Illustrator Working with DXFs

[Aron]

Sorry... but I'm completely new to Illustrator. I know Corel, but that's not what my company uses. Anyway - In Illustrator I need to open a DXF that was exported from a CAD system, then select the outline shapes and do a gradient stipple fill. I'm guessing I need to select the line segments and join them first to create the area to be filled, but I can't seem to figure out how to join them. Any tips would be greatly appreciated!

 

[hawkeye]

Without seeing exactly what you are working with I can only guess. Two suggestions:
The Pathfinder function can be used to join shapes in different ways.
The Shape Builder tool to selectively connect areas.

 

[Aron]

Thanks... I'll give it a shot. Can't share any pictures because they haven't loaded my software yet. I've been "borrowing" someone else's workstation to try to get this done when they can spare it. Hopefully soon...

 

[dv8_fx]

I use Corel to work with DXF's so I can't say much about Illustrator.

But here's something to help you on your way..... http://help.adobe.com/en_US/illustr...a.html#WS4E460ED4-933D-4214-9735-4197A55C03D9

 

[Aron]

Yeah, I'm much more comfortable in Corel, but the company I work for has a very strict policy on validating software and Illustrator is already in house. Thanks for the link. I took a quick look and it seems there's a lot of info in there that will really help me out. It's going to take a while to read thru it all but I really appreciate it!

 

[dv8_fx]

You're welcome.

As hawkeye mentioned the Pathfinder and Shape builder tools are highly effective. Get acquainted with those and it will speed up your workflow.

 

[Aron]

Thank you all for your help. I was able to select and join the line segments using your advice above. Now here's my next step: I need to shade my outlined shapes. The example below is what I'm trying to mimic. The difference being this photo shows a screen printed item, and mine will be laser etched. According to my laser guy... his software will only import dxf. So what I'm trying to do is use a dot stipple and I'm guessing I need to somehow create that pattern and then apply a gradient to it? If you're interested, the item is an anodized aluminum tray that holds surgical instruments. I'm open to doing this in either Illustrator or Photoshop - as long as I can output it as a dxf.

Please let me know if you think this should be in a new thread. Thanks again for all your help.