Comments on: How to Create 3D Gemstones Using Adobe Illustrator and Google Sketchup

By: CgBaran Tuts

CgBaran Tuts — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 02:13:00 +0000

Great tutorial thanks a creative way to use sketchup

By: Don

Don — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 05:11:46 +0000

Not sure why that approach is better. If you print to “adobe PDF”(the printer that acrobat installs by default) you don’t get vector output, but raster. If you mean export as PDF (only in pro) you get the same results as using eps (although the eps gem is grouped by default, where the PDF gem isn’t). Bottom line: 2-d vector export is limited to suPro. If you have the free version, you’ll need to hand trace or livetrace.

The sketchup pro PDF export does essentially the exact same thing as above, except eps has wider support in non- adobe apps. At best, what you say here is at best the same as the tut, and possibly not as good if using, for example, Inkscape.

All 2-d export formats output filled faces at 100% opacity, which is why you have to turn off faces and export the wireframe view, as described in the tutorial.

By: ZBryan2

ZBryan2 — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 01:58:31 +0000

“When doing something complex – a car, for instance – getting the viewpoint wrong can translate into lots of lost time (read:money) in the real world.”

Good point and good tutorial. I look forward to the complex item tut!

By: Scott

Scott — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 03:45:11 +0000

There is a better way to get the file into illustrator. You can either print to PDF or export to PDF, I can’t remember which way is better. By doing this you allow all of the vector information to be retained without live tracing. The downside is that SketchUp does not export transparency in its PDFs so export as wireframe and then either live paint the PDF or trace each face on a seperate layer for better control.

By: Don

Don — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 02:37:51 +0000

Yeah, blender is great, and if you are a blender user you could do this combo with blender too. But blender is a big step up in complexity from sketchup – and slot more than some peeps need.

By: J

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 17:39:27 +0000

Yeah it’s free. Good luck, once you use it, you’ll be addicted!

By: Don

Don — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 16:36:39 +0000

As I stated in the tut, you certainly can do this in Illustrator – although I doubt more accurately and faster. Also, as I mentioned if you use a 3-d model you’ll be able to previsualize the result without committing to the full illustration. When doing something complex – a car, for instance – getting the viewpoint wrong can translate into lots of lost time (read:money) in the real world.

This tut is to give you an idea of how to use Sketchup with illustrator at a basic level. A future Tut will use it to produce a more complex item – and the skills learned here will be required to follow that tut.

The use of a 3-D package is also an option (someone mentioned Blender, which is also free and open-source) but as an entry point to 3-D blender is not ideal – it is a full fledged 3-d rendering package far past the needs of many.

Thanks to all for the comments.

By: hiflyer

hiflyer — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 09:01:24 +0000

nice! thanks!

By: Bendsen

Bendsen — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 20:20:32 +0000

Thats one cool feature !

By: Niek

Niek — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 16:20:24 +0000

I don’t see why i should use google sketchup if this could be done in Illustrator aswell and even faster.