Part III: Drawing in Three Dimensions

3D Drawing

IN THIS CHAPTER Understanding 3D drawings Working with 3D coordinates Using elevation and thickness

AutoCAD 2009

Chapter 16: Specifying 3D Coordinates

Part III: Drawing in Three Dimensions

3D Drawing Working in a 3D Environment
Chapter 16: Specifying 3D Coordinates

To use the 3D template, choose Menu Browser File New. In the Select Template dialog box, choose acad3D.dwt (or acadiso3D.dwt for metric drawings) and click Open. The tool palettes open and the panels on the ribbon tabs change as well. In figure on the next slide, you see the result, minus the tool palettes, which was closed to display more of the drawing area.

AutoCAD 2009

From the Workspace Switching pop-up menu, choose 3D Modeling. This displays the Dashboard with 3D commands.

Part III: Drawing in Three Dimensions

3D Drawing

Chapter 16: Specifying 3D Coordinates

AutoCAD 2009

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3D Drawing Using 3D Coordinates
Chapter 16: Specifying 3D Coordinates

All the 2D methods of specifying coordinates have their 3D counterparts. Absolute coordinates are the same in 3Dyou just add a Z coordinate. In the same way, you can specify relative coordinates. In 3D drawings, you can use two new types of coordinates that are 3D counterparts of polar coordinates, cylindrical and spherical.
Cylindrical and Spherical Coordinates Just as polar coordinates are often more useful than Cartesian coordinates in 2D, cylindrical and spherical coordinates can be more useful in 3D. Heres how they work. Cylindrical coordinates have the format (@)distance<angle,distance:

AutoCAD 2009

Part III: Drawing in Three Dimensions

3D Drawing The first distance is the number of units in the XY plane from the origin (for absolute coordinates) or your last point (for relative coordinates). The angle is the number of degrees from the X axis in the XY plane. The second distance is the number of units along the Z axis.

Chapter 16: Specifying 3D Coordinates

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Part III: Drawing in Three Dimensions

3D Drawing When you draw a line using cylindrical coordinates, neither distance that you specify is the length of the line. In essence, youre defining the lengths of two sides of a triangle to draw the hypotenuse. Figure below shows an example of a line drawn with cylindrical coordinates. The line was drawn

Chapter 16: Specifying 3D Coordinates

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Part III: Drawing in Three Dimensions

3D Drawing from 0,0,0 to 5<30,3, which results in a line 5.8310 units long. The two sides of the triangle are 5 and 3 units long. To calculate the length of the hypotenuse, use the Pythagorean theorem, which says that a2 + b2 = c2, where a and b are the two sides of the triangle and c is the hypotenuse.

Chapter 16: Specifying 3D Coordinates

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Part III: Drawing in Three Dimensions

3D Drawing Therefore, the hypotenuse is the square root of 25 + 9 or 34, which is 5.8310.

Chapter 16: Specifying 3D Coordinates

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Part III: Drawing in Three Dimensions

3D Drawing Spherical coordinates have the format (@)distance<angle<angle:
Chapter 16: Specifying 3D Coordinates

The first distance is the total number of units from the origin (for absolute coordinates) or your last point (for relative coordinates). The first angle is the number of degrees from the X axis in the XY plane. The second angle is the number of degrees from the XY plane in the Z direction.

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Part III: Drawing in Three Dimensions

3D Drawing When you draw a line using spherical coordinates, the first distance is the actual length of the line. Figure below shows an example of a line drawn with spherical coordinates. The line was drawn from 0,0,0 to 5<15<30.

Chapter 16: Specifying 3D Coordinates

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Part III: Drawing in Three Dimensions

3D Drawing Creating 3D Polylines
Chapter 16: Specifying 3D Coordinates

Youve already created 3D lines by specifying 3D coordinates for the endpoints. One command that has a 3D counterpart is PLINE. The 3D command is 3DPOLY (Menu Browser Draw 3D Polyline). The 3DPOLY command is like the PLINE command with a few differences:
You cannot draw arcs. You cannot give the polyline a width. You cannot use a noncontinuous linetype.

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Part III: Drawing in Three Dimensions

3D Drawing Creating Helixes
Chapter 16: Specifying 3D Coordinates

You can create a wireframe helix, or spiral, by using the HELIX command. In the 3D Modeling workspace, choose Home tab Draw panel Helix.
When you start the command, an initial message indicates the default number of turns and the direction of the twist (clockwise or counterclockwise). Follow the prompts: Specify center point of base: Specify the center point for the base at the bottom of the helix.

