Just Enough AutoCAD 2007
Whether you're new to AutoCAD or just looking for a quick refresher, this indispensable book offers practical and comprehensive guidance to help you easily and efficiently learn the basics of AutoCAD.
TABLE OF CONTENTS Just Enough AutoCAD 2007
Creating 3D Forms from 2D Shapes
The 3D solid primitives are great for creating some basic shapes, but in many situations, you will want to create a 3D form from a more complex shape. Fortunately, you can extrude 2D objects into a variety of shapes using additional tools found in the 3D Make control panel. For example, you can draw a shape such as a puzzle piece and then extrude it into a third dimension, as shown in the top of Figure 6.26. Or you can use several strategically placed 2D objects that can form a flowing surface such as the wing of an airplane, as shown in the bottom of Figure 6.26.
Figure 6.26: The closed polylines on the left can be used to construct the 3D shapes on the right.
Extruding a Polyline
You can insert a variety of solid shapes into your drawing. For example, you can create a sphere by choosing Sphere from the 3D Make control panel. You can then select a center point and a radius, just as you would for a circle, but you end up with a solid sphere.
Another way to create solids is to extrude them from closed polylines. This is a more flexible way to create shapes because you can create a polyline of any shape and extrude it to a fairly complex form.
In the following exercise, you ll start with a pentagon, which is actually a simple closed polyline. From that pentagon, you ll use a variety of tools...
Copyright Wiley Publishing, Inc. 2006 under license agreement with Books24x7
