Importing CAD FILES into SketchUp

[@kodokraksasa6564]

1. File > Import 2. Select autocad dwg files 3. Options > merge coplanar faces, orient faces, import materials > Set Scale 4. Reset Scale 5. Tape measure within group > turn off create guide mode > using the guide, resize a part of the entire model 6. Trace each part of the model > using rect tool + reverse faces > separate them into groups

[@neutralmultiverse8589]

I have recently learned AutoCAD and I am finding that drawing my floor plans in AutoCAD kind of forces me to develop a stronger floor plan (working out all the space planning and circulation issues in autocad first). I also love the dimensioning tools in AutoCAd a lot better--it is just a lot smoother. With that said I love that I am then able to bring that finalized floor plan into SketchUp to do my 3D renders; ie there is none of that 2D AutoCAD work has gone to waste! I love this workflow. I am also learning that you can spend a lot of time trying to develop a furniture plan after you bring in your 3D furniture because you'll constantly be tweaking things (it's tempting to do when you have all your 3D elements available and ocd and perfectionism kicks in). So if you really think through your floor plan and furniture in plan view, get that to a really solid point and then bring into SketchUp it minimizes all the necessary tweaking that I have fallen victim to!

[@joelmcneill4663]

I've been watching so many of your videos recently across your channels for help when I've been stuck or for tips and tricks. You're so clear and helpful, keep up the great work Justin!

[@shannonmikus768]

Thank you to the Sponsors for having cool products and keeping Justin on the You Tube!

[@remyxi]

Dude, your explanation is just crystal clear. Keep it up!

[@Thesketchupessentials]

Awesome - glad you liked it!

[@icebox5169]

omg i've learned alot from your blender channel. Can't believe that you have a sketchup one as well. You're amazing

[@richardvankesteren7013]

Nice video, but the workflow is far from optimal. I first use Edge Tools² coz it happens there are open ends in the CAD file. Then Eneroth Flatten to Plane to take out eventual Z-differentialities, and last Eneroth Face Creator to create the faces automatically. Then copy the whole 2D drawing for safety and start extruding.

[@Capza]

hey i want to ask a question, i need answer ASAP.(im a very very new to sketchup, and i need to submit an assignment fast). ive done the pull thing to create walls, but now my objects are transparent how to make it look solid? i can see the lines that ive made pls help EDIT : I FOUND THE SOLUTION, ITS A BACK EDGE PRESS K TO TOGGLE OFF

[@alx00cn]

I have seen many videos and every time I find you are the best Sketchup Guy! Thanks

[@Thesketchupessentials]

Thanks very much! :)

[@vertexbuilderslimited1060]

intro is always on fire

[@SaadFakhoury]

Thanks again for this video, it is really beneficial. What I have found important to do is to clean up the cad file before importing it to here. Really I draw AutoCad with all lines; Lines of the Walls, Finishing, axis... So I have found it so essential to clean up the CAD file before importing it to here. 14-02-2022

[@kevinmorin7965]

Thanks Justin, always more wrinkles to iron out and you seem to know them all! I appreciate your time to help others learn SKUp

[@Thesketchupessentials]

:) - Trying my best!

[@mendezapoccalypto7534]

Thank you so much for sharing knowledge...your explanation is amazing and super clear...easy language, the pace...everything is just perfect.THANK YOU

[@Thesketchupessentials]

Thanks 😎

[@hafsasajjad8871]

Wow your teaching style is so good and easy

[@chungfeng4765]

A very useful lesson for all aspiring softians

[@412miumiu]

Bless your sketch-up magic & teachings, such a helpful video!

[@Thesketchupessentials]

Glad it was helpful!

[@damianconnolly]

Thanks Justin - importing dwg files can be really tricky. You make it seem simple.

[@tomichanni]

thank you for this! this was really helpful. Could you tell me where to find the part 2 video?

[@ryanjosephcastrocordova9805]

you are really awesome men, I always learn from all your tutorials thank you very much!

[@germansanchez7823]

hi jayson, just watching your video helps me a lot as a beginner in sketchup.Cheers!

[@Jayzee1123]

so good explanations and tutorials. support from philippines.

[@aliyucesoy-yr4zd]

You always give the best and easiest tips. Thank you!

[@neilzuleta8089]

first video..... short and to the point. thx.

[@Shishi604]

Thank you so much for this! Your videos are so helpful!

[@ilyalesov]

Thanx a lot! I've watched a lot of videos before, but only you show how to resize a plan after import.

[@Thesketchupessentials]

Glad it was helpful!

[@max91master_roshi]

Thank you, thank you mate!

[@jayjumarmacaslegaspi7001]

awesome technique from philippines student :>

[@jazzclubseven]

thanks, it actually let me through so i could download it.

