Hello people, welcome to this video! Let's see quickly how to use
Autodesk AutoCAD 2017 to make 3D surfaces and complete custom objects.
Be sure to leave us comments and feedback to help us improve our
next videos!
In the previous videos of this guide, we have seen how to manage 2D
objects inside a 3D environment. These do not work the best, since
these can't be filled properly, and work fine just with the 2D tools,
like the Hatch command, and not work with some important 3D tools, like
the Slice command.
To draw 2D objects and surfaces that do work fine in a 3D environment,
you have to use the Surfaces tools, which are all collected inside
the Surfaces section under the 3D Tools tab. Let's see how these work.
The simplest surfaces you can create are the planar ones, such as
surfaces that lay on a single plane. You can draw these by using the
Planar Surface tool.
You can use this tool in two main ways. If you enable the tool, and
click and drag on your workspace, you will drop a rectangular planar
surface, just as seen with the Rectangle Tool.
Whereas, if you already have a 2D path to use as boundary, you can
select it first and then enable the Planar Surface tool. The surface
created will keep the path as the boundary, and will also be attached
to it. This means that, if you edit the boundaries, the surface will
also be edited. The surface will become independent from its boundaries
when you move it outside.
These surfaces do have an area but not a volume, but are treated just
like 3D objects like solids, filled and checked inside. Being 3D
objects, the 3D editing tools do work on the surfaces, but not on their
2D boundaries. So, if you select both the surface and its boundary,
right-click and go to Group, you will group both the surface and the
boundary. In this way, all the tools you are going to apply will
be effective.
Whereas, if you have the surface but do not have its boundaries, you
can use the Explode command twice on it to reopen them.
When creating a surface from a 2D path using the Planar Surface
tool, the new surface will spread through the whole enclosed path. In
case you want to remove delimited parts of the surface, you can use the
Trim tool, inside the Surfaces section. Select the surface, apply with
the Enter key, and then select the contours that delimit the surface.
Apply again, and then click on the parts of the surface to trim.
Viceversa, you can use the Untrim tool to extend the surface over one
of the boundaries. Enable the tool, and click on the interested boundary.
The surface will spread over it, until it meets new boundaries.
Besides the Untrim tool, you can also use the Extend tool to extend a
planar surface over a surface boundary. Select the surface boundaries,
apply with the Enter key, and then extend the surface as much as you
need.
You can also build non-planar surfaces inside your workspace. To draw
a 2D boundary inside a 3D environment, you must use the 3D Polyline
tool. Then, by exploding all the polyline sides, you can select each
boundary to create the surfaces, creating an overall non-planar
surface.
To create more complex surfaces with curves and defined shapes, you
can use the tools inside the Surfaces section.
The Fillet tool is used to join two surfaces that lay on different
planes. Just select the two surfaces, then set the radius of the
curved surface that joins them, through Radius in the Command Line or
the blue arrow on the workspace. Use the Enter key to finish with the
tool. In case you want to edit the radius again, you can select the
curved surface and use the blue arrow on it.
The Patch tool is used to cover the holes of a surface. Just select the
hole boundaries, and use the Enter key. As seen for the Fillet tool,
you can use the down blue arrow to adjust its settings.
The Blend tool is used to create a surface that links two enclosed
boundaries, one for each surface, that can lay on the same or on a
different plane. Select the boundaries of the first surface, apply with
the Enter key, and then select the boundaries of the second surface.
When applying with the Enter key, AutoCAD creates a surface that
connects the two ones. Use the blue arrow to fine the surface created.
When AutoCAD creates the surfaces from others existing, always
right-click and use Group to manage all of them in the same way and
without problems.
The Offset tool creates a new surface with a constant distance (or
"offset") from the existing surface selected. When enabling the tool,
select the surface interested, and apply with the Enter key. At this
point, AutoCAD shows through arrows where the new surface will be
placed. Use Flip direction to change the direction of these arrows, or
Both sides to add two surfaces, one on each side. Then, type the
constant distance and apply with the Enter key. Do not use too much
high distances for the internal direction, or the surface may not be
created.
There are also some tools to build a 3D object from a surface,
like the Thicken and the Sculpt tool.
The Thicken tool creates 3D objects starting from a surface taken as
base. Select the surface, apply with the Enter key, and type the
thickness level. When applying with the Enter key, the 3D object will
have the old surface as base, and as extrusion depth the thickness
level defined.
Then, there is the Sculpt tool. This extracts the 3D volume from a
group of surfaces that delimits it. All you have to do, is to select
all these surfaces, for example, by using a Window Lasso, and then
clicking on the Sculpt tool button. This tool won't work unless the
volume is not completely delimited by the surfaces.
You can extract surfaces from existing 3D objects by using the
Explode command. If you start from curved solids, like Cones and
Spheres, just select them and use the Explode command to extract all
their surfaces. Whereas, if you start from boxes composed by polygon
faces, you have to explode the whole object twice, in order to get all
its lines and sides. Then, by using the Planar Surface tool, define all
the face boundaries one-by-one, and then group all the surfaces
together to manage them.
Inside AutoCAD, you have very important objects called Mesh
Objects, used to create completely personalized 3D Objects and Surfaces.
You can draw regular Mesh Objects by using the tools under the Modeling
section.
In respect to 3D objects and surfaces, Mesh Objects are composed by
several subcomponents, such as faces, sides and vertices that can be
edited singularly. In fact, if you click on the Mesh Object, you will
select it entirely. But, if you hold the CTRL key down, you are able to
select each single subcomponent, in order to edit it through the editing
tools inside the Modify section, or the Gizmo system that appears on them.
In this way, by moving and changing the subcomponents of the Mesh, you
are able to customize its shape completely.
Even more, when selecting a subcomponent, you can use other tools on
top, under the 3D Tools tab. For example, if you select a 3D face, you
can use the Edit Face section to edit it.
Whereas, when selecting the whole Mesh, the Smooth and the Convert
Mesh sections appear above.
Smooth is used to manage the smoothness level of the Mesh object you
have. Each Mesh Object has a smoothness level, that you can check by
hovering your pointer on the object for some time. This can be none,
Level 1, 2, and so on. The higher is the level, the smoother the Mesh
shape is.
So, if you select the Mesh and go to Smooth More above, you will move
from a Smoothness level of None to Level 1, 2 and so on, making the
object smoother and smoother on its sides and vertices. You can use
Smooth Less to reduce its smoothness level instead.
When increasing the smoothness level, you may need to use Refine Mesh
to update the subcomponents that compose the Mesh Object. The higher
the smoothness level is, the higher the number of subcomponents that
describe the Mesh shape. Remember that the Refine Mesh tool also resets
the Smoothness level to None, so you won't be able to use the Smooth
Less tool with a Mesh Object just refined.
When the shape of the Mesh Object is good, you have to convert it to
a 3D object, such as a 3D solid object or a surface, in order to use
all the 3D editing tools inside AutoCAD. Select the Mesh Object first,
and go to the Convert Mesh section above. Use Convert to Solid or
Convert to Surface to transform your Mesh into a 3D solid or a 3D
enclosed surface. More on the right, decide the way to transform the
3D faces of the Mesh into solids or surfaces.
There is also the possibility to draw a regular 3D solid and then
starting editing its shape. When selecting a solid, transform it into
a Mesh Object going to Convert to Mesh, under the 3D Tools tab. By
default, a Level 1 Smoothness is applied, but you can use Smooth Less
to reopen all the lost harsh edges of the original solid.
Thanks for watching this video! Check out your full guide to learn
all you need for Autodesk AutoCAD 2017!