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Part III: Drawing in Three Dimensions

3D Drawing Specify base radius or [Diameter] <default>: Enter a radius (or diameter) using the option. The default is the last radius you used. Specify top radius or [Diameter] <default>: Enter a radius for the top of the helix. Specify helix height or [Axis endpoint/Turns/turn Height/tWist] <default>: Enter a height to use the default number of turns. You can also use the options to change the number of turns and the direction of the twist. You can specify the height by specifying an axis endpoint (the center of the top of the helix) or the turn height.

Chapter 16: Specifying 3D Coordinates

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Part III: Drawing in Three Dimensions

3D Drawing Figure below shows a helix with five turns. You can grip-edit the helix to increase its height.

Chapter 16: Specifying 3D Coordinates

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Part III: Drawing in Three Dimensions

3D Drawing Using Elevation and Thickness
Chapter 16: Specifying 3D Coordinates

Wireframes have a number of limitations. Also, creating the detail of a real chair would be tedious if you were to use individual lines or 3D polylines. Finally, wireframes dont have any surface or solid properties. You cant display them in any realistic fashion or calculate properties, such as area, mass, and so on.
Creating surfaces with thickness You can create simple surfaces by adding thickness to 2D objects. When you add thickness to a 2D object, the object is pushed out into the third dimension. For example, a circle becomes a cylinder and a rectangle becomes a box. Remember that you wont see the thickness if youre looking at the object from the top.

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3D Drawing Figure below shows some objects created using thickness.
Chapter 16: Specifying 3D Coordinates

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Part III: Drawing in Three Dimensions

3D Drawing To add thickness to an existing 2D object, display the Properties palette (Ctrl+1) and select the object. (You can also select the object first.) In the palette, click the Thickness property and change the number in the Thickness text box. Press Enter. Adding elevation to objects Until now, weve discussed 3D objects based on 2D objects that were on the XY plane. In other words, their Z coordinate was zero. Although you generally dont want objects to float in the air, you certainly may want to place one object on top of another. To do this, you need to start the object above the XY plane (you can also place objects below the XY plane) and give an object elevation, which is its Z coordinate.

Chapter 16: Specifying 3D Coordinates

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Part III: Drawing in Three Dimensions

3D Drawing To give elevation to an existing object, you can use this method:
Chapter 16: Specifying 3D Coordinates

Select the object and display the Properties palette (Ctrl+1). Click the Elevation property, type a new elevation in the text box, and press Enter.
For new objects, change the current elevation with the ELEV command. When you change the current elevation, all objects that you create are drawn on that elevation. Remember to change the elevation back to zero when you want to draw on the XY plane again.

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Part III: Drawing in Three Dimensions

3D Drawing Working with the User Coordinate System (UCS)
Chapter 16: Specifying 3D Coordinates

Much of 3D work starts with a 2D shape. However, the 2D drawing commands can be drawn only on, or parallel to, the XY plane. For example, the spool in figure below consists of three circles, all parallel to the XY plane. How do you draw a circle, or any other 2D object for that matter, that is not parallel to the XY plane?

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Part III: Drawing in Three Dimensions

3D Drawing The answer is to change the User Coordinate System (UCS), thereby changing the definition of the XY plane. You can move the UCS to any location to define the XY plane in any way that you want. After you do so, you can draw a 2D object at any angle. Using the UCS icon Although you may have found the UCS icon an annoyance in 2D work, you should display it when working in 3D. Otherwise, its easy to lose track of which direction is which. Remember that you can choose the Origin option, which displays the UCS icon, if possible, at the origin. Choose Menu Browser View Display UCS Icon Origin. You can also choose View tab UCS panel (expanded) Display UCS Icon.

Chapter 16: Specifying 3D Coordinates

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Part III: Drawing in Three Dimensions

3D Drawing Using the UCS options to change the UCS
Chapter 16: Specifying 3D Coordinates

To change the UCS, choose View tab UCS panel, and choose one of the options. (Some are on the expanded panel.) The following UCS options are useful for 3D drawing.

3Point

AutoCAD 2009

The first point that you specify is the origin, the second point indicates the positive direction of the X axis, and the third point indicates the positive direction of the Y axis.

Part III: Drawing in Three Dimensions

3D Drawing

Summary
In this chapter you learned the following: Understanding all the types of 3D coordinates and how to use them Utilizing elevation and thickness Working with User Coordinate Systems in 3D

Chapter 16: Specifying 3D Coordinates

AutoCAD 2009