CADD I 1

ACADD LABORATORY MANUAL

Study on AutoCAD computer package.

Unit I:

INTRODUCTION TO 3D MODELING AND LAYER PROPERTY MANAGER

COMPLEX ENTITIES

Simple entities are single entities while a complex entity consists of more than one entity. AutoCAD
3D deals with complex entities such as polylines, block definitions and attributes.

1. Polylines

Polylines are made up of lines, arcs and vertices at the end points of the segments. A polyline may be
created using the pline command .

Pline command consists of the following options;

Arc/Close/Halfwidth/Length/Undo/Width/<End point of line> :

a. Arc - This option is used to construct arcs

b. Close- Connects the starting and ending vertices of a polyline with a straight segment.

c. Half width - Takes the halfwidth for the subsequent segments from the center of the line (can be
a tapered width)

d. Length - Extends an existing polyline in the direction of the previous segment

e. Width - Provides full width for a subsequent ment

f. Undo - Reverses the effect of the most recent pline option.

g. End point of line- Draws a pline segment connecting the most recent vertex.

Advantage of using polylines

Offset command on polylines are used to draw all types oil walls, roads mid highways,
pipelines etc.

Polyline option of fillet and chamfer commands are used to perform these editing
operations on multiple corners simultaneously.

Since polylines consists of sub entities such as lines, arcs and vertices user can virtually
create any irregular profiles, contours and curves using plines. Additional editing is performed using
pedit command.

Explode

This command is used to bring the polyline back to the original sub entity form. Once a polyline is
exploded you get lines and arcs. Wide polylines will also loose the width information.

PEDIT Command

Pedit (polyline edit ) command is used to edit an existing polyline.

Options of pedit

Open- Opens a closed polyline by deleting the last drawn segment.

Join- Used to join a number of segmental arcs and lines to a single polyline.

Width- Provides a uniform width to all segments in a polyline.

Edit vertex- Is the most versatile option in the pedit command and it consists of the following sub-
options.

Next/Previous/Breaky/Insert/Move/Regen/Straighten/Tangent/Width/<eXit>:

Fit- Draws a smooth curve passing through all the vertices of a polyline

Spline - Draws an average curve smoother than fit curve , but it will not pass through all the vertices
of the polyline.

Linetype gen - Controls the type of linetype generation around the vertices of a polyline. When set
to ON , the repetitive pattern of linetype formation is retained through out in a polyline (irrespective
of vertex locations). But when this feature is turned OFF (default) the pattern is violated around the
vertex locations in order to maintain continuity of a polyline.

Undo- Reverses the effect of the most recent pedit operation.

Exit - Takes the user out of the pedit command.

LAYERS

Concept of layers

Layers are productivity tools in AutoCAD and are defined as transparent overlays (sheets of paper) .
User can create unlimited number of layers and are identified by giving a name . The names can be
of 32 character length but the first eight characters are displayed at the status area. Even if any
number of layers can be created in AutoCAD user can draw in a single layer at a time . This layer is
known as the current layer. The layers may be created and manipulated using the layer command
which consists of the following options;

Options to list and create layers-

1Lists the names , status and properties of existing layers in the drawing.

2.Make- Creates a single current layer.

3.New - Creates more than one layers but non of the layers are made current.

4.Set- Sets an existing layer as the current layer.

Options to provide properties for layers (BY LAYER properties) –

5.Color- Layers may be given a color , so that whatever entities drawn will appear in that color.

6. Linetype- Layer may also be given linetypes , so that whatever entities drawn will appear in that
linetype.

Options to control the display status ;

7. ON OFF- When a layer is turned off entities kept in that layer will not be displayed. A layer,
which is turned off, can be redisplayed using the ON option.

8. Freeze Thaw - Apparently' serves the same purpose as that of on/off.

Option for the entity security;

9. Lock/Unlock: When a layer is locked user will not be able to edit entities in it . The locked status of
the layer can be disabled by unlocking it using the unlock option.
CREATING BLOCKS WITH CAD

Introduction :

In engineering drawing you can see repetition of the same object in various locations in various sizes
and orientations. In conventional drafting, creation of these objects is a tedious task because each of
these components are to be separately drawn,. In AutoCAD you need to make only a single object
and the repetitions may be created using any of the following methods.

1. Create a single object and copy it into the required locations using the 'copy' commands (multiple
option). If the object is to be re-oriented (rotated) or resized after copying it, you have to make use
of rotate and scale commands, separately.

2. Create a single object (which might consists of a single entity of a group of entities and block the
object using the block command.

Editing Block Definitions(block redefinition.)

We can edit block definitions by the command BEDIT.

