2.

0 PROJECTING INTO 3D
To perform under AutoCAD there are a list of tools that one must master before trying any serious drawings, these
are:
- New UCS
- 3D views
- Visual Styles

2.1 NEW UCS

Fig 1

The User Coordinate System (UCS) enables you to define a custom coordinate system in 2D and 3D space. You’ve
been using the default coordinate system called the World Coordinate System (WCS) all along.

- The WCS is a global system of reference from which you can define other UCSs. It may help to think of these
AutoCAD UCSs as different drawing surfaces or two-dimensional planes. You can have several UCSs at any
given time. By setting up these different UCSs, you can draw as you would in the WCS in 2D and still create a
3D image. The UCS world enables to return to the fixed UCS set by AutoCAD.

Suppose you want to draw a house in 3D with doors and windows on each of its sides. You can set up a UCS for each
of the sides, and then you can move from UCS to UCS to add your doors and windows. In each UCS, you draw your
doors and windows as you would in a typical 2D drawing.

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Activity 1
+ Draw a cube of side 50 x 75 x 40
+ Label each side with a UCS and name the UCS’s
+ Functions to use: New UCS, Named UCS.
+ View, 3D Views
+ Draw Box, Visual Styles
+ Limits, Units, Rec, Zoom
+ UCSMAN, UCSICON
+ To view the different created UCS activate the UCSII toolbar.

List of Options (FIG 1)

Face: You can also select and drag the UCS icon (or choose Move And Align from the origin grip menu) to
dynamically align the UCS with faces. It dynamically aligns the UCS to a face on a 3D object. Move the cursor
over a face to see a preview of how the UCS will be aligned.

Object: Aligns the UCS to a selected 2D or 3D object. The UCS can be aligned with any object type except xlines and
3D polylines. Move the cursor over an object to see a preview of how the UCS will align, and click to place the
UCS. In most cases, the UCS origin will be located at the endpoint that is nearest to the specified point,
the X axis will align to an edge or tangent to a curve, and the Z axis will align perpendicular to the object.

Next: Locates the UCS on either the adjacent face or the back face of the selected edge.

Xflip: Rotates the UCS 180 degrees around the X axis.

Yflip: Rotates the UCS 180 degrees around the Y axis.

Accept: Accepts the changes and places the UCS.

Previous
Restores the previous UCS. You can steps back through the last 10 UCS settings in the current session. UCS settings
are stored independently for model space and paper space.

World: Aligns the UCS with the world coordinate system (WCS). You can also click the UCS icon and choose World
from the origin grip menu

X, Y, Z: Rotates the current UCS about a specified axis. Point your right thumb in the positive direction of the X axis
and curl your fingers. Your fingers indicate the positive rotation direction about the axis.

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Point your right thumb in the positive direction of the Y axis and curl your fingers. Your fingers indicate the positive
rotation direction about the axis.
Point your right thumb in the positive direction of the Z axis and curl your fingers. Your fingers indicate the positive
rotation direction about the axis.
You can define any UCS by specifying an origin and one or more rotations around the X, Y, or Z axis.

Z Axis: Aligns the UCS to a specified positive Z axis. The UCS origin is moved to the first point and its positive Z axis
passes through the second point.

View: Aligns the XY plane of the UCS to a plane perpendicular to your viewing direction. The origin point remains
unchanged, but the X and Y axes become horizontal and vertical

2.2 3D DYNAMIC VIEWS - CONSTRAINED ORBIT, FREE ORBIT

In 3D, you need to constantly spin the object around to get a good look at it from all sides. AutoCAD has powerful 3D
Orbit tools to easily look at your design in real time as opposed to just preset views. Remember that, even though we
say that we are rotating the object, really we are not, but rather rotating our view of it. The 3D orbit command comes
in several flavors. The “3dorbit” version is constrained to vertical and horizontal movements, while the “3dforbit”
(the f stands for “free”), allows for unrestricted movement and will be the version we focus on. There is also the
“3dcorbit” (the c stands for “continuous”), which rotates the view nonstop until you exit the command. This is more
entertaining than useful but does look impressive in a presentation.
You can find all of these cascading down from the 3D
Navigation toolbar. We next further describe 3D free
orbit. To begin the 3D free orbit, use any of the
following methods

As soon as you click on the Free Orbit icon, a green circle appears, and you are able to do the orbit by clicking down, holding the
left mouse button, and moving the mouse around. When done just press Esc, and the new view is permanent. To restore the
familiar SW view, just press that icon. What we have done thus far is create a wireframe model. This is a common term in
computer aided design (not just AutoCAD) and simply means the model is not shaded or rendered and resembles a wire that has
been shaped into something (a frame), hence, wireframe. Although we introduced a lot of useful concepts thus far, such as axes,
planes, 3D views, 3D orbit, and UCS rotation, the wireframes we created cannot be shaded, as they are essentially “hollow”
pieces and contain no surfaces. Creating real solids is the subject of the next section, so go ahead and erase the box; we will
create it again.

