Most AutoCAD Architects need to create geometry in 3D
at some point. Sometimes they need to show a client or a community
group what spaces will look like when they are built. Sometimes they
need to gain a better understanding of the environments they are
designing.
Fortunately AutoCAD makes it easy to convert a 2D floor plan 3D geometry.
Converting a 2D Floor Plan into a 3D Model
The
first step in creating a 3D model from a floor plan is simply
displaying a top (or plan) view of the floor plan in model space. Then,
from the View menu, choose 3D Views and South East Isometric. You will
then see a 3D view of your flat floor plan.
Select the wall lines in your floor plan. Then from the Modify menu choose Properties. Change the Thickness of the lines to represent the height of the walls. Press ESC to indicate you are done modifying wall lines.
Select
the lines representing one or more window sills. Modify their thickness
property to make them the right height. You will have to specify the
correct height for every window sill which may require multiple
selections.
Select the window and door headers. Set their
Elevation property to lift them up off the ground. Set their thickness
to determine how wide they are.
By this time you should have a fairly reasonable 3D wireframe model.
Viewing Shaded Views of your 3D Model
Once
you have converted a 2D floor plan into a 3D model, you may want to
view that model with hidden lines removed. To do this, at the command
prompt, type HIDE.
To view a shaded view of the same
model, from the View menu choose Shade then select one of the Shaded
options. The color applied to walls, headers and sills will be the
color of the lines used to create them.
What Next?
Using the techniques covered in this tutorial you should find it easy to create thick 3D lines to create window glass and doors.
AutoCAD
features more sophisticated tools for creating and exporting
photorealistic images of 3D models. It also has other commands (like
UCS and REGION) that will let you create and position 3D geometry.
When
you feel comfortable converting 2D floor plans into 3D model, it will
take just a few hours to master those more advanced tools.
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