 Unit II
Basic Solid Modeling, standard solids, solid operation, Boolean operations, exercise using them

AUTOCAD - THREE DIMENSION

Introduction :In 2D you have worked in X-Y plane and the points are defined in terms of x and y
coordinates. But in 3D a new member steps in called z-coordinate for the point definition.

ELEVATION

Elevation in AutoCAD is defined as height of the object above the x-y plane.

SOLID MODELING

Introduction

A surface model is made up of surfaces and it is a more realistic model than a wire frame model for
presentations. But since it is lacking the information about the mass , it is not a true representation
of the actual object in the real world . A solid model on the other hand is a full fledged presentation ,
which consists of an opaque clothing of surfaces and you can also perform mass property analysis on
it. It is a mathematically equivalent representation of the it's physical counterpart. The following
methods may be used to create solid models in AutoCAD;

a. Use standard solid primitive objects (such as box, sphere, cone, wedge, torus etc which will act
as building blocks ) and perform Boolean operations such as union, subtraction etc. on these
primitives to generate composite solids. The following commands are used to create solid primitives;

1. Box 2. Sphere 3. Wedge 4. Cylinder 5. Torus 6. Cone Each command gives it's own options and
sub options to generate the respective solids.

b. Create a closed and continuous 2D profile such as polyline ,circleand extrude these profiles using
extrude-command .

This command consists of the following options .

Path/ <Height of extrusion > :

Path option is used to extrude a profile along a given path . The path may be defined using entities
such as circle, arc, line, pline etc.

When the height of extrusion is specified you are also asked to give the extrusion taper angle , which
tapers the profile as it is extruded.

Revolve

You can also revolve 2d_profile about an axis to generate a revolved solid , it is done using the
revolve command and it consists of the following options .

Axis of revolution - Object/X/Y/<start point of axis>:

Object - This option asks you to pick a line or polyline to be used as an axis. XY - Takes the current X
or Y axis as the axis of revolution. Start point of axis - Using this options you can pick two arbitrary
points to define the required axis .Once the axis is specified you are asked to give the rotation angle .
The default angle is full circle or 360 degrees.

Boolean operations

Once the required solid objects are created you can perform the following boolean operations
between them to create composite solids.
1. Union: - Creates a single solid joining one or more solids or coplanar regions taking part in the
union operation.

2. Subtract: - Creates a single solid subtracting one set of solids or coplanar regions from another set
of solids or coplanar region. This command first prompts you to select the solids to subtract from
and then the solids to be subtracted

3. Intersect: - Creates a single solid of intersection (common volume shared) from the selected
solids.

4. Interfere: - Works similar to intersect but it retains the original solid objects taking part in the
interference operation while creating the solid of intersection.

Editing commands

Slice : This command will let you slice a solid object into two parts , using a slice plain specified using
any of the following methods .

(Object /Zaxis/View/XY/YZ/ZX/<3 points> :

Object - Options lets you specify the plane of an existing object as the slicing plane

View - Option lets you specify the view plane as the slicing plane.

Section : This command is used to generate a section profile , by specifying a cutting plane using
similar methods explained in slice command . This section profile will be a region which can be
exploded to perform hatching .

UCS (User co-ordinate setup)

Concept

UCS command may be used to define a new construction plane in 3D) space. UCS stands(User co-
ordinate setup) because it is defined by the user using various options of ucs command where as
WCS (World co-ordinate setup) is the default ucs because it is given to the user by AutoCAD
software. Information about the ucs is written into the invisible ucs table area of your drawing file
which can be accessed and manipulated by the user. In AutoCAD a co-ordinate- set up is used for
the following applications.

1. A co-ordinate setup will act as a construction plane for two dimensional entities such as a
circle,spline.ellipse,solid etc. That means if you want these entities to appear on a particular plane
ucs should be placed on that plane.

2. Z axis determines the axis about which an entity is rotated . Hence if an entity is to be rotated
about a particular axis align the ucs in such a way that z-axis becomes the axis of rotation . (This rule
is changed in rotated command using which an entity can be rotated about any user specified axis)

3. Various faces of an object is identified with help of ucs . Hence when the ucs is manipulated the
object faces changes accordingly.

4. The orientation of an object in 3D is controlled by the position of the ucs . Hence an object can be
rotated by rotating the ucs.

5. A view direction in vpoint and dview commands are controlled with respect to the ucs ; and plan
command depends on ucs.
6. Editing commands such as, mirror, break , offset etc needs ucs to be aliened on the entity for the
successful execution.

Rule to control the orientation of an object in 3D

Align the ucs ..into the base plane of an object when it is in the standing position with the z-axis
pointing upwards and set the worldview to 0 . Then take a point 1,1,1 to set the orientation. Give
proper vpoint co-ordinates to choose the view direction.