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2.3 VISUAL STYLES

Visual Styles is an important set of tools that allows you

to view your design in a variety of useful ways. We
explore two variations of Hide and two distinct versions
of Shade: realistic and conceptual. We also look at a few
other settings, such as Sketchy and X-Ray.

HIDE COMMAND

The hide command simply hides wireframe line work

that you would not see with a solid object. There are two
slightly different variations of it. The first type of hide is
temporary while you are viewing a stationary design. The
hidden view reverts to wireframe if you try to rotate it or
regenerate it.
This can be done by simply typing in hide and pressing
Enter, via the Hide icon on the Render toolbar, or finally
via the cascading menu
View→Hide.

The other variety of hide is more permanent and the design can be rotated in 3D while staying fully hidden. That is
accomplished via the 3D Hidden Visual Style icon on the Visual Styles toolbar. To return to wireframe, you can no
longer just regenerate but must press the 2D Wireframe icon on the same Visual Styles toolbar. All of the previous is
summarized in the command matrix shown next. Go ahead and try all the ways to hide your 3D box before moving
on.

Activity 2 : Try the different shading options on the object you have drawn and compare.
You will probably not notice too much of a difference between the conceptual and realistic. This is because the objects
are not really colored themselves and also, they appear against the default background, altering the appearance of
their own coloring. To appreciate the differences between the two types of shading, observe the two sets of colored
and shaded shapes against a white background.

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E.g.

Notice how the softer shading on the right gives a more pleasing picture of the model. For this reason, the
Conceptual Visual Style shading is used more often in presenting designs, both on screen and on paper. It is also
highly recommended that you set your background to white or black in 3D for a more accurate representation of
colors. To return to the unshaded image, press the 2D Wireframe option or icon.
Two more types of presentation views needs to be mentioned: Sketchy and X-ray. Both can be accessed through the
Ribbon’s View tab Visual Styles or through the cascading menu’s View→Visual Styles.
Try them both out on your box. The figure below shows the sketchy visual style. It presents a “hand-drawn”
rendering of your design and may find some use in a more artistic representation. X-ray makes the shaded shape
transparent.

Sketchy X-Ray

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 OTHER STYLES
 2D Wireframe. Displays objects using lines and curves to represent the boundaries.
 Conceptual. Displays objects using smooth shading and the Gooch face style. The Gooch face style transitions
between cool and warm colors, rather than dark and light. The effect is less realistic, but it can make the details of
the model easier to see.
 Hidden. Displays objects using wireframe representation and hides lines representing back faces.
 Realistic. Displays objects using smooth shading and materials.
 Shaded. Displays objects using smooth shading.
 Shaded with Edges. Displays objects using smooth shading and visible edges.
 Shades of Gray. Displays objects using smooth shading and monochromatic shades of gray.
 Sketchy. Displays objects with a hand-sketched effect by using the Line Extensions and Jitter edge modifiers.
 Wireframe. Displays objects using lines and curves to represent the boundaries.
 X-ray. Displays objects with partial transparency.


2.4 VIEW CUBE AND NAVIGATION BAR

You almost certainly have seen the ViewCube and Navigation Bar. The top
view of this cube and its friend the Navigation Bar hang out in the upper
right corner of your screen. This cube is primarily useful in 3D navigation.
It first appeared in AutoCAD 2009 and is used to dynamically rotate to the
graphically shown views, such as top, left, or front. You can click on the
faces of the cube, its edges, or its corners or you can just manually rotate

it.

Whatever you click on “lights up,” and your design moves accordingly. Additionally, you can press the N, S, E,
and W buttons. Go ahead and try it out, returning to the SW Isometric View afterward.
The ViewCube presents no completely new ideas but rather combines a host of various tools in one convenient
location. Much of it is equivalent to the toolbar view icons, though you now have the ability to also view a
design from a “corner” or an “edge.”
The buttons on the Navigation Bar should also be generally familiar at this point, except for the top button, Full
Navigation Wheel, and the bottom button, ShowMotion. The rest of the buttons from the top going down are
Pan, Zoom Extents, and the various Orbits. Review the functionality of each button.

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