ENGR 1210

Computer Aided Drafting

 3D Modeling and Imaging
• To get to the 3D Modeling workspace, you first click the Workspace
Switching tool in the status bar. Then select 3D Modeling
3D Modeling and Imaging
 3D Modeling and Imaging
• Drawing in 3D Using Solids

• Three types of 3D objects in AutoCAD

• Solids
• You can treat solid objects as if they’re solid materials. For example, you can create a box and
then remove shapes from the box as if you’re carving it.
• Surfaces
• With surfaces, you create complex surface shapes by building on lines, arcs, or polylines. For
example, you can quickly turn a series of curved polylines, arcs, or lines into a warped surface
• Mesh
• A mesh object is made up of edges, faces, and vertices. These basic parts create a series of
square or triangular areas to define a three-dimensional form.
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• Adjusting Appearances
• Visual styles let you see your model in
different modes, from sketch-like to
realistic.

• In the upper-left corner of the drawing

area, click the Visual Style Control drop-
down list to view the options.

• Select the Shades Of Gray option. This

will give the solid objects in your model
a uniform gray color and will also
“highlight” the edges of the solids with
a dark line so that you can see them
clearly.
 3D Modeling and Imaging
• Orthogonal and Isometric Views and the Home
icon
• 2D views (Orthogonal)
• Top
• Bottom
• Left
• Right
• Front
• Back
• 3D views (Isometric)
• SW Isometric
• SE Isometric
• NE Isometric
• NW Isometric
• The Home icon in the View cube
• Bring your view to the “home” position. This is helpful if you
lose sight of your model.
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• Creating a 3D Box

• Select the Box tool from the

Solids flyout on the Home tab’s
Modeling panel.

• Select your first point (near 0,0).

After you click, you’ll see a
rectangle follow the cursor.

• Click another point (near 20,15).

As you move the cursor, the
rectangle is fixed and the height
of the 3D box appears. Give your
box a height (4).
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• Editing 3D Solids with Grip
• Click the solid to select it. Grips appear on the 3D solid.
• The arrow grips let you adjust the length of the site to which
the arrows are attached.
• You can enter a new dimension for the length associated
with the selected grip, or you can drag and click the arrow
to adjust the length.
• Remember that you can press the Tab key to shift between
dimensions shown in the Dynamic Input display.
• Click the arrow grip toward the front of the box. Now,
as you move the cursor, the box changes in length.
• Do not make any changes for now (press Esc).
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• Constraining Motion with the Gizmo
• The gizmo is an icon that looks like the
UCS icon and appears whenever you
select a 3D solid or any part of a 3D
solid.
• Hold down the Ctrl key and move the cursor
over different surfaces and edges of the box.
They will be highlighted as you do this.
Ctrl+click the top-front edge of the box to
expose the edge’s grip. The gizmo will
appear.
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• Constraining Motion with the Gizmo

• The gizmo has

• three legs pointing in the x-, y-, and z-axes

• a grip at the base of the three legs.

Note:
If your Ctrl+click doesn’t work as described, you may need to change the setting for the Legacyctrlpick system
variable. At the command window, enter legacyctrlpick↵, and then enter 0↵. Place the cursor on the blue z-axis of the
gizmo, but don’t click. A blue line appears that extends across the drawing area, and the z-axis of the gizmo changes
color.
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• Constraining Motion with the Gizmo

• Click the z-axis. Now, as you move the

cursor, the grip motion is constrained in
the z-axis.

• Click again to fix the location of the grip.

• Click the Undo tool to undo the grip

edit.
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• Rotating Objects in 3D Using Dynamic UCS
• The UCS has always been an important tool for 3D modeling in AutoCAD.
• In its default configuration, AutoCAD shows a red line for the x-axis, a green
line for the y-axis, and a blue line for the z-axis. This mimics the color scheme
of the UCS icon.
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• Rotating Objects in 3D Using Dynamic UCS

• Different Types of UCS

• World Coordinate System (WCS) – default coordinate system

that AutoCAD uses in new drawings.

• Dynamic UCS - a type of UCS which automatically changes the

orientation of the x-, y-, and z-axes to conform to the flat
surface of a 3D object.
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• Rotating Objects in 3D Using Dynamic
UCS

• Be sure that the Object Snap and

Allow/Disallow Dynamic UCS features are
turned on.

• Click Rotate in the Home tab’s Modify panel

or enter RO↵.

• At the Select objects: prompt, click the box

and then press ↵ to finish your selection.
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• Rotating Objects in 3D Using
Dynamic UCS

• At the Specify base point: prompt, don’t

click anything, but move the cursor
from one surface of the box to a side of
the box. As you do this, notice that the
surface you point to becomes
highlighted. The orientation of the
cursor also changes depending on
which surface you’re pointing to.
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• Rotating Objects in 3D Using
Dynamic UCS
• Place the cursor on the left side
then Shift+right-click and select
Endpoint from the Osnap context
menu.
• While keeping the side highlighted,
place the osnap marker on the
lower-front corner of the box. Click
this corner. As you move the cursor,
the box rotates about the y-axis.
• Enter -30 for the rotation angle.
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• In the rotation exercise, you saw that you could hover over a surface
to indicate the plane of rotation.

