AutoCAD 3D Modeling: Primitive 3D Solids, Part 1
August 14, 2003 3D solids are the most sophisticated and
easy-to-create type of 3D models. One of the approaches for
building such models is to draw some primitive objects such as
cones, boxes, spheres, etc. and then combine them with Boolean
operations to create a more complex model. The current tutorial
shows you how to create the following primitives:
You may use the first three buttons on Solids toolbar to
invoke the commands associated to these primitives [Figure 1].
Figure 1
Notes:
- This tutorial is designed for AutoCAD 2004 though might be
applicable to other releases.
- In this tutorial user entries are in boldface.
- The
8
symbol represents pressing Enter.
1.
Download
r16_primitives.dwg.
Note:
If you are using AutoCAD 2002 or an earlier release download
r15_primitives.dwg.
2. Open the drawing
in AutoCAD.
3. Invoke BOX (Draw
menu > Solids > Box).
4. Draw a 4 box
[Figure 2]:
Command:
box8
Specify corner of box or [CEnter] <0,0,0>:8
Specify corner or [Cube/Length]:
l8
Specify length: 48
Specify width: 38
Specify height: 28
Figure 2
5. Draw a sphere
(Draw menu > Solids > Sphere):
Command: sphere8
Current wire frame density: ISOLINES=4
Specify center of sphere <0,0,0>:
6,48
Specify radius of sphere or [Diameter]:
1.58
Figure 3
6. As you see the
sphere does not look like a real sphere. To make the shape
appearance more realistic, alter the ISOLINES system variable to
16:
Command:
isolines8
Enter new value for ISOLINES <4>:
168
7. Invoke REGEN to
regenerate the drawing. The sphere is more realistic now [Figure
4].
Figure 4
8. Draw a cylinder
(Draw menu > Solids > Cylinder):
Command:
cylinder8
Current wire frame density: ISOLINES=16
Specify center point for base of cylinder or [Elliptical]
<0,0,0>: 3,58
Specify radius for base of cylinder or [Diameter]:
18
Specify height of cylinder or [Center of other end]:
2.58
9. Alter the shade
mode to Gouraud shaded [Figure 5].
Figure 5 - Click on image to enlarge
Alireza Parsai is the founder of cadpanel.com. He is a
mechanical engineer with more than 12 years experience with
AutoCAD. Alireza is an Autodesk Authorized Author, the AutoCAD
consultant for Al Khawarizmi Institute, a contributing editor
for Augiworld magazine, a writer for CAD Digest, an instructor
for AUGI Training Program, and an elected speaker for Autodesk
University 2002. He has written 7 books in Farsi, 3 booklets in
English, and more than 100 articles for different magazines and
newsletters. You can reach him at
alireza.parsai@cadpanel.com or visit his website
www.cadpanel.com.
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