708 Part IV Drawing in Three Dimensions

Figure 22-35: The final perspective view.

Laying Out 3D Drawings

Laying out a 3D drawing on a layout tab is an important aspect of viewing a 3D drawing, because the layout determines the final output of the drawing. AutoCAD offers three commands that help you lay out your 3D drawing in paper space layouts: SOLVIEW, SOLDRAW, and SOLPROF. You can find them on the Solids toolbar. (Chapter 17 explains layouts.)

The three commands that I cover in this section are available only in AutoCAD.

Using SOLVIEW to lay out paper space viewports

SOLVIEW automates the process of creating floating viewports and orthogonal views (views at right angles from each other).

To start SOLVIEW, choose Setup View from the Solids toolbar. SOLVIEW has five options:

UCS enables you to choose the UCS to work from, as well as set the scale, center, and clipping corners of a floating viewport. Use this option first. After you choose a UCS, type in a scale. You can change this later if you want. SOLVIEW then prompts you for the center of the view. Pick a point and wait until the 3D model regenerates. SOLVIEW continues to prompt you for a view center, letting you pick points until you like what you see. Press Enter to continue the prompts. The clipping corners are the corners of the viewport. At the Enter view name: prompt, type a name. SOLVIEW creates the first viewport.

Choose a view name that describes the view, such as Top, Side, or East Elevation. This helps you when you start creating orthogonal views.

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Ortho creates orthogonal views. At the Specify side of viewport to project: prompt, pick one of the edges of the first viewport. Again, choose a view center and clip the corners to create the viewport. Type a name for this new view.

If you don’t see the model properly when you pick the view center, continue with the prompts, picking clipping corners where you want them. (This problem can happen when you have several separate 3D objects in your drawing.) Then pick the viewport (in model space with tile off) and do a Zoom Extents. You can then pan and zoom as you want.

Auxiliary creates inclined views. At the Specify first point of inclined plane: prompt, pick a point in one of the viewports. At the Specify second point of inclined plane: prompt, pick another point in the same viewport. The two points are usually at an angle to create the inclined view. At the Specify side to view from: prompt, pick a point. You then pick a view center and clipping corners, and then specify a view name.

Section creates cross-sections. At the Specify first point of cutting plane: prompt, pick a point in a viewport. At the Specify second point of cutting plane: prompt, pick a point on the opposite side of the model to create a cross-section. You then pick a side to view from, and enter the view scale, a view center, clipping corners, and a view name.

eXit exits the command. (This option is not visible in the command prompt.) You can exit the command after using an option and restart the command to use another option, or you can use all of the options and then exit the command at the end.

Figure 22-36 shows an example with a top view, an auxiliary view, and a section.

Figure 22-36: An example of using SOLVIEW.

Using SOLDRAW to create hidden lines and hatching

SOLDRAW uses the views created by SOLVIEW, and creates 2D profiles that include solid and hidden lines to represent the profiles and hatching for sectional views. You must use SOLVIEW before using SOLDRAW.

710 Part IV Drawing in Three Dimensions

To use SOLDRAW, choose Setup Drawing from the Solids toolbar. SOLDRAW puts you into a paper space layout and prompts you to select objects, which means floating view-

ports. You can select all of them if you want. SOLDRAW then proceeds to automatically create the profile views. Figure 22-37 shows an example of the hatching created for a sectional view.

Figure 22-37: The result of using

SOLDRAW on a sectional view.

SOLDRAW uses hatch pattern defaults to define the hatch. You may have to change these settings using HATCHEDIT.

Note SOLVIEW creates a whole set of new layers in your drawing. SOLDRAW freezes your original layers, leaving visible only the layers that are needed to display the profile in that paper space viewport. SOLVIEW creates a special layer that you can use for dimensioning — one for each view that you create. For a view named front, the layer is named front-dim. You can use these dimensioning layers to create dimensions in paper space.

Using SOLPROF to create profiles

The SOLPROF command creates profiles like SOLDRAW, but you don’t need to use SOLVIEW first. In addition, SOLPROF is more interactive than SOLDRAW. To start the

command, choose Setup Profile from the Solids toolbar. SOLPROF prompts you to select objects.

Note When you start SOLPROF, you must have already created a floating viewport, and you must be in model space.

At the Display hidden profile lines on separate layer? [Yes/No] <Y>: prompt, type Y or N. By specifying Yes, you give yourself the capability of freezing or turning off the layer that contains hidden parts of the model. You can also hide other 3D objects behind the one that you’re profiling.

At the Project profile lines onto a plane? [Yes/No] <Y>: prompt, type Y or N. If you choose Yes, SOLPROF creates 2D objects. If you choose No, SOLPROF creates 3D objects.

At the Delete tangential edges? [Yes/No] <Y>: prompt, type Y or N. A tangential edge is the meeting of two contiguous faces. Most drafting applications don’t require you to show tangential edges.

Figure 22-38 shows the result of SOLPROF after freezing the layer that contains the original object; SOLPROF creates its own layers for the profile.

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Figure 22-38: A profile created with

SOLPROF.

Figure 22-39 shows the result of SOLPROF after also freezing the layer that SOLPROF created which contains the hidden parts of the model. In this case, the layer was named PH-159. Look for the H, which stands for hidden. The last part of the layer name is the handle of the object that you’re profiling, and so it differs for each object.

Figure 22-39: A profile created with SOLPROF after freezing the layer that contains the hidden parts of the model.

You can combine viewports created with SOLPROF and viewports created with SOLVIEW and SOLDRAW. For example, you can create two orthogonal views with SOLVIEW and SOLDRAW, and then add a viewport and use SOLPROF to create another view.