Lisp tools for isometric drawing

[CALCAD]

I recently had a need to draw isometric views to complement some 2D drawings
with orthographic views. I was not familiar with Autocad's isometric snap
mode, so I did some reading of help files and played with the related commands.
It took some getting used to but after a while I was able to produce a passable
isometric drawing. Along the way, it occurred to me that some lisp programs
might be helpful with the isometric drawing process, so I wrote some. The
attached zip file contains the collection of lisp tools and descriptions that
may be useful. Feel free to modify the code any way you like.
It will be argued that with the advent of 3D CAD it is unnecessary to draw a 2D isometric when it could be automatically produced by the software. But I'm pretty sure that there are still a lot of CAD users producing 2D drawings with little motive to learn to draw in 3D and a 2D isometric is appropriate for these drawings. I considered writing a short tutorial, but to avoid re-inventing that wheel I would suggest that if you are not familiar with isometric mode please browse to
http://www.scribd.com/doc/49636065/1...etric-Drafting
for a very nice introduction to isometric drawing by Ralph Grabowski.

isotools_lsp.ZIP

[irneb]

The problem with isometric is it's usually a bit difficult getting text and dims to look correct. You tend to have to modify individual dims/text to match the iso-pane you want them to "appear" in. E.g. using the DimEdit Oblique and draw a line in one of the ISO panes. Then you also might want the text to appear as if drawn isometrically (instead of orthogonally) by adjusting the Obliqueing property, but that requires some further mods for dims.

Whereas if you draw directly on the 3d objects then the text & dims will also be drawn correctly as well. And if it's just a few lines (instead of true solids) you can still draw them in 3d.

But it's up to you if you want 2d/3d drawings. And with something like those ISOtools you get around most of ISO's problems. You'll need some extras to get the text/dims things to work that way as well.

[CALCAD]

Yes it's true that dimensioning in isometric involves a lot of setting up text and dimension styles. There is information about that in the link I provided. For my purposes, I only dimension in the orthographic views. The isometric is only for easier visualization of the parts for the shop people. If you need to do many isometric drawings and want more support than the isotools provide, you might want to look here :
http://www.cwattsdesign.com/isomaker-pro.htm
I'm not endorsing this software. I've not used it, but it appears to be professional level with a lot of options.

[19cruthik68]

CALCAD, where will i put those lisp files inside that zip folder? Actually dont have any idea about that but i heard it already, where is the exact location of the folder i will put those things and how will i launch it in autocad? thanks bro.

[ReMark]

Create a new folder and call it MyLisp or CustomLisp. Put any lisp routines you download or create in the folder. Then go to Options > Files and Folders and make sure the path to the folder is listed in the Support File Search Path. Autolisp routines can be loaded in a number of ways. One option is via the APPLOAD command. Other options explained here...

http://lee-mac.com/runlisp.html

[kramerO]

Thanks for sharing, CALCAD.
Isometric and 3D are two different things.

[ReMark]

Yes they are but it is possible to generate a 2D isometric view from a 3D object. You'll still have to apply the same principles when it comes to dimensioning the isometrics no matter what method is used to generate them.