Adobe Illustrator: Extract mesh faces from Blender Freestyle SVG

Question

I've created this very simple model in Blender using Freestyle Linesets. I've exported it as SVG using the Freestyle SVG Exporter. Now, I try to color some of the faces in Adobe Illustrator CC.

The path consists of tons of anchor points as can be seen here:

So, I've used Object -> Path -> Simplify. I thought I could easily go ahead and color the faces. However, there's still one problem:

There's not just one closed path for every face. When I drag the paths apart a little, you can see where they actually go and that oftentimes multiple anchor-points lie exactly on top of each other. I've tried to join, but this only works for the start/end of a path.

Is there any easy way to get the paths to form individual faces (rectangular shapes), so that I could color them individually? Of course, for this simple shape, I could redraw the faces with the pencil tool. I'm just wondering if there's a more elegant solution to this...

Note that - to my knowledge - Blender Freestyles don't support coloring faces when we still want to export as SVG, that's why I try to do the coloring in Illustrator in the first place.

Answer 1

After simplifying, Select All and then use the Live Paint Bucket Tool to click each face and fill it with a color, any color.

After you've clicked all the faces, expand the Live Paint Object (via the button at the top of the screen). This will result in a shape for each face rather than merely strokes defining faces.

• You can also probably use the Shape Builder Tool in a similar fashion, without color. I'm uncertain if Shape Builder will result in a collection of shapes easily the way the Live Paint Bucket Tool will. Theoretically it should, but this depends much on the artwork.

• The Pathfinder Panel operations may also assist, specifically the Merge operation. However, this again depends upon the actual construction. Pathfinder doesn't like strokes for many operations. So my initial impression is Pathfinder may not suffice. I post this because it will work for some artwork.