exporting 3D to 2D

[darn halo]

Hi all,

I've been working with autocad for the last 6 years or so and i often get the feeling autocad isn't made for 3D. Normally I have a somewhat complex model with 3D-piping, beams machines and other plant things. All in blocks and solids, and just using vanilla autocad. Each model is normally accompanied by 5-10 layout tabs with different views and crossections made from "3D-clip".

Now assume I need a 2D- top view of floor 2 (.dwg) to send to the architects how would i go about doing this?

My current workflow is the following:

Save file under a different name.

Explode all.

Slice twice to extract the floor I want.

Use flatshot.

 

Not ideal. There are so many commands i feel come close like like exportlayout or viewbase but they never really work as i would like.

 

 

 

 

 

[f700es]

Have you explored AutoCAD's Viewbase command? You could also set up viewports with certain hidden views.

[SLW210]

I use SOLVIEW/SOLDRAW, SOLPROF and SECTIONVIEW if setting up a Viewport doesn't work. Viewbase on large 3D drawings seem to be very large in file size for me.

[darn halo]

I have a while ago, dont remember exactly but as i recall it had problems with either xrefs or blocks. Also the fact that a view could not be exploded for hands on adjustments.

[phuynh]

Couple of posts maybe your interest, see

 

[ammobake]

There are are also addons that can accomplish this task in the autodesk app store.  Also, there are some LISP routines that will set up customized views for you (I think I saw one just a day or two ago being discussed in the LISP section).

 

In the old days (like 15 years ago) we would commonly use Solidworks for 3d modeling/rendering because it was superior in some ways depending on what you are drawing.  We would have multiple people working on different assemblies for one project at any given time with no issues.  And the views/drawings were really easy to set up.  It takes a little learning but it's basically is a mouse-only program (although there are shortcut keys).  We could also assign materials and run simulated load testing on each part using this thing called Cosmos (I think) which was a solidworks add-on.

 

We would then build a prototype in our shop and do our own real world load-testing.  But we were using carbon fiber components, aluminum, fiberglass, crazy stuff and we did it all in a huge warehouse.  We would build a prototype for various 3-letter gov agencies to suit their needs with the idea being a lightweight, portable shelter that can be used for command and control, medical purposes, etc..  We could even model it so it would break down and fit on various cargo aircraft (meeting the pallet size requirements).

 

The client would put in orders that would get fabricated in the lower 48 (I'm in Alaska).

 

Sry went off on a tangent there.

 

-ChriS

[odachek]

Usually people use Navisworks for buildings like that.