3d Drafting inserting a round window! Help!

Here I have subtracted the inner solid from the larger solid to create the finished solid wall.

Here I have sliced the solid wall @ the pitch of the building. Not shown is that I had to switch from this SW isometric view to front view in order to do the slice. I wish I knew how to do it while still in SW?

Just for kicks I added the round window at the location show in the original drawing. I used a circle command and then extruded it and subtracted it.

Again I had to switch to front view. I realize that the DUCS could have been used to make the circle while in SW isometric view here but I wanted to stay with what can be done in V-2004

Rider indicates using 2004. No Extrude line or Slice with surface.

That's too bad. I read about extruding a line like that and thought I would try it that way next time. I remembered that in older versions (I'm 2002), I need to slice by defining a plane, but was hoping that by extruding a line, you'd end up with a rectangle and then be able to pick the corner points.

These newer commands would save some steps though, as now I have to do some construction lines and offsets to create at least the 3 points on the plane I need to define where I would want to slice.

Oh well . . . one more reason I want updated software!

I think it has a lot to do with the history of CAD - how the author first learned. Most books start of like a first grader connecting dots (grid and snap). I turned that off in my second class back in 1987.

That idea makes sense. And I too can't stand the grid and snap feature.

I was amazed at the number of books and tutorials out there on every single release of AutoCAD when I had to dive into this a couple months back. I understand that in creating a new book each year or so, the authors may not have time to restructure the whole book, but perhaps a better contrast/comparison of the two approaches would be a useful addition to these books.

Question for ReMark,

I hadn't used slice with the "surface" option before so after seeing your example I played with it some.

I am trying to understand when it works better than plain old slice...situations you find it ideal?

I did discover by accident that I could slice partway through an object by extruding the line to a dimension with less depth than the object being sliced. That definitely gives me ideas.

-Thanks

I have to admit that it was JDM that put me on to Slice using the Surface option. Before that I used to use the 3-point option.