[@jeffk9405]

An easier way is after you import and scale, group all of the walls, raise the group up 8 feet or so on the Z axis. Then draw a surface larger than the plan, then select the walls that were raised and use the drape tool to make a copy of the walls onto the flat surface, delete the walls up on the Z axis. Then delete the surface your walls copied to and all of your walls all have surfaces. The push-pull up to required height then if you double click on the rest of your walls they will match the height of the first wall.

[@Thesketchupessentials]

Personally I prefer to just use FredoScale and scale the Z value to zero, but this would work too

[@jeffk9405]

@@Thesketchupessentials Sorry I was just responding to the video. I would love to see a video on what you would do differently than what was on the original video. As we gain more experience with the program, what we did yesterday might not be the way we do it today. Thank you for all of the videos you have done over the years. I have learned and continue to learn new ways of getting more productive.

[@shawetasaroj5550]

complete. So I put a few videos up to show what i've got so far, and i'm hoping that soone will take the ti to watch them, let

[@octaviarolle9820]

Really easy to follow along with! Super appreciate this video!

[@Thesketchupessentials]

Glad it was helpful!

[@stevecooper3010]

Whatsup guys, great explanation,, you are the go-to guy, Thanks and appreciation

[@Datoptk]

Thank you so much this helped a lot!!!! You saved my life

[@Thesketchupessentials]

Glad it helped!

[@Datoptk]

Wtf i didnt even comment this

[@nurhassananam3420]

I learned so much, thank you sir. Keep up the good work!

[@Thesketchupessentials]

Glad to hear it!

[@intanberlian4759]

So helpful. Please make a more video tutorial brother, thanks

[@Thesketchupessentials]

Thank you, I will

[@InteriorConnection]

Thanks a lot, you're very helpful

[@orelusigbenga5729]

So we still out here struggling with ourselves or has anyone conquered? Lol

[@njokinjenga2634]

😭😭😭

[@rickj9405]

Hey sir, 7:26 how to do that automatic in all of line, whether use a plugin?

[@bigrebound4355]

very informative and helpful. thankyou. more videos please. God bless you

[@akshaygharat2804]

i really like your videos brother. They are very helpful. Thanks alot!!

[@harshaljade4315]

This tutorial very helpful for me,thank sir

[@maryanndiaz1078]

I'm having trouble when I import cad files. it says that the file can't be import/error.

[@melissacohen1556]

Nice video. Easy to understand. A link to next in progression would be nice. Ready for doors and windows!

[@Thesketchupessentials]

You may want to try this series - kzbin.info/www/bejne/jXjWf2iqd8uAirs - I went totally start to finish on a small house - thanks!

[@osmano_97]

thank you for this video, really helped alot.

[@milhouse350]

Su make face is the bomb for cad file importing

[@artworksenvisioneering2167]

I had a hunch this has potential automation options to speed it up. I do pretty much Justin's method but if we can skip manual clean up to create planes for extruding as walls, esp on many CAD file where the wall lines don't come in as connected planes, that is worth learning. Is that S4U or SU make face, and is that in the extension warehouse or sketchucation?

[@milhouse350]

@@artworksenvisioneering2167 You can get it from both I think. I got it from the extension warehouse. Orient faces after you make face to help the push pull process

[@Thesketchupessentials]

Tested this out just a bit and it seemed to work pretty well - might be worth a follow up video - thanks!

[@hazeno1thomas]

Thanks bro do you have tutorials for autocad as well?

[@ankitajain6677]

thankyou !!!

[@Simon-Simon-Simon]

WHAT IS THE BEST WAY TO EXPORT LAYOUT PLANS TO AUTOCAD - the other way around

[@BimSan87]

You're the best! I can't thank you enough. I've seen several videos of yours before and they are always so clear, concise, informative, amazing. Thank you thank you thank you!!!

[@Thesketchupessentials]

Thank you! Really glad you've found them helpful!

[@kevinbeck2293]

Check out the plugin Make Face. I use it importing DXF logos into SketchUp. Just select geometry and poof. Extrudable faces. Thanks for the vid!

[@monicablack5136]

This is really helpful I do tha same you did but sure new steps I've just learned THX!

[@VIRTUALDESIGNSCONCEPT]

WOW! your videos are amazing! love it! Your works are GREAT! I just started my KZbin channel and hope i can improve my works too!

[@myownasmrchannel]

If you set the units to inches instead of feet, you will not need to scale the drawing.

[@keanrhinemagno4229]

it worked! thank you so much!!

[@kathlenewang539]

Soooo helpful!! thank you!!

[@ANGEL-fg4hv]

wait wheres the next video ? i was having fun learning!

