AutoCAD 2014 Plotting layout w/3D viewports

[Dinochrome]

I have been "messing around" and reading on the visual styles with no avail.

 

I'm trying to plot a structural detail I've drawn with crisp fine lines.

 

My resolution keeps coming up low-res.

 

I've set all the viewports to realistic. I tried setting the plot dialogue to realistic.

 

My results got almost acceptable by going to "Legacy wireframe".

 

I tried SolProf - It was extra work and didn't give me any better results.

 

...any thoughts? I can feel my hair getting gray-er just sitting here.

 

Thanks,

Bill

[Dinochrome]

....my detail is 3D solids BTW

[ReMark]

AutoCAD 2014. Use the BASEVIEW command. It will create 2D views from your 3D model in your layout.

 

In your 3D modelling workspace click on the Layout tab then look at the Create View panel.

[Dinochrome]

I'm on it - thanks.

[ReMark]

Quick example using BASEVIEW. You can also create sectional and isometric views as well.

[Dinochrome]

OK, The 50 Ft tall Stay-Puff Marshmallow man just appeared.

 

I tried typing in baseview. The reply returned was:

 

Unknown command "BASEVIEW?". Press F1 for help.

 

My "Model Viewports" ribbon tab is de-intensified - I can't access anything there.

 

did this go away in 2014 by chance?

[Dinochrome]

http://docs.autodesk.com/ACD/2013/ENU/index.html?url=files/GUID-04AD2139-51E6-4502-8CB5-B6A38785974B.htm,topicNumber=d30e159445

 

I wasn't on the correct ribbon tab..... Still working on it.

[ReMark]

At the command line it is VIEWBASE. I don't know why AutoDesk set it up that way. You are better off using the Ribbon. And you should be in a layout when you do.

 

[Dinochrome]

OK - I have a 3D view with the BASEVIEW command from the ribbon (can't type that in...)

 

The view is showing my whole assembly. I'd like to clip it down, right click gets me to a rudimentary edit with scale and edge visibility only - and a check/cancel box like Revit.

 

properties pallet shows nothing... ?

[ReMark]

I think you missed one of my posts re: what to type at the command line.

 

"Clip it down"? You mean a sectional view or are you looking for something equivalent to a "clipping plane"?

[Dinochrome]

OK, I used the detail button 3 to the right of the BASE button you have circled in red. I think this is going to work.

[Dinochrome]

I think you missed one of my posts re: what to type at the command line.

 

"Clip it down"? You mean a sectional view or are you looking for something equivalent to a "clipping plane"?

 

Something like a viewport that can be stretched to show more or less of the 3D object.

 

I'm making progress. This seems to be a lot more work than viewports - at least the setup portion.

 

Is there a pay-off in work savings late on?

[Dinochrome]

Man, parts of this look a lot like Revit....

[ReMark]

No equivalent clipping plane. If you have three objects but only need 2D views of one of them you are allowed to specify the particular object.

 

By the way, in 2014 there is a "detail" view option as well. Details can be circular or rectangular. Maybe that will suffice?

 

Unless we know more about what you are doing (and drawing) it would be difficult to answer your other questions.

[Dinochrome]

temp2.pdf

 

I got something now. I used the Base command to make a 3D looking (view?)

 

I used the "Detail" command three over to the right of the "Base" command you have circled.

 

Apparently I had to have the first view to select in which to make the second "Detail" view.

 

Parts of this resemble Revit in my estimation.

 

BASEVIEW on the left. Regular 3D viewport on the right.

 

Something changed though. Now my 3D viewport is plotting nicely.

 

I have no idea what changed.

[Dinochrome]

ReMark

 

Thanks for the help.

 

I think the 3D viewports - fixing their own resolution - is all I needed.

 

I've been trying to warm up to the ribbon (I know - it's been there a long time).

 

The details are getting labeled like Revit. I couldn't copy one, so it is unique. (...for labeling? I suppose).

 

Hopefully this string will help someone else out.

 

[ReMark]

May I ask why you used a notched channel and two U-bolts and not a strut with a pipe clamp?

[Dinochrome]

I have thousands of pounds to support.

[ReMark]

Fair enough. Why not weld a couple of tabs on the pipe and bolt it through the web of the channel thus eliminating the pipe clamps and the second smaller, notched, piece of channel?

[Dinochrome]

It's not a pipe (I know it looks like one).

 

It's a their-stuff, our-stuff issue.

 

This is a proposal.

 

....we shall see if they like it, and then this works.

 

I've done a lot in 3D over the years. I was running Catia back in the early nineties. I've done packaged skids that got shipped to China and India. I ran Coade a few years back. ...also the Autoplant MicroStation add-on for AutoCAD -

 

This plotting thing was a real thorn in my side. I don't know why the regular view ports cleared up. It is set to "2D wireframe" - for Visual Style - on the properties pallet now, and "As Displayed" for the Shade Plot.