3D Help

Igull

I'm wondering if anyone is aware of a very simple 3D app - Mac application or web app (not Windoze please ) is fine that will do some very simple extrusion from an imported SVG file ? It does not require anything other than 3D extrude and the ability to manoeuvre around the 3D extrude to take a screenshoot.
It would be extremely helpful if the app could ungroup SVG parts from the imported files. This is purely for a simple manual illustration.
I have probably had every 3D Mac app known to man over the last 40 years - most required giving away your firstborn or at the very least a double mortgage to purchase - free would be good in my waning years

Sketchup was my first choice here as it was always free - it is free for now - unless you actually want to import an SVG (or any other thing else really ) - then you need to give away another firstborn or body part. Blender is far too complex for this situation. Tinkercad would have been perfection - except that it won't ungroup imported SVG's which means tediously breaking apart all the SVG's into individual files - I'd rather sit and push bamboo splinters up my fingernails - the artboard size is very limited too.
The current choice is using Fusion 360 - which is simple enough to use, but a bit OTT for what are very simple extrusions.

Wouldn't it be nice if there were a way to do it all in VS plugin ??????

TIA

Neil

Subpath

@Igull

Does it necessarily have to be .SVG as the file format
for the imported and why ?

Subpath

could you post some pics of the Results you like to have ?

b77

@Igull Blender might be too complex for what you need, but it can
do it, and it's free:

• import the SVG (File menu > Import > Scalable Vector Graphics);
• after import, you might need to scale it, so press the S key then click-and-drag;
• convert it to mesh (Object menu > Convert > Mesh);
• switch to Edit mode with the Tab key;
• select all vertices with A;
• press E (for Extrude) then Z (for the Z azis), and drag to extrude;
• switch back to Object mode with Tab…

…then you can export it as SVG from any camera angle like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfmdUaTPySc

Igull

@Subpath said in 3D Help:

@Igull

Does it necessarily have to be .SVG as the file format
for the imported and why ?

No, it only needs to be a vector format - SVG is the easiest to parse as it's XML and VS exports SVG nicely

Igull

@Subpath said in 3D Help:

could you post some pics of the Results you like to have ?

0_1685907931801_extrude 3.jpg

Essentially, they are all a simple flat plate extrude from an object. They don't need shading or shadow.

Neil

Igull

@b77 said in 3D Help:

@Igull Blender might be too complex for what you need, but it can
do it, and it's free:

Yes, as I said in the intro Blender is far too complex for this situation.

It's also far too involved an application to do this - tinkercad is the level I am looking for, otherwise, I'm just going to end up using Fusion 360 or Onshape and be done

The actual output file from the extrude can just be a bit image JPG/PNG whatever as it's going in a simple print document, it doesn't require to be vector.

Thanks

Neil

b77

@Igull Got it, I thought you needed SVG export.

Subpath

@Igull

ok, thanks for the info

I mentioned quit a while ago in the general section a small 3D tool
that can import and extrude .SVG files. But unfortunately it is only
for Windows. (mentioned it because Windows user of VS may be interested)

Here is the link
https://www.vectorstyler.com/forum/topic/1238/tip-simple-opensource-text-sgvs-to-3d-object-generator
.
.
You mentioned something like parsing .SVGs. I know that SVGs, are just .xml text files.

Have you ever thought about a script that parses your SVG file and then creates individual
object SVG files from them?

For example, using a script to filter out each shape part from the grouped version and then copy it
between a header and end part to create .SVGs with only one shape this way.
.
.
I also made a Test in VS where i create some Shapes and then exported them
once ungrouped and once grouped as SVG files. After that I compared the xml
texts, the only difference I found was that in the grouped version there is one
<g> </g> more than in the ungrouped SVG.

So you could also try to remove this <g> </g> to get ungrouped objects

Boldline

@b77 even if he didn’t need the blender information I appreciate that you posted that because it shows me what can be done

Subpath

@Igull

Another strange Solution

You might look around to see if you can buy an older inexpensive
version of Coreldraw for the Mac.

Coreldraw had even in the older versions an Extrusion Tool.

Here is a video from my 2020 version
not much has changed since.

Boldline

@Subpath said in 3D Help:

Coreldraw had even in the older versions an Extrusion Tool.

I don't know when it fits on the VS roadmap plans, but an extrusion tool has been requested

fde101

If you really want an alternative you could try something like Cheetah3D ($99), but while it is a simpler package than Blender I personally find it a bit more complicated to use, at least for this particular use case.

There are other choices but you will pay far more for them than you could possibly hope to gain in any kind of time savings.

It is fairly simple to do what you are asking to do in Blender, and worth taking the time to learn the basics of that very powerful tool, so I would also push you in that direction.

A tutorial that may be helpful: https://devforum.roblox.com/t/converting-svgs-to-meshes/884514

Note that only the first four steps in that tutorial are relevant to what you are asking to do.

Subpath

@Igull

I made a test with .SVG files, to create a single Shape SVG
from an SVG with grouped shapes.
By manually copying Text from the xml contend between them.
(which could be also done by a script)
.
.
For this I created one Shape in VS and exported it
as .SVG to get a file with only one object.

I manually then replaced the <path ..... id=""/> Part
( which holds the Information for the Shape)
with a Shape Part from a .SVG with grouped Shapes.

Worked so far except for the fact that the Shape
is placed next to the artboard.

SVG contend with grouped shapes
0_1685957483551_grouped shapes.png
.
.
The SVG File with only one shape
0_1685957524652_orginal SVG with one Shape.png
.
.
The Shape above replaced with this Circle Shape from the grouped SVG File
(only using copy and paste parts from the SVG (xml Text))
its placed beside the Artboard, but it works
0_1685957644841_new SVG with replaced Shape.png

fde101

Actually, if you save it as a PDF instead of an SVG you can do this sort of thing in Art Text (https://text.design/art-text/).

Igull

@Subpath said in 3D Help:

Have you ever thought about a script that parses your SVG file and then creates individual
object SVG files from them?

I hadn't, but that could certainly be an option to at least produce individual part files. It would be a lot simpler if something like Tinkercad would just import the SVG and be able to manipulate the parts individually

Thanks

Neil

Igull

@Subpath said in 3D Help:

Another strange Solution

Yes, I suppose I could do that too, but I have a Fusion 360 and an Onshape licence which can do pretty much anything in 3D - I was just looking for an easy way out with a 'one trick pony':-)

Neil

Igull

@fde101 said in 3D Help:

Actually, if you save it as a PDF instead of an SVG you can do this sort of thing in Art Text (https://text.design/art-text/).

Mmmm, I bought Amadine from BeLight before I found VS - and really quite liked it - albeit a bit lightweight in the features department. I've just downloaded the trial version of their Art Text (supposedly full-featured), but I don't see any way to import a PDF - or anything else for that matter ?? You can certainly create 3D text extrusions and can do some rough vector drawing within, but importing or opening other file formats seems to be missing ??

Thanks

Neil

Subpath

@fde101 said in 3D Help:

Actually, if you save it as a PDF instead of an SVG you can do this sort of thing in Art Text (https://text.design/art-text/).

could you then extrude shapes from that PDF
in Art Text ?

I also thought about "Art Text 4" but I thought it could
only extrude Shapes and Letters from a .TTF font file.

But there are online converters that can convert a
.SVG to a .TTF file

Subpath

@Igull said in 3D Help:

've just downloaded the trial version of their Art Text (supposedly full-featured), but I don't see any way to import a PDF - or anything else for that matter

@Igull

I think the way to go with "Art Text" is to convert your .SVG File
first to a .TTF File via an free Online Converter

I have Amadine on my iPad, love it