"Explode" 3D design

Is it possible to "explode" a 3D design into the separate objects? Eg. designing a cabinet in 3D and then automatically generate a textual or visual list of the different components and their dimensions - perhaps even transfer the different parts to a given specified area (like a sheet of plywood) and optimize the placement of the given objects?

I'm very new to ACAD and it's lingo, so I apologize if this has been discussed already or if I posted in the wrong thead

All help is appreciated! Thanks!

Using plain AutoCAD? No.

I guess I have to qualify that answer by adding the words ...not without some preplanning to begin with.

Yes, it is possible, make each part an individual 3D object, you could make it a block and add information.

It better be possible, because the only other option is that my copy of Autocad is broke. Because I do that just about every day, other than the optimising bit, but even that is just copying a list out of excel that was automatically created with ATTEXT, into an optimising program.

neco:

Is this what you are describing?

It can be done in AutoCAD just not automatically at the push of a button. It takes more work in AutoCAD than it might take in Inventor for example.

ReMark of course I can't , It's not something that is standard in Autocad, but it is possible by building up a library of blocks that have all the smart's built in. I spend a great part of time drawing cabinets, and I certainly don't want to spend even more time creating cutting lists for materials, so I use blocks that hold all the info about sizes, materials, edgings. So once a drawing is complete and approved it only needs running a macro to get all that info out of the drawing and ready for placing into an excel sheet. I do realise the OP is probably hoping that Autocad can do it automagically (it can't) but with planning it certainly can be used to do that. And as far as optimising goes as I said, we do that with a secondary program, but the actual data is contained in the original block in the drawing. So you get something like this where for each item the size, material etc are all included in the block the blocks also include information about cutting grooves or drilling for dowels.

EDIT - What happened to your other post ??

So from what you said Steve I gather this is something that takes some thought, some planning, some time to initially set up, test and refine then, and only then will it make the complex task "easier". Is that about it in a nutshell?

I took down my other posts as they were too ahhhhhhhhhh......confrontational?

I didn't see it as confrontational.

But yes it takes time, as far as I am aware programs like Inventor are not quick at this sort of thing either, and once done its reusable, also adapting existing blocks is usually an awful lot quicker than starting from scratch each time. The payback though in production time is well worth the effort.

I guess we'll have to ask the OP what he knows about creating and using blocks be they 2D, 3D and/or dynamic.

First off thank you for all the answers! Like I mentioned in the original post I'm completely new to ACAD, so I'm not sure I can answer all of your questions or even fully understand your suggestions. Bear with me - I'll get there eventually

In regards to what I was looking for steven-g comes the closest - extracting info from the individual part to make cutting lists. Preferably a visual cutting list. From what I can gather from the thread the optimization of the cutting list is done in a secondary program.

As far as designing my cabinet so far I've started with a 2D rectangle and used the extrude command to set the height - from there I've build the cabinet from individual parts. I'm not sure whether each part constitutes as a block, but from your descriptions that's what i should use, so that on my 'read up on list' - any good resources i should check out?

Assuming the design has been build from blocks which command or function do you use to extract the info and just out of curiosity which program do you use to optimize the cutting lists?

Once again thanks a million for the help - I have a couple of days coming where I'm near the the internets, so I be able to read your replies and respond

I'm probably not the best person to ask, because using LT I have to use different methods than are available to full Autocad, but that is basically how I do it, each part is built up that way except they are made as dynamic blocks, with attributes containing the sizes - length and width as well as other info like materials. I then use the attext command to get a list of the attributes from each block, and use excel to sort it into an ordered list, sorted by material types and thickness's (it doesn't take long). We use a program called Ardis for optimising which is used to control our panel saw. Full Autocad has the dataextract command, but I have no idea how that actually works, but I would imagine it is a lot easier than having to prepare blocks with attributes, so I would start by reading up on that command.

Steven-g you got me thinking there, and I tried to do it with data extraction, which I am reasonably adept at,

but not easily, for sure.

Steven: The OP would probably benefit from an actual example of one of your blocks.

Are you using AutoCAD Architecture as your profile indicates?

If so, you may have other options, which would best be answered by someone familiar with that program.

As I mentioned before, full Autocad no doubt has much easier methods, here is an example, it's not actually one I use (they are in Dutch anyway) and contain a bit more info, but this should give the idea. This took me about 15 minutes to put together from scratch and I probably have 30 or 40 variations in my library (rebates, miters, raised panels, etc) so yeah it takes a while to setup.

BasicBlock.dwg

Once again thanks to all. I'll look into the data extraction and the attext command as well - I just had a quick look on youtube and the data extraction seems relatively straight forward - no doubt it's not but I'll be optimistic for now

@steven-g: thanks for taking to time to make the example box for me - I'll use to play around with the extraction I'm pretty sure your method is exactly what I was looking for.

@ReMark: thanks for helping with finding a workaround in spite of your initial concise message

Are you using AutoCAD Architecture as your profile indicates?

 

If so, you may have other options, which would best be answered by someone familiar with that program.

I guess you missed my earlier post.

AutoCAD Architecture has the ability to create AEC objects as well as other options not available in plain AutoCAD, you may want to explore those options.