SVG and DXF to a STEP solid

A solid, not just a sketch

Skip the sketch and give your CAD tool a solid: ShapeMason raises the closed profiles of an SVG or DXF to a depth and writes a STEP file. Holes stay holes, and circular arcs become true cylindrical faces you can select, resize and fillet, rather than rings of flat facets.

Before and after

Before: logo.svg	After: logo.step

The sample logo.svg extruded 3 mm, seen from above. The outline and the holes in it become one solid; the open curve (red) is ignored.

Steps

In the web app

1. Open shapemason.com and drop the SVG or DXF on the page, or use Open Files.
2. Choose Extrude (STEP) and set Extrude › Depth in mm.
3. Choose Convert. The 3D preview shows the solid first; the STEP downloads.

In the app for Mac, iPad and iPhone

1. Drop the file on the window, or open it with + on iPad and iPhone.
2. Choose Extrude (STEP) and set Depth.
3. Choose Convert (⌘R on a Mac).

On the command line

shapemason extrude logo.svg --depth 3
shapemason extrude plate.dxf --depth 4

Heights per layer or color

Every layer starts at z = 0 and rises to its own depth, so colors can become heights: Layers from › Color makes one layer per fill color, and Extrude › Layer depths gives each its own depth.

shapemason extrude badge.svg --layer-by color --depth "FILL_FF0000=3,FILL_000000=1.5,default=1"

What it does

• Nests profiles. An outline, the holes in it and islands inside those holes are worked out by containment. Each outline with its holes is one solid.
• Writes true arcs. Straight edges give flat faces, circular arcs give cylindrical faces, and other curves are flattened within 0.05 mm.
• Reads DXF too. Lines, arcs, circles, ellipses, polylines with bulges, splines and blocks, in the file's own units unless you set Units.
• Ignores open paths, with a note in the report.