• You can use the same method to indicate the plane on which you
want to place an object.
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• Drawing on a 3D Object’s Surface
• Select Center, Radius from the Circle
flyout on the Home tab’s Draw panel or
enter C↵.
• Place the cursor on the top surface of
the box. The surface is highlighted and
the cursor aligns with the angle of the
top surface.
• Click a point roughly at the center of the
box. The circle appears on the surface
and, as you move the cursor, the circle’s
radius follows.
• Enter 6↵.
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• Drawing on a 3D Object’s Surface

• Select Offset from the Home tab’s

Modify panel, and offset the circle 2
units inward. You can use the Center
osnap to indicate a direction toward the
center of the circle.
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• Pushing and Pulling Shapes from a Solid

• The Presspull tool in the Home tab’s

Modeling panel lets you “press” or “pull” a
3D shape to or from the surface of a 3D
object.

• Make sure that the Polar Tracking tool in

the status bar is turned on, and then
click the Presspull tool in the Home tab’s
Modeling panel. You can also enter
Presspull↵ at the Type A Command
prompt.
 3D Modeling and Imaging
• Move the cursor to the top
surface of the box between both
circles.
• With the cursor between the two
circles, click. As you move the mouse,
the circular area defined by the two
circles moves.
• Adjust the cursor location so that the
cursor is positioned below the center
of the circle. Enter 3↵ to create a 3-
unit indentation.
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• Making Changes to Your Solid
• Your working model is composed of two objects:
• a box and
• a cylinder formed from two circles.

• These two components of the solid are referred to as subobjects of the main
solid object

• Faces and edges of 3D solids are also considered subobjects.

• You can use Ctrl+click to access and modify the shapes of the subobjects.
 3D Modeling and Imaging
• Making Changes to Your Solid

• Place the cursor on the components of

the solid that you’ve made so far. They
are highlighted as if they were one object.
If you were to click it (don’t do it yet), the
entire object would be selected.

• Hold down the Ctrl key, and move the

cursor over the circular indentation. As
you do this, the indentation is
highlighted.
 3D Modeling and Imaging
• Making Changes to Your Solid
• While still holding down the Ctrl key, click
both of the indentation sides. The grip for the
indentation appears. As you may guess, you
can use these grips to change the shape and
location of a feature of the selected solid.
Release the Ctrl key when finished.
• Click the center square grip of the
indentation, and move your cursor around. If
you find it a bit uncontrollable, turn off Polar
Tracking mode. As you move the cursor, the
indentation moves with it.
 3D Modeling and Imaging
• Creating 3D Forms from 2D Shapes
• The Polygon tool.
• Inscribed in Circle A hexagon inscribed in a 10 unit
• Draw a polygon with the given sides radius circle.
inside a circle with a given radius.

• Circumscribed about a circle

• Draw a polygon with the given sides
outside of a circle with a given radius.
Each side is tangent to the circle.

A hexagon circumscribed about a

• Create a hexagon inscribed in a circle 10 unit radius circle.
of 10 unit radius. Give it a height of
10.
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• Creating 3D Forms from 2D Shapes
• The Extrude Tool
• You can create a 3D solid by extruding a 2D closed polyline.

• Extrude your hexagon 10 units up.

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• The Subtract Tool
 Combines 3D solid or 2D regions by subtraction

• Create a 5 unit radius circle on top of your hexagon

and extrude it 5 units down (you are making a 5 unit
height cylinder). Make sure that the center of the
circle you are about to create is located at the center
of the circle where your hexagon is inscribed.
• Subtract the cylinder from the hexagon using the
Subtract tool.
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• The Union Tool
 Combines 3D solid or 2D regions by addition

• Create another 3 unit radius circle away from your

hexagon and extrude it 15 units up to form another
cylinder.
• Insert your cylinder into the subtracted part of the
hexagon and join them using the Union command.
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• The Intersect Tool
 Creates a 3D solids or 2D region from selected
overlapping solids or regions.
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• The Revolve Tool
 creates a 3D solid or surface by
sweeping a 2D or 3D curve around an axis.
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• The Loft tool (Surface tab)
 Creates a 3D surface in the space between
several cross sections
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• The Sweep tool
 Creates a 3D surface by sweeping a 2D or 3D
curve along a path

Object to sweep

path
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• The Explode command
 separates the subobjects of an object
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• The Orbit tool
 lets you move around your model in real
time
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• The Steering (Navigation Wheel)

 provides access to the general and

specialized navigation tool. The wheel is
optimized for experienced 3D users.
References
• Omura G. and B. Benton, 2015. Mastering AutoCAD® 2016 and
AutoCAD LT® 2016. Copyright © 2015 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.,
Indianapolis, Indiana Published simultaneously in Canada.