Trying to export a Layout into Illustrator (With Layers)

[Eduard_Carbonell_Igl (Eduard Carbonell Iglesias)]

Hi,

I’m trying to export a layout I’ve already organized in Rhino into Illustrator to work on the linework. However, when I open the PDF in Illustrator, the vectors are recognized, but the layers are lost.

Is there a way to keep both the vectors and the layers intact? Is separating by colors my only option?

Thanks,
Eduard

[stevefuchs]

@Eduard_Carbonell_Igl, Welcome! Can you post your Illustrator file and also the resulting Rhino file after import? If the files are too big, you can use https://www.rhino3d.com/upload and put the address of this thread in the upload description.

[Eduard_Carbonell_Igl (Eduard Carbonell Iglesias)]

Of course:
Layout Print Test.rar (12.9 MB)
This is the rhino model itself

So this is the model and i did some make 2d in top view from the 3d model wich is what i’d like to print (Btw know any other pro tip to make 2d 3d models, i usually get some weird lines and i followed most of this post How to Get Make2D to Perform Better [McNeel Wiki]).

Then i make my a3 layout with the drawing to scale and everthng how i’d like it.

Now i print this layot,i belive this is probably where i do something wrong not sure what though.
The way i temporally solved this was just to make a rectangle the size of an a3 scale it 500 for 1:500 scale etc. but this doesnt allow me to have several scales and i wasnt super keen on scaling the drawings themselves, and the export as ai format.

Print test.pdf (547.4 KB)
This is this layout printed

Sample document.ai (740.9 KB)

This is the ai document and how it looks like on ai so basically lines are grouped in drawings but not in layes if i hide we can see that here:

o
This is how the document looks like inside the ai file and the groups so just ungrouped vectors, i could make one layer a color and then group by color but that might be quite time consuming since i’ll have to redo all the make 2d’s

Hope this is usefull to understand the issue

Thx for helping,

Eduard

[wim (Wim Dekeyser)]

Hi Eduard -

@Eduard_Carbonell_Igl

Print test.pdf (547.4 KB)
This is this layout printed

When I open your PDF in Adobe Acrobat Reader, the layers are there and can be used to show and hide curves.

Adobe’s Illustrator product apparently does not. You’d have to contact them about this to find out why that is the case.
-wim

[Eduard_Carbonell_Igl (Eduard Carbonell Iglesias)]

Hey, so i contacted adobe help and basically they said that pdf layers a completely different thing to illustrator layers wich makes sense : Solved: Betreff: Illustrator not recognizing Layers in a V... - Adobe Community - 15013051

I’t would be nice if there was an option to export to illustrator a layout

[Pipouille]

Hi,

This is indeed a difficulty that many users have. I see several possibilities:

Layout to DXF/DWG
This problem will be solved as soon as the page layout can be exported in dxf with a layer hierarchy. The layout will then be imported into Illustrator in dxf and the layers will be recognised.

Export a Layout to DWG

Hello, I need a way to create a 2D DWG file, which exactly resembles a given layout (paper space objects and the visible detail content ) I am using the layout function in Rhino for a project to generate PDF files. My client demands DWG files which are the same as the pdf Layouts. I am using the _HideInDetail and _HideLayersInDetail to manage the visibility of elements. I am doing the dimensions in the paper space, since different layouts require different dimensioning strategies and I do no…

Export layout as dxf

I’d like to export just my layout as a dxf? Is this possible. When I export it now it sends the whole file… I just want the page i designed to export. Thanks

Layout to AI
The best thing would of course be to be able to export the layout directly to .ai. Rhino only offers this export format for the ModelViewport at the moment.

Export Selected Layout to Illustrator

Is there a way to export/plot a layout with it’s lines/layers directly to Illustrator? The only long workaround is to plot to PDF, which doesn’t preserve layers in Illustrator. So, I’ve been selecting lines by colors and recreating layers manually for each drawing. Thanks for any advice you can give!

Export to AI from Layout view?

Hello, I stumbled when I wanted to export a model from the layout view to a AI file: I used the Layout to set the scale, as I was working in meters and needed to print in an A3 paper. Now, with the scaled correctly set I wanted to edit line widths, types, colors, etc. I selected the objects on my detail and clicked on “export selected”, but a “no objects to export” message came up. Is layout only for pdf export and print? Should I create a whole new document in cm, copy paste my model there, s…

Rhino Export format also available for LayoutViewport
In fact, it would be best if the Rhino export formats were also available for LayoutViewport and not just ModelViewport. That way, both wishes would be fulfilled at once.

Affinity Designer
It depends on whether you need adobe specific tools. But one solution might be to abandon Illustrator. Affinity Designer recognises pdf layers. It doesn’t have all the tools of Illustrator, but it’s a good program and more affordable than Adobe.

Workaround in the meantime
Export your page layout in PDF format.
Import this PDF with layers etc… into a new Rhino file.
Export it as a DXF/DWG or AI with layers.
Import the DXF/DWG or AI into Illustrator