i have a perspective wireframe rendering from 3dsmax that i've saved as a dxf. i'd like to open this file in illustrator and fill portions of the image. this technique is quite common with presentation drawing so it must be a relatively simple process.
the problem is that when i open the file in illustrator all the strokes are individual lines, not closed paths.
i can open the file in AutoCAD, "pedit" the sections to fill into polylines, but this seems a bit intense especially if the model is complex.
If you dont' have Illustrate (which is the best way to go), you can apply the Max material called "Ink n' Paint". Its a 'toon shader that will give edge lines and solid planes. The only prob is that it's not vector based, you just get one cartoony image file.
here's another option which many or may not give you what you're looking for, but it's worth a try. Open the file in Rhino, and use the 'Make2D' command on your prespective view. Then export the 2d view to Illustrator. You'll find that a lot of the lines are closed objects. This takes a bit of trial-and error, but its very, very do-able.
get a copy of Swift 3d. That's my best offer, and it's cheaper than Illustrate or Toon Render.
Should be easy to get a borrowed copy too, if this is just one time sort of thing. It will import a .3ds file from max, recognizing animations and lighting, and then turn every frame into an illustrator file, or the entire animation into an .swf for flash.
if you're concerned with flexibility of the shapes in illustrator, the best thing to do is to pedit in autocad , as you're already doing.
You can either render a Hidden Line or just save all the wires on the screen (nice and quick, if you just want to trace it and leave some extra 'complexity' underneath).
In version 4 > you go to Export > Illustrator and it'll save the screen as a vector format.
Alternatively, you can CTRL + A to select everything, open a drafting document (still in FMZ), and go to Edit > Paste from Model and it will paste the view as a 2D drawing. From there you can save as a 2D dwg, eps or AI (illustrator) format.
FormZ has some great import/export features, not to mention down saving, that Max really needs to get!
I love Max, but the fact that I've got to upgrad my 5.1 to use the v 6 files from the office is ridiculous!
Jul 21, 04 8:05 pm ·
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presentation drawings
i have a perspective wireframe rendering from 3dsmax that i've saved as a dxf. i'd like to open this file in illustrator and fill portions of the image. this technique is quite common with presentation drawing so it must be a relatively simple process.
the problem is that when i open the file in illustrator all the strokes are individual lines, not closed paths.
i can open the file in AutoCAD, "pedit" the sections to fill into polylines, but this seems a bit intense especially if the model is complex.
how do you guys do it?
thanks in advance
have you looked into "illustrate 5.3" plugin for max? it does what yr describing i think.
If you dont' have Illustrate (which is the best way to go), you can apply the Max material called "Ink n' Paint". Its a 'toon shader that will give edge lines and solid planes. The only prob is that it's not vector based, you just get one cartoony image file.
here's another option which many or may not give you what you're looking for, but it's worth a try. Open the file in Rhino, and use the 'Make2D' command on your prespective view. Then export the 2d view to Illustrator. You'll find that a lot of the lines are closed objects. This takes a bit of trial-and error, but its very, very do-able.
the quickest way is to 'print screen' then paste the image from the clipboard into illustrator.
not the best but the quickest.
thanks to everyone. as you can tell, there are many options...
TickerTocker, i didn't know about the 'make2D' command for Rhino, so thanks for that one.
get a copy of Swift 3d. That's my best offer, and it's cheaper than Illustrate or Toon Render.
Should be easy to get a borrowed copy too, if this is just one time sort of thing. It will import a .3ds file from max, recognizing animations and lighting, and then turn every frame into an illustrator file, or the entire animation into an .swf for flash.
if you're concerned with flexibility of the shapes in illustrator, the best thing to do is to pedit in autocad , as you're already doing.
check out swift 3d though
one more option:
open it in photoshop. it will rasterize the image so you can just paint as you please. you will loose all lines as separate objects though.
swift 3d is pretty easy to use and it's cheap (at least the stand alone version is).
Final Render can export vectors through it's Final Toon, too, but it's a little more expensive.
FormZ can export vectors, too, if you have that.
mbr
how do you export vectors in Form-Z. Guy in the office sitting next to me was just wondeing today....but I'm a 3dStudio kind of guy
You can either render a Hidden Line or just save all the wires on the screen (nice and quick, if you just want to trace it and leave some extra 'complexity' underneath).
In version 4 > you go to Export > Illustrator and it'll save the screen as a vector format.
Alternatively, you can CTRL + A to select everything, open a drafting document (still in FMZ), and go to Edit > Paste from Model and it will paste the view as a 2D drawing. From there you can save as a 2D dwg, eps or AI (illustrator) format.
FormZ has some great import/export features, not to mention down saving, that Max really needs to get!
I love Max, but the fact that I've got to upgrad my 5.1 to use the v 6 files from the office is ridiculous!
Block this user
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