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

Dynamic coordinate systems


Since Version 2007, an auxiliary tool is available for creating objects on a solid planar face.

Creation of dynamic coordinate systems

If the dynamic UCS tool is activated during the creation of 2D or 3D objects, then when moving the cursor over a solid planar face, the face is highlighted and AutoCAD creates a temporary working plane on that face. When ending the command, the temporary UCS disappears. The dynamic UCS can be turned on or off by the DUCS button on the Status bar, or easily by pressing the F6 key:

Note

Normally, the object's position on that plane is not at a precise distance from an edge or vertex. One way to have precision is to turn on OTRACK, pause over one or two object snaps, and direct the cursor. Another handy auxiliary tool is FROM, a special object snap available on the individual osnap menu (Ctrl and right-click). This tool allows you to specify a point with relative coordinates from a base point.

Exercise 3.2

With a dynamic UCS, create some...