Overview

Autodesk first added limited 3D capabilities to Release 2.1 back in the technological olden days of 1985 and then periodically introduced new 3D functions in subsequent releases. But it wasn t until AutoCAD 2007 that 3D came into its own. That release shipped with a huge number of features dedicated to creating and presenting models. AutoCAD was already a very good modeler even before AutoCAD 2007, though, so why haven t more AutoCAD users taken advantage? Three reasons:

• An inaccurate sense that 3D is too hard

• A false perception that AutoCAD is a lousy 3D modeler

• A mistaken belief that 3D modeling isn t worth the time

Let s knock down these reasons one at a time. Is it too hard to learn 3D modeling? No. Even if you ve never created a single 3D model in AutoCAD, you know 80 percent of what you need to know: that is, how to create accurate 2D geometry.

Is AutoCAD a lousy modeler? Of course not. It s not as good as some other modelers in certain respects hence the bad rap. It may not be the gold standard, but so what if Inventor, Architectural Desktop, Mechanical Desktop, VIZ, Revit, and a bunch of other applications have 3D modeling strengths that AutoCAD doesn t have? You paid several thousand dollars for AutoCAD, so why not use everything you paid for? And for you, AutoCAD 3D has one advantage that none of the other software has: familiarity.

Is 3D modeling worth the time? Absolutely. You can produce...