AutoCAD For Dummies, 19th Edition

Chapter 22

From Drawings to Models

IN THIS CHAPTER

Understanding pros and cons of three-dimensional modeling

Setting up a 3D working environment

Creating 3D solid geometry

Editing 3D models

For millennia, people have documented the design and construction of three-dimensional objects by drawing two-dimensional views of them. Most continued to use these classical methods in CAD drafting, because the methods are well understood and work reasonably well. After all, if 2D drawing was good enough for guys like Leonardo da Vinci and Andrea Palladio, why shouldn’t it be good enough for us, right?

Nonetheless, the past decade or three has seen a trend toward creating 3D CAD models and letting the software generate the 2D views more or less automatically. This approach seems more logical, especially if the project documentation requires numerous views of the same complex object. Three-dimensional modeling is an absolute necessity when you want to create rendered views for presentation purposes.

And although AutoCAD 3D construction and visualization tools have improved dramatically over the ...