the results made the text look like it was written with your left foot..

Just a thought..!!!

Over & out,
Clayton.

Hello Clayton. There are two ways that I get around this.
Firstly I export Dcad lines only to SU via DWG and make a bitmap copy of the Dcad lines and text and underlay it under the vector lines in SU 2013; and
Secondly, in a copy of the Dcad file, change all text fonts to vector fonts in Dcad. Then explode all text and dimensions. Then import the file with the exploded text and dimensions via DWG.
Hope this helps

wvar wrote:Hello Clayton. There are two ways that I get around this.
Firstly I export Dcad lines only to SU via DWG and make a bitmap copy of the Dcad lines and text and underlay it under the vector lines in SU 2013; and
Secondly, in a copy of the Dcad file, change all text fonts to vector fonts in Dcad. Then explode all text and dimensions. Then import the file with the exploded text and dimensions via DWG.
Hope this helps

Hi Walter,

Your a star...

I just tried this & it worked a treat, the lines that make up the fonts are very exacting, i.e. tight segments & you'd never know they weren't text fonts.
I suppose I forgot DC could explode text to lines, it's probably because I don't venture much into the 3D DC menu these days.

On a side note, I'm just wondering why some DC tools such as the one I just used are in the 3D menu when they're not 3D specific...

Thanks again Walter, it's now a brighter day for having to work on a Sunday.

All the best,
Clayton.

Very glad to help. I feel embarrassed at times because I seem to mainly ask questions rather than contribute.
More importantly. The reason I convert fonts to vector fonts is to keep the poly count down in Sketchup.

Walter,

I know this is an old thread but am running into the same problem with text in Sketchup and am rusty with DC. I would really appreciate if you could fill in some steps in the process you describe. I can export the DC file as a DWG and open it in SU but become lost at the steps used to save the DC lines and text as a bitmap. When you say underlay, I assume you mean import that as a layer in SU. I think I know how to change text to vector in DC and will look into how to explode.

My big challenge is the bitmap save process. What is that doing for me when I do that?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Carl