VPOINT (View point)

Concept of viewpoint

In 3D when an entity is extruded you cannot see it's elevation because the default view in AutoCAD
is the plan view. Hence you can depend on any of the following two methods if you want to see the
thickness.

a.Rotate the object in such a way that you will be able to see the elevation.

b. Change your view direction to see the thickness.

Out of the above mentioned two methods the later is preferred because it is more simpler than
rotating the object in 3D. The vpoint command is used to define a view direction.

A view direction can be very well defined by inputting two points because two points can define a
line. Out of these two points , the first point is called the target point and the second point is called
the camera point. The line connecting these two points is called the line of sight.

In vpoint command the target point is stationary and is assumed to be in the origin . While the
camera point can be anywhere in 3D space and is defined using a 3d coordinate input. Vpoint
command asks you for the camera point co¬ordinates and by inputting suitable values you can
generate any type of views.

RULE TO MAKE OUT VARIOUS FACES OF AN OBJECT IN 3D

When you stand on the xy plane with your right hand stretched in the direction of the positive x-axis
(to lock your position) , then the object face which comes right in front of you is called the front face
and the object face which comes in the direction of your right hand is called the right face and the
object face which comes on the top is the top face and so on.

When a vpoint -1,-1,1 is given a left-front-top view is obtained as follows; since the x coordinate
is negative you move towards the negative x-axis direction and you can see the left face , since the y
coordinate is negative you move towards the negative y axis direction and you can see the front face
and since the z co-ordinate is positive you move towards the positive z-axis direction and you can see the
top face. From this, it is quite obvious that;

Positive x-axis determines the visibility of the right face

Negative x –axis ,, left face
Positive y-axis ,, back face
Negative y –axis ,, front face
Positive z-axis... ,, top face
Negative z –axis ,, bottom face
T h e nume ric values of the vpoint co-ordinates are irrelevant but the relationship between these
values a r e important. By giving suitable values for the camera point in the vpoint command you can
generate various views as follows;

vpoint 1,1,1 - Isometric view

vpoint 100,100,100 - Isometric view

vpoint –1,0,0 -Left side elevation

vpoint 0,0,1 -plan

vpoint 0.-1,0 -front elevation

vpoint 1,2.3 -oblique view

vpoint 50,150,300 - oblique view

Concept of plan command

In AutoCAD a plan view can be top view but it need not necessarily be a top view Plan view is defined as
the view you get when you sit at the z -axis and look down al the x-y plane and it can be generated ;

a. With respect to the current co-ordinate set up

b. With respect to the World co-ordinate set up

c. With respect to a saved user co-ordinate set up

"NB. Plan view can also be generated using a vpoint 0,0,1

WIRE FARAME REPRESENTATION

This is a transparent or see through representation of the actual object in the real world and the object
will appear as if they arc made up of wires. This is t h e simplest and most crude form of 3D presentation
of an object and it will just give you an idea about how an object will appear in 3D.

Viewports
The Model tab can be split into tiled, non-overlapping viewports. Floating viewports can be
created in paper space on a layout tab.

AutoCAD usually begins a new drawing using a single viewport that fills the entire drawing area in
the Model tab. You can split the drawing area to display several viewports simultaneously.. In each
tiled viewport, you can

 Pan; Zoom; set Snap, Grid, and DCS icon modes

 Set coordinate systems and restore views in individual viewports
 Draw from one viewport to another when executing a command
 Name a configuration of viewports so you can restore the viewports in the Model tab or apply
them in a layout tab
 Setting up different coordinate systems in individual viewports is very useful if you typically
work on 3D models. You can also set the UCS VP system variable so that the UCS in the viewport
is the same as the UCS in the current viewport.
Exercises
Create simple 3D objects based on the isometric views given.
Sample Procedure
3D OBJECT NO:01

STEP 1
 Draw the Right Side View of the object in given dimensions
using the command POLYLINE and make it closed.

STEP 2
 Extrude the above 2D closed polyline through a height of 90 mm.
Type ‘EXT’ at the command line EnterType the height of
extrusion Enter
 Set the User Co-ordinate System (UCS).
Type ‘UCS’ in command line Enter Select ‘FACE’ from
following options (Type ‘F’ in command line) Select the face
‘ABCD’ to set the ‘UCS’ Enter
 Draw a rectangle with dimensions (36X15), starting from corner
‘A’.
 Move the rectangle to the required place in the object.
Type ‘M’ for the MOVE command Enter Type distance from
the base point (-ve or +ve, as per axis) Enter
 Extrude the rectangle to the required height (give a negative
value).
 Subtract the newly created box from the object.
Type ‘SU’ Enter Select the ‘from object’  Enter Select
the box to be subtracted from the object Enter.
 Repeat these procedures for getting the 3D object.
 View Hide
Create the following IC Engine parts.