Thursday

3D Modeling 1: Introduction

10 Comments Jul-12-2007 | Posted by Orhan Toker | Printable Version | Level |

AutoCAD 2007 and higher versions

Hello Daily AutoCAD readers,

I have been thinking about preparing a series of articles about 3D modeling for a very long time. I was busy with my daughter Ela and work, so I could finally start this series. In this series of articles, my goal is to explain about the concepts of 3D modeling starting from zero by giving examples, and besides to be able to teach you about the logic of working in 3D. So, stay tuned, a series of 15-20 articles are on the way.

In this first article of 3D modeling, I will introduce you with your working environment and teach you how to prepare you own environment.  By this way, you will have learned about the fundamentals of the concepts of VPOINT, VIEW, DASHBOARD and PROJECTION.

It will be better for us if we first start by changing our view angle (VPOINT) before starting to work in 3D. By this way, we will be able to see our model in 3D. I am making all of my preparations according to the sequence given below:

I first arrange my view angle by using VPOINT.

Command: VPOINT [ENTER]

Fig.1

Then, you will get the screen as shown in Fig. 1. As you may have noticed in the figure, there is a symbol like crosshair on the upper right corner of the screen. You will notice that, when we move our mouse inside this figure, our UCSICON also moves. Circle that is inside creates a view to the model from up and the circle on the outside creates a view to the model from bottom. View angles are counter clockwise as 0, 90, 180 and 270. In order for all X, Y and Z values in your model to increase all the times from left to right, a view looking from the point that I have marked with red is ideal. If writing VPOINT from the command line is hard for you, then you can obtain the same view angle by entering VP into the command line and then using the setting shown in Fig. 2.

Fig.2

After obtaining the appropriate view angle, let’s make our working area much better looking by activating the aiding GRID lines. Make sure that GRID button under the command line is ON and enter its setting by right clicking on it.

Fig.3

Fig.4

Make sure that you grid settings are same as shown in fig. 4. Then, you will see more or less the model space shown in Fig. 5.

Fig.5

If the DASHBOARD is not opened, then you can open it by entering DASHBOARD into the command line. After this stage, we will do whatever we are going to do by using this DASHBOARD. Finally if you want, you can also enter the perspective view shown in Fig. 6 from the view settings.

Fig.6

Now, we are ready to work in 3D environment. However, if we save this working environment, then we won’t spent time to make all the settings every time we are about to start a 3D modeling work. In order to do this, we are using VIEW command. From the window that comes up, press the “New…” button and define a new view.

Fig.7

Fig.8

Let’s enter the name of the view as “3B Work” and close it. From now on, whenever we would like to use this view, we can select it from the DASHBOARD (fig. 9).

Fig.9

Now, we are ready to work. In my next article, we will examine the primitive solid objects. That’s all for today, have a nice day…

Related articles: See 3D chapter in AutoCAD Lessons.

Technorati Tags: AutoCAD, AutoCAD 2008, 3D Modeling, DASHBOARD, VIEW, VIEWPOINT

Read in other languages: TR