Sketch SVG Importer

This is a plugin for Sketchup versions 6+. Use it to import simple SVG images into sketchup, where they can be extruded into 3D and further modified.

This version extends the excellent script by Uli Tessel with some additional features and bug fixes.

Dependencies

The Bezier.rb plugin, available from the Ruby Library Depot
The rexml ruby library
forwardable.rb
set.rb

Forwardable and set shipped with a standard ruby installation. REXML should come with 1.8, but sketchup seems to expect it to be located inside the plugins folder. Just copy the directory to your plugins directory.

Installation

Copy svg.rb to your plugins folder. On Windows, this will be C:\Program Files\Google\Google SketchUp #\Plugins. On a Mac, ~/Library/Application Support/Google SketchUp #/SketchUp/plugins. Bezier.rb can be installed the same way.

Installing the other three dependencies can be troublesome. Some instructions for getting them on Windows are given in this thread.

On a Mac using MacPorts, forwarded.rb and set.rb were loaded automatically (since Macs ship with Ruby). I used the following commands to install rexml.

sudo port install rb-rexml
ln -s /opt/local/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/1.8/rexml "~/Library/Application Support/Google SketchUp 8/SketchUp/plugins"

Usage

The plugin adds a 'Import SVG File...' option in the Plugins menu. The SVG will be imported into a new group. The object structure within the SVG will be preserved, meaning that groups of objects within the SVG will become nested groups in Sketchup. Note that several explode operations may be required to move geometry into the top-level model.

Global Flags

The following flags can be set using the ruby console to help with debugging and change some behaviours:

_$svgImportScriptDebug _If true, print debugging information

Limitations

The plugin can currently handle only a limited subset of the SVG format. Unsupported features typically print a warning to the ruby console and then are ignored.

When using Inkscape, the following hints can produce simpler, more compatible svg output

Convert all objects to paths before exporting (text, polygons, etc)
Save files as 'Plain SVG' ('Simple SVG' in some locales)

(Suggested by Sketchucation user TIG)

Known Conflicts

The SVG Importer uses set.rb, which conflicts with Sketchup's built-in Set class. This causes problems with some programs which require Set, namely smoove from Sandbox Tools.

Known Bugs/Missing features

These are not implemented, but have been started or planned. Additional feature requests can be made on github

Additional SVG Types
- line, polyline, polygon, text
- Additional path commands (arc, quadratic bezier, etc)
Localization
- The 'french' branch contains french translations of some messages. If some french speaker would be interested in updating this branch with the latest features it would be great.
3D-specific attributes
- It might be interesting to use some attributes (like the color of a stroke) to control the Z-Value. With this common trick it is possible to use Inkscape for some kind of 2.5D.
Bug: faces are not created correctly: too many, holes are wrong, etc.
Bug: Incompatible with smoove

License

Code is released under GPL 3. See LICENSE for the full terms.

History

0.5 Support for Sketchup 2014

Ruby 2.0 compatibility
Minor bug fixes

0.4 SVG compatibility improvements (Spencer Bliven)

Support for relative coordinates in paths
Removed need for repeat commands

dcarrask/sketchup_svg_importer