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Generate 2D Output from 3D AutoCAD Models in a Flash
23 Feb, 2011 By: Bill FaneLearning Curve tutorial: When you need 2D working drawings, the fastest, most accurate approach is to start in 3D.
It was a clear, sunny morning. Captain LearnCurve's son Trevor was leading the way in a brand-new 2011 Bentley SuperSport, while the Captain was following in an equally new 2011 Bentley GT Speed.
The Captain and his son were on a freeway on-ramp. Being that they were in Canada, the speed limit was posted at 100 kilometers per hour (km/h), which works out to 62.5 mph. They both hit the gas and watched the speedometers climb through 80, 90, 100, 110, 120, 125, pretty much as fast as you can read those numbers…
That's it! This month's topic! Speed! More particularly, the need for speed in AutoCAD.
Hold it! Back up a second! What's this about two brand-new Bentleys? Doesn't the Captain already have an '89 Bentley Turbo R to go with his '37 Rolls-Royce Phantom III?
Correct. The Captain and his gorgeous wife had driven the Bentley from Vancouver to Toronto for the Rolls-Royce Owner's Club annual meet. Their son and his wife Jenn had flown to New York for a couple of days and had then joined them in Toronto. After the meet they drove the car home while the Captain and his wife flew home. At the meet, Bentley had four demo cars available, but unfortunately a couple of their employees had called in sick, so the duo was turned loose without chaperones.
Okay, let's get back to speed in AutoCAD. Would you believe that it only took me five minutes to create this 2D working drawing? Now all we need is dimensions, center lines, and the cutting plane line, and we're done.
Okay, I cheated a little bit. I started from a 3D model, but it had taken less than two hours to produce the model.
You have probably all heard the line "The world is 3D (except for pizzas and roadkill); why do you still work in 2D?" The answer is that a great many applications still need 2D working drawings. Yes, the 3D printing and CNC machining processes let us go directly from art to part, but quality assurance personnel need drawings showing the critical dimensions to be checked, and so far there isn't a matter replicator big enough to produce a full-size bridge or office tower (although I believe there is one that will produce small houses).
Having said that, as the 3D tools in AutoCAD evolve, it is becoming truer and truer that the fastest way of producing 2D working drawings is to generate them from 3D solid models. A further advantage is that the resulting drawings will contain far fewer, if any, graphical errors. A 3D solid model can only exist in the computer if the real 3D solid can exist. Yes, I can model something that is prohibitively expensive or even impossible to manufacture, but it is still possible for that real solid to exist.
There have been a great many articles written extolling the virtues of designing and working in 3D, and many more on how to create and edit 3D models. I'm going to come at it from the other side: In this article I'll start from an existing 3D model and show you how easy it is to create a 2D working drawing from it. Hopefully this will convince you that 3D is indeed the way to go.
There are three ways to produce 2D output from a 3D model in AutoCAD, each with its advantages and disadvantages. We'll work through them one at a time from oldest to newest so you can see how each one works. In each case we'll use the same 3D model, which is a little simpler than my previous example.
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AutoCAD Tips!
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