Converting a plan to 3D???

[paddy1985]

Hello guys,

I am relatively new to Autocad and i draw plans for a modular building company in 2D. The company now wants 3D visualisations of each of their buildings. I'm currently using Autocad 2010 and i want to know how to convert my 2d house plan into a 3d model?

Can someone please take me through each step in a clear and concise manner.

Thanks in advance!

[stevsmith]

Hello Paddy,

The best and quickest way to produce a 3d drawing of the walls is to convert all your wall lines to polylines using the mpedit & join commands then using extrude to give you a height to the walls.
Or in 2010 you can use the presspull command.
This will get you started off.

Can you upload a pdf file of the plan and side elevation to give us an idea of the roof line etc. then we can give you some more better directions.
(p.s you need a minimum of 10 posts to upload files)

[ReMark]

Unfortunately there is no "magic" button that will automatically transform a 2D plan view of a building into 3D. As mentioned above walls can be given height using Extrude or Press/Pull. Another way to construct a wall is via the Polysolid command. To create openings in solid walls one must either use Press/Pull or create, extrude and then subtract a given shape (ex. - a rectangle for a window or door opening).

You might consider picking up a good after-market 3D AutoCAD book such as AutoCAD 2009 and AutoCAD LT 2009 - No Experience Required by Jon McFarland. The book takes the reader through a series of exercises to construct a 3D cabin with step-by-step instructions. The author's own drawing files are available online for download.

To work efficiently in a 3D environment it also helps to know how to manipulate the UCS.

[ReMark]

OK...knock it off. Bumping your post count this way is frowned upon.

[stevsmith]

OK...knock it off. Bumping your post count this way is frowned upon.

lol, I was not trying to invoke this
Can't wait for Rod's decision on what to do with this.

[dbroada]

my understanding was that you could submit attachments at anytime, you only needed 10 posts to create links. Has this changed?

[Cad64]

Paddy, I've deleted all of your "Trial posts". I'm not sure why you did that, but please don't do it again.

If you want to post an image, you can do so at any time. You don't need 10 posts: http://www.cadtutor.net/forum/showthread.php?t=8863

[JD Mather]

You might also type in polysolid hit Enter on the keyboard (give it a minute for the command do load) and then hit F1 in the upper left corner of the keyboard.

[stevsmith]

Paddy, I've deleted all of your "Trial posts". I'm not sure why you did that, but please don't do it again.

If you want to post an image, you can do so at any time. You don't need 10 posts: http://www.cadtutor.net/forum/showthread.php?t=8863

Sorry for the misleading information.

[cadvision]

have a look at Plantracer from csoft.com It is designed for taking raster to 3D, so you are already one step there.