Hi folks.
I’m nowhere near the expert level of the people who are on this forum, but I have been using EI off and on for about 10 years now. Since way back then, I’ve used a really kludgy but oddly effective way to get simple Illustrator shapes into EI for extruding and beveling. That is, to create a custom font with the said shape in it, and use Mr Font in Ei to do the work. It’s about as hit and miss as trying to bevel AI shapes in Modeler (my off-and-on nature of use makes getting a REAL, or at least up-to-date modeler not possible). But I like it because it gives me all the surfaces I need.

This got me thinking today… Isn’t Mr Font dealing with Postscript type? How difficult would it be to process .ps or .ai files also? Just a thought. And my apologies if there are several hundred threads already talking about this. Can’t wait for Tesla when all this will be moot. Thanks all for hearing me out.

It’s one of those ‘we’ll have to wait and see what EITG comes up with’ situations.

Sorry about that.

Also, have you tried Mrs Bebel for extruding and bevelling/chamfering objects. It’s oddly effective at it

Ian - 02 July 2008 10:23 AM

Also, have you tried Mrs Bebel for extruding and bevelling/chamfering objects. It’s oddly effective at it

But if he did that, how would he get the shape into Animator in the first place?

Dave posted this…

Here is the 10 step workflow....

1) Open logo in illustrator
2) Ungroup all objects
3) Select all outlines
4) Menu Object -> Path -> Add Anchor Points
5) repeat step 4 until you have the resolution you need (2 or 3 times should be enough)
6) Menu Object -> Path -> Simplify: Angle Threshhold 1º, Options Straight lines.
7) Go to the Layers palette and select the current layer, then from the pop-up menu- select “release to layers-sequence”
8) export to dxf
9) open transporter preferences and set DXF option “build groups from blocks”
10) process the dxf file (i left all process options off).

Alternatively, do exactly as kbartlez is already doing, only turn bevel off in Mr Font, and make the extrusion 0, then you will get a planar shape.

Job done
Ian

Thanks for the tips.

To clarify, though, I am “getting by” using Mr Font or bringing eps files to Modeler and beveling (and yes, I do need the bevels). I was just saying that it seems like code already exists for interpreting Postscript to make extruded objects with bevels, albeit rudimentary.

It’s very well observed

Mr Font is exactly where AI import features would/should go when the time comes for that feature.
Ian

Ian - 02 July 2008 01:35 PM

Dave posted this…

Here is the 10 step workflow....

1) Open logo in illustrator
2) Ungroup all objects
3) Select all outlines
4) Menu Object -> Path -> Add Anchor Points
5) repeat step 4 until you have the resolution you need (2 or 3 times should be enough)
6) Menu Object -> Path -> Simplify: Angle Threshhold 1º, Options Straight lines.
7) Go to the Layers palette and select the current layer, then from the pop-up menu- select “release to layers-sequence”
8) export to dxf
9) open transporter preferences and set DXF option “build groups from blocks”
10) process the dxf file (i left all process options off).


Alternatively, do exactly as kbartlez is already doing, only turn bevel off in Mr Font, and make the extrusion 0, then you will get a planar shape.

Job done ;)
Ian

I will also have to give that a try.  My process has been:

1) Convert type to outlines in Illustrator.
2) Add anchor points.  You have to be careful here though.  Sometimes the font outlines may have close points to begin with, and you can end up with some wackiness when you get it to 3D.  I usually go through and delete clumped anchor points manually.  Too bad Illustrator won’t let you add anchor points to a selection from an object and not the whole object.  But, perhaps the Simplify command in Dave’s step 6 fixes that.  I’ll have to try that out.
3) Save as an AI file, Illustrator 8 format.
4) Import into Wings 3D.
5) Export as an OBJ file.
6) From there, I can open in Silo and do additional tweaking, or I could go into Transporter to get it into EIAS.

Illustrator files are BEST handled in ZaxWerks Pro Modeler or Invigerator Pro.  Its the most advanced and flexible way to
take your illustrator shapes, (font outlines) or any other shapes. model, bevel in unlimited ways, and export in Fact file
for EI (and every other format for that matter) Mr Font, Mrs Bebel do not even come close to what Zax.s tool does.
.....

Bebel does create some cool shapes however.
.....

.ai import into animator in a way that 3rd party tools can access.  Vertex level animation within animator offers
animators capabilities never before seen in EI.  Tesla CAN NOT do this even with its own .ai import.  It STILL
has you bringing in a ‘static’ model which is no better than invigerator, actually its a big step back from what
invigerator can do. 
.......

So, respectfully everyone, .ai import diesnt just need to happen.  It needs to be implemented CORRECTLY.
........

ok, im off my soap box.

I think it’s safe to say we all hope that we see this feature

Best,
Ian

every new feature is a good feature for that matter, so “go guys, go...”

Jens

Jens C. Möller - 06 July 2008 06:21 AM

every new feature is a good feature for that matter, so “go guys, go...”

Their syntax is: “come on baby”