TABLE OF CONTENTS Although 3D modeling has been possible in AutoCAD for a long time, only with the release of AutoCAD 2007 has its 3D feature set really come of age. The last major upgrade of AutoCAD's 3D tools was in Release 13, circa 1994 that's the equivalent of 91 dog years ago! It's interesting to note that dog years ( 7) map perfectly to the accelerated pace of software evolution, although we're not sure what this means.
This chapter will throw you a bone, if the last thing you remember about 3D modeling is the 3DFACE command. Obviously, much has changed with 3D modeling, and it's deservedly become one of the hottest topics in AutoCAD 2007.
Coordinate systems can be one of the more confusing subjects to those traditionalists who have only used AutoCAD for 2D drafting. You typically still draw objects on the XY plane when you're 3D modeling, so it's conceptually much like 2D drafting. It's just that with 3D modeling, you can reorient the XY plane wherever you want by adjusting the user coordinate system (UCS) so you can draw anywhere.
In addition, you can access the third dimension without leaving the world coordinate system (WCS). In this section, we'll show you a few techniques that will help you coordinate your modeling.
Multiple universes, hyperspace physics, and a visit from Buckaroo Banzai aren't what we're talking about by accessing another dimension; sorry to disappoint. Instead, we're talking about filtering the input from...
