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Converting 3D drawings into 2D drawings Carve a solid with a surface

Convert a 3D solid to a 2D drawing with a hidden view

By Ellen Finkelstein

Koyilada Venkata Rao sent in this tip for converting a 3D solid to a 2D drawing. His tip explains how to create a hidden view, but you can create a wireframe as well. It uses the SOLPROF command to create a profile. By transferring the
results to another file, you get a solely 2D drawing. 0

Here are the steps: Tweet

1. Create the 3D model. I worked with one object, but you can work with more than one.
2. Set up the view that you want.
3. Start the UCS command and use the New>View option to set the XY plane parallel to the view.
4. Choose a layout tab. By default, a viewport is created automatically. Otherwise, choose View>Viewports>New View (MVIEW command) and create a viewport.
5. Double-click inside the viewport to switch to model space.
6. Type solprof on the command line. At the prompt, select the 3D model and accept the defaults (Y each time) for all three prompts. You should now see a wireframe profile. (The profile is one object.)
7. Youll now see two new layers in the Layer Control drop-down list. One starts with PV- and could be PV-ad, PV-125, or any suffix. The other starts with PH- and has the same suffix. The PV layer contains the front parts of the profile (V stands
for visible). The PH layer contains the hidden parts (H stands for hidden). Make the PV- layer the current layer.
8. Freeze all other layers. Now you see the hidden view. If you want a wireframe, dont freeze the PH- layer.
9. Press Ctrl+C and select all objects (which wont include the frozen layers) to copy the profile to the Windows Clipboard.
10. Start a new drawing.
11. Press Ctrl+V to paste in the profile and specify any point to place it. You should see the profile looking exactly the same as before. (If the angle looks wrong, reproduce the viewpoint you had in the previous drawing and set the UCS to View
again.)
12. Start the EXPLODE command (because the profile comes in as a block) and select all objects. (Skip this step if you want to leave it as one object.)
13. The new profile may not be the same scale as the original. If not, measure any length in the original drawing.
14. Use the SCALE command and select all the objects. Then use the Reference option. At the prompt to specify the reference length, specify the beginning and end of the length you measured, that is, the same object in the new drawing.
15. At the prompt to specify the new length, enter the length that you measured to scale the model to that new length.

Here is the model in the new drawing. Each line (and spline) is a separate object.

For another way to convert 3D drawings to 2D drawings, see Convert a 3D drawing to a 3-view 2D drawing in model space

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2. AutoCAD Tutorial: Create a mesh solid jar

February 16th, 2000 | Tags: 3D, AutoCAD, layers, scale | Category: 3D

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17 comments to Convert a 3D solid to a 2D drawing with a hidden view

Ben Senior
March 23, 2011 at 4:35 am

Hi Ellen,

I have an irregular collection of 3D points and I would like to create a surface from them and the subsequently a solid.

How can I best achieve that in AutoCAD

Kind regards

Ben

admin
March 23, 2011 at 7:48 am
Ben,
Which version of AutoCAD do you have?

Converting 3D drawings into 2D drawings AutoCAD Tips Blog

June 16, 2011 at 10:15 pm

[] Create contours from elevation points Convert a 3D solid to a 2D drawing with a hidden view []

AutoCAD tips: AutoCAD 2012 new features

July 30, 2011 at 12:07 pm

[] SOLVIEW/SOLDRAW or SOLPROF: Heres a tutorial on SOLPROF. []

sue
November 17, 2011 at 4:28 am

i need to know how to make a 2d shape into a 3d shape so it looks like a 3d shape..

Ellen
November 17, 2011 at 10:50 am

The EXTRUDE command is usually the easiest method.

Rob
March 9, 2012 at 5:59 am

Ive made a 3d wire frame model using lines splines etc, how do i indicate my surfaces and shade them in as ive tried everything and cannnot get it to work. Im using autocad 2006.

Engela white
July 10, 2012 at 8:57 am

How do I progress from 3D model to 2D drawing in order to form the starting point for working drawings?

Ellen
July 21, 2012 at 9:17 pm
Here are some posts on going from 3D to 2D
http://www.ellenfinkelstein.com/acadblog/use-autocads-viewbase-command-to-create-2d-views-of-your-3d-model/
http://www.ellenfinkelstein.com/acadblog/tutorial-convert-a-3d-solid-to-a-3-view-2d-drawing-in-model-space/

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Convert a 3D solid to a 2D drawing with a hidden view - AutoCAD Tips Blog http://www.ellenfinkelstein.com/acadblog/convert-a-3d-solid-to-a-2d-drawing-with-a-hidden-view/

http://www.ellenfinkelstein.com/acadblog/converting-3d-drawings-into-2d-drawings/
http://www.ellenfinkelstein.com/acadblog/convert-a-3d-solid-to-a-2d-drawing-with-a-hidden-view/

Marco M
November 10, 2012 at 5:07 am
Ellen thanks for those great tips and tutorials.

I need to make perspective and axonometric 2d drawings out of a 3d model. Because of you, ive just discoverd FLATSHOT, which is a great help.

Moreover, it would be sweet if i could somehow keep layering in new block just flatshooted (because ill need to change thickness before plotting). Is there any way of doing so? If i select color by layer it isnt changing colors from output layer.
Grazie,
MArco

Ellen
November 10, 2012 at 10:44 am

Im not sure what you mean, but have you looked into SOLVIEW, SOLDRAW & SOLPROF? They might give you more control over layers.

Javid
November 13, 2012 at 6:01 am
Hi Ellen,
Thanks, It was very good lesson and very useful for me.

George Joseph
November 22, 2012 at 7:45 am

AutoCAD 3d solid external surface need to convert to 2d isolines for development (same like unhold), spicially circular surfaces

Tomasz Drgas
January 21, 2014 at 7:55 pm

I have a model made from POLYFACE MESHes. Itried FLATSHOT and now SOLPROF and both seem not to work with meshes.. all I got after selection was long list of Not a solid! I thought these comands work with everything with
which hide command works well but not really.. Do I have to change my meshes to solids? (beginning to search..)

Mohsin
July 20, 2014 at 12:04 pm

Amazing Helpful
How we can make 3D stairs in AutoCAD 2006. In this lesson we will learn that what is stair and why we use this on http://thisreals.com/how-we-can-make-3d-stairs-in-autocad-2006.php

Ellen Finkelstein
July 20, 2014 at 10:07 pm

Just a note that this tutorial is in Urdu scroll down to the 2nd one.

DEYSING RAJA
November 9, 2014 at 12:45 am

AUTO CAD DISPLAY HOW CHANGE TO 3D VIEW TO 2D VIEW.

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