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I have a finished 3D model in AutoCAD (although I did import it from another program), and I want to create the standard orthographic views as easily as possible. This tutorial looked perfect http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-create-a-2d-view-from-a-3d-model-in-autocad.html but i ran into some trouble. At step 5, where it says to press Base or use the command VIEWBASE i get a window that will ask me to open up some kind of inventor file. The tutorial does not acknowledge this, but the rest of the instructions and result seem like just what I need! Anybody know how to do it in this way or in some other easy way? Any help is appreciated considering I need this as part of my project pretty soon. Please try and be clear and beginner friendly with instructions, I am only a student and have only been using AutoCAD for two years.

Can anyone help me find a good resource on how to create a 3D DXF file from scratch? I am a developer working on a tool that can create cylindrical shapes from schematic drawing coordinates.

Refer to this thread as background: http://forum.123dapp.com/123d/topics/how_to_i_slice_a_3d_into_a_2d_newbie_question I am a noob. Please do not assume I know much about AutoCad--honestly about an hours worth is all I know. I do have a couple of reference books. Here is the problem: I have a 3D model in the format of 123D (Freeware by Autocad). I converted this to .DXF then imported into AutoCad 2012 and saved it in .DWG format. The 3D model is of a crocodile. I wish to take cross-sections of this model so to generate width traverse sections from the longitudinal head to the tail of the animal. This is so I can form a model of the animal out of wire. So how to best do this? Apparently the model in .DXF/.DWG became a 2D "mesh" so I must first convert to a solid? (I say 'became' because originally it was in .123c format, but my version of Autocad 2012 does not recognize this format, so I had to convert to .DXF, which I believe rendered the 3D into a 2D mesh) Or can AutoCad take a 2D "mesh" and generate cross-sections? Top-down general advice is good but even better is a detailed step-by-step explanation of how to do this. I did "select" the entire animal and tried to make a "solid" out of it using a button icon on the ribbon panel (as opposed to a "surface") but I think I stopped prematurely--there was no progress bar so hard to tell. So then I guess you generate a cross-section once you generate the solid by doing what? is there a dialog box that ask for your end points (of the plane, defined by a line?) I appreciate any help I can get. I will check this thread in a few days as this is not urgent. Thank you very much.