[@TimothyRulez]

Maybe you can add a link to that video that talked about moving all the lines onto the same plane? I don't remember which video you did to talk about it but it would help a lot with some CAD files. Also, any tips on getting rid of tiny lines that extend into the face, making it impossible to fill it in by tracing the edges? I would usually have to zoom in really close and then erase those stray lines before any faces can be made.

[@Thesketchupessentials]

Here you go - kzbin.info/www/bejne/q4PEpahvjq-tf9E - no real tips on erasing the lines, other than you possibly could use a tool like edge tools? kzbin.info/www/bejne/jqOlqWSqh6uMiMk

[@TornadoBox]

This was super helpful thank you so much!

[@lhenterlyronquillo979]

It says that components within the model that were loaded from external file cant be resize what should i do?

[@vanyasimon]

Waiting for Part-2 @Justin

[@rajazad5499]

its really helpful thank you bro.

[@BronsonGrows]

Who would have thought that using Bosca Ceoil for a little bit actually helped learn how to use a DAW lol

[@sohailuddin9734]

your the best bro..... love

[@CopyCatGarage]

Thank you Justin. I am a newbie even though I have been playing around with SketchUp for a few years. Now my new employer found out I know a little about it and is wanting me to do more in it. "Yikes!" right? Anyway, I noticed that in your drawing when you where raising the walls that you didn't just connect all the walls together. example is what I think is a bedroom bathroom wall on the left.So now the inside wall is not part of the outside wall geometry. Why is that? I am sure I am missing something of value because on models that I have done I go crazy linking and group all my walls so that I can "Raise" all the walls together... Mind you, I come in later and push the holes for the doors and windows after the wall raising, and your example already had doors in the CAD drawing. Just wanted to see if I was missing something of value by doing it the way I do appose to what I see you've done. Thank you for sharing your knowledge.

[@RobinHood-hk5dk]

Thanks Justin Could you do a tutorial related specifically for scaling precise units from imported CAD. As I study Landscape Architecture I am mostly concerned about setting scales for 1:1250 or 1:5000 and designing from maps.

[@Thesketchupessentials]

I don't understand - you set a scale based on a known distance - it's not really any different than what I did in this video - find a distance that you know, then use the tape measure tool to re-scale your model

[@RobinHood-hk5dk]

Justin, my point is when working in something like AutoCAD and 3ds Max, often unit settings have to be changed before importing drawing data to ensure Real World Coordinate information is correct when working in those programs. For example, going from mm to meters and vice versa before creating anything. The Scale tool in any 2d/3d app is only accurate to relative or absolute unit settings in the first place. For example, if I import a terrain map set at 1:5000 from Digimap to Auotcad, I have to be sure to set the Scale units first correctly relative to real world coordinates. Just because something measures 10 meters in Sketch up doesn’t mean that is accurate to real world coordinate information. One way Architects can check this is by printing out a map from a 2d/3d app and using a scale ruler to see if the Scale was set correctly on the drawing by measuring an object. If I am working in AutoCAD on a drawing set in meters and decide to use centimetres, merely using the Scale tool to resize everything will be inaccurate unless I change program unit settings too. www.landfx.com/docs/sketchup/getting-started/item/2285-sketchup-units.html

[@jackhaambote4159]

How are you forming a face with the line tool so quickly? Without having to take the line tool all around the shape of the wall?

[@ameersohil9259]

I am trying to import autocad file 2018 version to my sketchup 2018 pro, but it shows import failed all the time, how to resolve this issue, thank you

[@InteriorConnection]

thank you

[@Thesketchupessentials]

Welcome!

[@tololajege8562]

can autocad files be used with 1001 tools plug in?

[@skshakil4026]

Thank's Brow Your Video is Really Helpful, I really LOVE its .

[@einfachpascal]

How can I add the navigation bar you are using?

[@anjaneyabuilders]

hi thanks, if i import cad dwg only outer lines getting imported, i can't able to import walls have to redraw again in sketchup?

[@misterr3083]

Brilliant video, thanks Justin! Your videos really help me a lot

[@peachiepeach3628]

you are a godsend! thank you so much

[@Thesketchupessentials]

Glad it helped!

[@julianebentivoglio3583]

Very helpful, thank you so much.

[@babibubebo7475]

omagyat thats really helpfull thanks Bro

[@ghassanjenainaty4212]

Thanks a lot for your efforts in making this video but i am interested to start from scratch and how it was made in 2d autocad. Do you have its links please?

[@valeskaamorim743]

Your videos are very good! Thanks for sharing you knowledge!

[@pangilanmohammad2657]

tnx Brother I got it when I turn the subtitles on

[@naif6745]

Nice video bro.. Bro where's the part 2 of this video??

