Modeling etched glass in SketchUp

Considered one of my on-line college students is engaged on a undertaking the place she needs to point out a glass door panel with an engraved sample. She had a Scalable Vector Graphics (.svg) file to start out with. Within the video I’ll display the 2 methods I confirmed her. Whereas there’s no less than one .svg importer for SketchUp, I’ve discovered that it does not at all times create good geometry. As a substitute, I used a free app referred to as InkscapeGenericName to open the .svg file and create a big model earlier than exporting information that SketchUp can work with.

The primary possibility to do that is with a software referred to as Picture Trimmer that’s a part of the SKM Tools. For it to work, you want a .png picture with transparency. The second possibility makes use of a .dxf file. Each file sorts could be exported/saved from Inkscape. The .dxf file produces one of the best outcomes, however to import .dxf information you will want SketchUp Professional or Go.

This identical kind of course of can be utilized to form carved or laser minimize panels or in all probability the rest.

–Dave