Importing Paths Into Photoshop From Sketchup

Overview

The goal is to create a scene in perspective that can be traced in Photoshop using Photoshop brushes.

Exporting artwork from Sketchup

Sketchup

Create some geometry. If it's necessary to come back to a specific view, create an ACT (Advanced Camera Tools) camera to preserve the view.

Best Practice: Export the scene in pieces and then import those pieces as separate layers in Illustrator to make selecting object easier.

Export > 2D Graphic > EPS

Adobe Illustrator

• Open the .eps file. It may be necessary to do some cleanup.
  • Remove any clipping masks by selecting the Clipping Mask in the Layers pane, then Object > Clipping Mask > Release
  • Ungroup the lines by selecting their containing group in the Layers pane, then Object > Group > Ungroup (⌘+⇧+G)
  • There may be a rectangle around the vectors. Delete that shape.
  • Scale down the artwork to fit on the artboard.
• TODO: The vector art comes in with a lot of redundancy. To create the best vector art for use in Photoshop, it would be nice to clean up the vector art in Illustrator, but it is tedious work, and if the geometry is changed in Sketchup, all that work would need to be done all over again.
• Save in Illustrator format.

Photoshop

The simplest way to get the artwork into Photoshop is to copy it in Illustrator, then create a new path in the Paths pane, and paste the vectors as paths.

To trace the vectors using a brush, select the brush, select the path in the Paths pane (or select specific vectors using the Direct Selection tool), and stroke the path.

To stroke the path, either click the Stroke icon at the bottom left of the Paths pane, or from the Paths pane hamburger menu at the upper right, select Stroke. With the latter method, a dialog will pop open with the option to Simulate Pressure which will give a more varied stroke, depending on the brush, if selected.

External Links

See Also

• Workflow - best way to use Sketchup > Illustrator - SkechUcation Forums