[@Thesketchupessentials]

I don't think there was one

[@jimboyalmario3435]

Thank you!

[@Thesketchupessentials]

Thanks for watching!

[@fatimasenneron353]

Hello Justin, first of all I want to thank you for sharing your knowledge with us in this playful and pleasant way, specific to you...I'm sorry to bother you with a question which is the following: I work on Sketchup and when I render my SU Podium, my floor does not appear, it appears all white...:(

[@Thesketchupessentials]

Does it appear white if you reverse the face in SketchUp?

[@gonzomaximus2429]

Can you do what is in your video with the free version or shuold i purchase Sketch Up

[@user-fv9to3ip1k]

Great vid!

[@Thesketchupessentials]

Thanks!

[@jyan127]

when I resize imported dwg file, I got error message says 'component withint the model that were loaded from external files will not be resized!' , how to resolve it? Also how to align the house wall in the imported drawing with the axis? Thank you so much

[@m77ast]

Is it better to use online or in pc?

[@teresaratcliff]

When I draw I line over my cad I don't get the wall. What set up I need in SketchUp? Thank you!

[@markkennethlacap27]

thanks for this man

[@Thesketchupessentials]

No problem!

[@silvanaaycardi3869]

THANKS.....SO HELPFULL .... BUT I HAVE IMPORT A 3D MODEL FROM AUTOCAD AND WHEN YOU OPEN IT , IT BRINGS THE COLORS FROM AUTOCAD LAYERS, EVEN IF YOU´RE WORKING IN NON COLOR MODE IN SKETCHUP... THAT AFFECTS IN ANYTHING?... IF YOU'RE GOING TO WORK IN TWINMOTION LATER?.....HOW CAN I TRASFORM THOSE COLORS IN SKETCHUP?.....THANKS

[@pillardivan3832]

Thank you for the tutorial :)

[@Thesketchupessentials]

You're welcome 😊

[@ridaachi-ta-ka8699]

The problem with cad importing that u have to make sure that all the surface are close but even sometime in curve ligne it take off

[@Thesketchupessentials]

True statment

[@juliocosta5818]

How do you process curves, surely there's a better way than all this laborious tracing?

[@Thesketchupessentials]

I don't understand the question - if they're in the CAD file you should be able to just import them

[@husseinkal7666]

Good job man....thanks

[@Thesketchupessentials]

Glad it helped!

[@alexchiuac88]

Thx a lot, very useful👍

[@Thesketchupessentials]

Glad it was helpful!

[@pjlillie]

Are there any videos specifically for how to best use SketchUp on imported ACAD drawings of grouped components of office furniture? Like how to apply materials and colors to manufactured office furniture? I can not currently apply any finishes, materials or colors to any of my manufactured furniture typicals.

[@Thesketchupessentials]

I haven't made anything specifically for this application - I don't understand - are the CAD drawings 2D or 3D?

[@pjlillie]

@@Thesketchupessentials The drawings are small, A size, 3d's of individual typical office layouts for one station or one office. The 3d's are made up of intelligent AutoCAD blocked components that are used to assign finishes to and run a bill of materials from in order to process orders. They start out as 2D blocks inserted from a CAP2020 office furniture spec program that works in conjunction with ACAD. Cap then converts or copies the 2D to 3D. Then I save the 3D as an ACAD13 wblock to be used in sketchup.

[@alyvianguyen9872]

How can you clean up the layers from a CAD file once you have imported the file into SketchUp?

[@bakhtmohammad8037]

Thnx

[@andrewcameron6611]

Hi. Im doing this project where i uploaded architects cad files onto sketchup but the drawings have a lot of lines and dimensions. I was hoping to keep the cad drawing for helping me wit the interior design later on but im having a problem that the lines and dimensions are affecting me commands like push pull and a lot of strange things happening even if the files are hidden i still have problems.

[@szymonm4978]

How do you deal with the lines from the undercoat that doesn't want to lay the plane even after tracing manually in Skp? Intersect> With Selection doesn't work for everything. Any plug?

[@TheKevphil]

hi, Justin! Thanks! I think you've answered some specific AND general questions I had. Just to check: Short of saving drawings as DXF, is there a way to get *Inkscape* SVG files directly into SketchUp 2021 Pro? Also, given your tip about having SU "remember" a measurement, might there still be a way to manually select non-contiguous faces to pull them up at the same time? Thanks!

[@Thesketchupessentials]

I don't know about SVG's - I've never used them before

[@rt83021]

I just did an Inkscape SVG from a silhouette i downloaded. I exported it as a png from Inkscape. I uploaded it like Justin did in this video. Png to dxf. It turned out very well. Thanks Justin!