AutoCAD 2D to 3D Made Easy: Tuesday Tips With Frank

2025-01-21T15:00:00Z

Are you hesitant to make the move into AutoCAD’s 3D tools? Although it’s had 3D capabilities for decades, most people still think of AutoCAD as a 2D drafting program. What if I told you there was a way to create 3D solids so that you could better visualize your project but still draw them in your tried-and-true 2D orthographic projection?

Well, you can, and with just a couple of tools. In fact, I’m going to use a home project of mine as an example of AutoCAD 2D to 3D. Picture my house with a couple of columns on either side of the entry porch to the front door. Also, picture the bases of those columns (a square piece of a 2×10 – builders are cheap) being rotted and an eyesore due to weathering over the years. The rot even went up a few inches into the columns. Thank goodness they weren’t weight-bearing.

My job was to design a solution that would replace the bases with larger “boxes,” allowing me to remove the rotten wood at the bottom of the columns. It was time to fire up good old AutoCAD and design a solution.

I’ll simplify it for you here, but after drafting up the current as-built conditions, I realized it would be better to visualize the solution in 3D. That brings us to our subject today: Extrude and Presspull.

First Things First for AutoCAD 2D to 3D

First, you’ll need to know where your tools are. AutoCAD comes with two built-in workspaces for your 3D needs: 3D Basics and 3D Modeling. Your tools can be found in either.

Screenshot in AutoCAD of 3D Basics and 3D Modeling menus

The workflow is shown in the animated image below but let me explain it first. As I said, you’ll start in 2D. In my case, I had a rectangle (the original base) and a circle (the cross-section of the column). There is nothing very 3D about those common objects.

Once you’ve changed your workspace, you’ll want to view your work in 3D. AutoCAD makes that easy. I suggest using the View Controls pulldown menu to choose one of the pre-set Isometric views. I use SW Isometric in the example video.

Now, select the EXTRUDE command from the ribbon. Select your rectangle and hit enter to stop the selection. Pull the mouse up or down to extrude the rectangle into a 3D solid. Click to accept or type in your distance. Just like that, you’ve turned your 2D drafting skills into 3D modeling. Congratulations!

PRESSPULL works the same way in general. Both have some other options, but for my purpose today, we’re just going to get you started.

OK, in the video, I’ve extruded the rectangle and circle – the latter of which looks horrible. That’s because its default view is 2D Wireframe. You’ll want to change it to something that looks a bit more realistic. Again, we go to the View Controls and choose Conceptual. There’s no right answer here, and you have a lot of Visual Styles to select from. You’re new at this, so go through them all and find your favorite.

More on Presspull and Other Tools

Presspull is a multi-tool. It differs from Extrude in that it allows you to create holes and 3D solid extrusions after either a press or pull.

The image below (which I lifted from the help file) shows the result of selecting the circle on top, pressing in, creating a hole, and pulling out to create an extrusion, resulting in a single object.

Example of 3D model using Presspull in AutoCAD

The other tools in the ribbon panels also let you convert 2D or 3D objects into solids, but they typically start with a 3D object, so they’re a little more complicated for the 2D drafter. They are LOFT, REVOLVE, and SWEEP.

Less important than their functionality is the makeup of the image below. I made screenshots of each of the extended Tooltips. If you have never used these or turned them off, I suggest you turn them on as a newbie to 3D. They’re a fantastic and quick resource that shows you exactly how to use each tool.

Screenshot of LOFT, REVOLVE, and SWEEP in AutoCAD

In fact, I wrote about them (and more) in my Tiptoe Through the Tooltips two-part series way back in 2018. Briefly, you can turn them on via the Display tab of the Options dialog and even set the display delay timing.

Screenshot of Options dialog box in AutoCAD

A Successful Project

After extruding my parts into 3D solids, I found that it was much easier to visualize what the final product would look like and, better yet, pass the wife’s approval. Once I was satisfied that the design would work, it took no time to go back to 2D land and design each piece, considering the construction method. I even got everything I needed out of one lone 8’ long 2×10.

Notice that I’ve said nothing about my carpentry skills. Let’s just say I’m glad I liked technical drawing as much as I did. That was certainly the right path between the two.

However, the real lesson for you is that you can stay in your 2D environment to create your designs, but now you realize just how easy it is to Extrude or Pull those closed elements into 3D solids.

Next time, I’ll discuss some of the most-used tools for editing your new solids. Stay tuned!