Book Image

Autodesk AutoCAD 2013 Practical 3D Drafting and Design

By : JOAO ANTONIO C DOS SANTOS
Book Image

Autodesk AutoCAD 2013 Practical 3D Drafting and Design

By: JOAO ANTONIO C DOS SANTOS

Overview of this book

AutoCAD is a computer-aided design (CAD) and drafting software application. AutoCAD supports both 2D and 3D formats. AutoCAD is used in a range of industries and is utilized by architects, project managers, and engineers, among others."Autodesk AutoCAD 2013 Practical 3D Drafting and Design" will take you beyond the 2D frontier and help you create accurate 3D models that simulate reality. This book is crammed full of creative and practical tutorials which will help you master the third dimension. From exercises on coordinate systems to creating solids and surfaces from 2D, you will wonder how you ever designed without this resource by your side."Autodesk AutoCAD 2013 Practical 3D Drafting and Design" is full of hands-on studies and projects that will help develop your 3D skills. Starting from the assumption of only a very basic knowledge of AutoCAD, this book will help you master 3D visualization and coordinate systems, create 3D models from 2D drawings, and from basic shapes, measure volumes, and other information, obtain 2D construction drawings from 3D models as well as how to apply lights and materials to get photorealistic images.
Table of Contents (20 chapters)
Autodesk AutoCAD 2013 Practical 3D Drafting and Design
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Index

User coordinate systems


We present the world coordinate system as the AutoCAD reference coordinate system, and we shall discuss how to create user coordinate systems.

The world coordinate system

The world coordinate system, also known as World or WCS, is the reference coordinate system and it can never be deleted or modified. All user coordinate systems are based on this one. When we create an object, it will be internally defined to the WCS, even if it is not the current coordinate system.

The WCS is also the coordinate system used when exporting the 3D project to other formats.

Note

When we start a 3D project, it is wise to start it near the WCS origin, with its height aligned to the WCS Z axis.

Creating user coordinate systems

Following are the important commands and variables related to user coordinate systems, also known as UCS. The main command is aptly named UCS.

The UCS command

The UCS command (no alias, but it's easy) allows us to create and manage user coordinate systems. There are several...