Ech725 Posted April 22, 2016 Share Posted April 22, 2016 Hi, I've used AutoCAD primarily for 2D in the past. I am working on enhancing my 3d skills. I wanted to know any tips on how you draft. Let's take a simple example of making a rectangular steel frame out of 1"x1" with four vertical supports and some bolt holes. How do you approach it? Do you: Make a measured rectangle and offset a lot. Make a bunch of rectangles and copy or mirror Use the line tool primarily Is it better to: Draw it all in top view and then extrude or Extrude everything as it's being made What about the bolt holes: Add in 2d and extract or Make some circles-extract and add them to the frame or maybe making some blocks I appreciate any tips on speed and workflow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReMark Posted April 22, 2016 Share Posted April 22, 2016 Extrude is not your only option when it comes to creating 3D models. There is also PressPull, Loft, Sweep and the Polysolid commands. Don't limit yourself. Also keep in mind the Region command. Have you used it? Of equal importance is the use of the solids editing commands. Finally, after you have mastered all that learning how to extract the 2D views from your 3D models will be important as well. As far as workflow and efficiency I think that it is somewhat dependent on what you are creating (how simple or complex). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ech725 Posted April 22, 2016 Author Share Posted April 22, 2016 Appreciate the info. I looked into the region command. Definitely helpful. I usually went to creating a polyline. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReMark Posted April 22, 2016 Share Posted April 22, 2016 Have you started to create 3D models? What field do you work in? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ech725 Posted April 22, 2016 Author Share Posted April 22, 2016 Yes, I've been checking out some tutorials. I do construction drawings for theatrical scenery. In the past, 3D wasn't really needed or Sketchup was the program of choice. So now I'm just trying to restructure the way I approach drafting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rkent Posted April 22, 2016 Share Posted April 22, 2016 (edited) For your example I would first rotate the UCS about the Y axis, draw a 1"x1" rectangle and extrude or PP to the length needed. Copy that the distance needed. Rotate the UCS or use DynUCS and draw a 1"x1" rectangle on the extrusion. Extrude that from one side to the other. If that is where the holes will go then I would get those drawn and use PP to drill the holes. Then copy the 1"x1" sides/supports the number of times needed. If you make individual pieces it will be easier to edit later. Editing is not great in AutoCAD but it has gotten better at least. Experiment with editing by holding the Ctrl key down and picking on a face or an edge to see what is possible using that method. Either keep multiple vports showing the object from various angles or rotate your model often to make sure you are drawing on a plane you actually meant to draw on. You will need to be rotate the UCS a lot in 3D, you can grab it and rotate it where needed, and move it where needed, or create some quick keys to rotate it around and move it. I have quick keys like XX and YY to rotate the UCS quickly by 90 degrees, UO to align to an object, UW to return to the World UCS. And also learn when to turn DynUCS on for drawing quickly on the surface of a solid. I use lots of layers in 3D so I can manipulate the objects how I want and also for display purposes in a layout if I am not using ViewBase commands. Make sure to have the Display the Viewport Controls on and use those for quickly changing to different views and for different visualstyles. Also notice to the left of the Viewport Controls (located in the graphics screen to the upper left) there is a - or + sign, pick on that to find some other handy menu items. ViewPort Controls can be toggled on in Options, 3D Modeling tab, lower left. Don't bother modeling the 1"x1" tube with a hole in the middle unless you just really need that level of detail. It just adds to the drawing size and complicates hidden views with hidden lines showing, etc. Same with any hollow shape, unless it is really needed to be shown don't bother modeling it that way. HTH Edited April 22, 2016 by rkent added words Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Hughes Posted April 23, 2016 Share Posted April 23, 2016 One thing you might want to also try is rather than extruding or press-pulling a square (or rectangular) polyline is to create the solid directly using the Box command. Also Cylinder, Cone, etc. These are on the Home tab od the 3D Basics workspace. I'm not advocating against the other methods, it's just that when constructing a solid "bar" creating a poly rectangle takes 2 picks, or coordinate entries. Then issue the extrude or PP command. Then entering a length. By using "Box" you enter the coordinate for one corner (x,y,z) then the other corner (x,y,z) and you're done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD Mather Posted April 26, 2016 Share Posted April 26, 2016 AutoCAD 2007 Tutorial 8.pdf This was written 10 years ago, but if you can figure out the differences in the interface... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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