3D Hidden layout viewport to illustrator as vector

I have recently started using AutoCad to create (simple) 3D geometry and create 2D wireframe perspective views of that for use in instruction manuals designed in Adobe Illustrator.

Now if i export a layout with a viewport that has been set to 3D hidden view, it is exported as a raster image, I can not get it to be exported as a vector. I can get a vector if I export as 3D wireframe but I need the 3D hidden view, not the full see/through wireframe.

Now i found in the help file the FLATSHOT command which does the trick but that is a fair lot of extra work and if I change the model afterwards, I have to run FLATSHOT again. Also FLATSHOT does not include any 2D lines which I have drawn as "guidelines" how parts should fit together (exploded view).

I wish to use the layout viewports to keep my scaling uniform, that's why I don't want to export from the model tab.

Anybody know of an easy way to achieve what I am after?

Thank you,

Theo

You don't get the effect of 3D hidden view, if you have your objects in wireframe. 3D hidden only works on solid objects. You can put the lines that you don't want to be shown in a seperate layer and freeze tha layer in the view port or completely. You might have to break some of the lines and put them in seperate layers. depending on your drawing it might be a lot of work. Can I ask why didn't you try solid?

I wasn't clear enough here! It are all solids of which I need wireframe views for the instruction manuals.

3D hidden gives me the perfect views just that I can not export them as a vector image to be able to use and edit them in Illustrator. I could use the raster images but those I can not edit afterwards (change colours and lineweights) in illustrator any longer.

I'm doing it via the FLATSHOT method now but it seems it could be so much easier just exporting the layout viewports.

Not that I have tried this before (just an idea). Try printing the 3dhidden view to pdf (cute pdf writer or ...) and edit the pdf file in Ai

I tried that but the pdf is rastered as well so that doesn't work either!

Another option is to have Illustrator trace the rastered image but that doesn't give good vector paths especially for arcs and circles.

(another idea) In model space hide, then use bmpout. It should create a raster image of the objects you select.

Another option is to print from a layout associated with a DXB plotter (Search AutoCAD help for DXB). This method works with all types of geometry.

It is not ideal – circles and other curves become faceted – but does give a bit of a head start towards a flattened vector setup.

The attached is the 3D House.dwg, found in the sample folder, flattened via dxb.

Flattened 3D House.dwg

I must be doing something wrong here: all my DXB plots that i have tried are full wireframes (all lines are visible) and not like the flattened view with hidden lines in the sample of the house.

this sample though is exactly what I am after.

The paperspace viewports were set to hidden via the MVIEW – HIDEPLOT - ON sequence of commands. I’m not sure if that makes any difference or not.

That doesn't make a difference, I still get all the hidden lines in the dxb plot. Could it be a version issue? The flattened hosue sample you made shows as an Autocad 2004 file. Could it be that 2010 that i am using wouldn't have the same output fucntionality? Just guessing here though!

This is the setup I used.

I had to eliminate the majority of the model, to get it under the 250K limit.

3D House_w_DXB.dwg

been away for a couple of days so i didn't get round to trying it before but I did today and it the house sample works! And now it works on in my drawing too. No idea what i did wrong before but now I get the perfect views I was after and in a vector format!

Thanks for your help!

Here’s the process I use to make great vector images from AutoCAD for use in MS Word and Powerpoint. You might find it useful as well. I’ll assume you have a 3D solid model that you want a line drawing of with the hidden lines removed. This technique will work with any AutoCAD drawing.

1. Give the dispsilh command and set the default to 1 (this removes the facet edges when the hide command is given).

2. Set the Visual style to 2D wireframe.

3. Give the hide command

4. Select all the object you want to copy.

5. Use CTRL-C to copy the graphics to the clipboard.

6. Open your Word (or Power Point) document.

7. Use Paste SPECIAL and select the Picture (Windows metafile option). Do NOT use the default Paste option which is AutoCAD Drawing Object.

8. Select the picture in Word, right-click and choose Edit Picture.

9. You can now select the vectors and change their weight and color. I suggest making the lines black and weight 0.75 point for normal printing. You can also use different line weights at this point.

10. Select all the lines and use the Group option and lock the Aspect Ratio so you can scale the drawing.

If cylinders and arcs appear too crude then change the value of the Rendered object smoothness from 0.5 to 1.0 or more (in AutoCAD go to Options, the Display tab) before you copy and paste.

~Lee

this works good too! And even better, I can also copy and paste directly to Illustrator as a vector image.

The only thing that sometimes is a problem for me is cilinders and revolved solids. When copying these, a git a bunch of diagional cross lines (no idea what their official name is, I am new to 3d and CAD!) on the side of the cilinder running from top to bottom included, and I have to delete them in Illustrator manually but that is not too hard.

Still the best for me would be to be able to export 3D hidden views from a layout as a vector directly (then I can e.g. easily have the exact same scale for every image I need), maybe in newer versions of autocad! But with the tips found here I can do the job very good as is.

K., Be sure to give the dispsilh command first and set the variable to 1 (the default is 0). This is the display silhouette command and it controls the display of the facet edges of the tessalated model Autocad generates for displaying solid models. A tessalated model represents surfaces as simple triangles which can be quickly displayed, shaded, and used by the display software and hardware to determine what surfaces are visible and which are not. ~ Lee