Topic: 3D Usage ? ?

[Troy Williams]

We  use 3D modeling to represent underground mines. It is particularly useful in visualizing where the drilled holes are located and if they are located where they are supposed to be.

[Maverick®]

  I only do residential work.  Every preliminary plan I do for a homeowner is sent out with a couple of different 3d visual line drawings at different camera angles.  Then if they want I do a rendering of it on final.  I don't do a ton of the renderings but it is fun to play with.  I still need some practice to make them really good IMO.

[Bob Garner]

Kinda strange but I do all my structural analysis in 3-D but prepare all my drawings in 2-D.

[Troy Williams]

Maverick,

That looks really nice. I can see that being very useful when presenting plans to homeowners.

[Bryco]

Kerry, your dwg. http://www.theswamp.org/forum/index.php?topic=8873.new#new  would be a good example for me of having to do it in 3d. The 2d is going to take just as long and there's a good chance something will be drawn not quite right. If we were making it as a prop, it would be mostly ply or mdf  w/ some steel ribs, so each flat face wood be CNCed, which is basically grabbing the 3d faces, easier to do than create it from a 2d dwg. I'm also seeing that drawing as a prototype where a library isn't going to help you much, so the new 3d cad will come into its own on this one. Just wondering if the structural side will get quite the same gain.( I have heard some large companies are still on acad14 and some bosses take a bit of arm bending to fork out the extra dough.)

[Maverick®]

  Thanks Troy.  In all honesty I think it's pretty amateurish compared with others I've seen done with the software I use.  Of course it's in the amount of time you get to play with it.   

  The customers do love it though.  I've seen some where the designer will take a digital pic of the site from a good angle, then use that as the background for the rendering so they can somewhat see what it will look like on site.  Customers would flip over that.  Especially if they are not real good at visualizing.

  I can generate 3d framing layouts etc. from the model but never have.  The crews better know how to frame a house by now. 

[Tom]

We are Doing 3D modeling with those 3D models gets  processed for 2D drawing all mechanical.  If you do 3D models do you really need 2D drawings? 

As a steel detailer yesssssss you need 2d drawings how else are thw workshop going to make the parts to assemble a model
3D is a great presentation tool but it can also help in clash detection and if a assembly is going to fit together and for me its
just a lot more fun

[MickD]

I'm with Tom on this one, especially for detailing. While you can produce CNC output for beam lines etc. you still need details for assembly and welding.
While with std Acad it can be a bit of hard work in 3d there is a lot more comfort in seeing a building all bolted together without clashes

Having said that, in all reality though with the current product we have to use (Vanilla Acad is just a drawing tool, not an iformation modeller like some of the verticals) a lot of the work can be done quicker in 2d, especially with simple 2d 'like' structures like trestles and simple portal frames. The only way around this is customisation/add-ons which most in the detailing industry in 3d would probably have.

[SDETERS]

I do believe there is still a place for 2D drawings in the workplace. 
But in the near future as technolog advances and software catches up no more 2D drawings  One can put the dimensions directly on the 3D model with tolerances and GD&T and such.  This is called 3D annotation.  There is even an ASME standard on the practices and the proper way of doing this.  There is many advantages of this and at the current time and there is many issues with this. 

Biggest Problem is when I create this 3D annotation on my 3D model the person who wants to look at this model will have to have the same software as I do.  I can translate it out with the annotation but The software the translated file is getting imported to will not be able to read this 3D annotation.  So back to 2D drawing. 

Our drawings on our big castings and very complex models are not fully dimensioned.  We only dimension critical features and let the other features float per a profile tolerance on the print.

We do mechanical designs.  I do not know much about the civil and building and house side of things.

Thanks

[Kerry]

< .. >
Our drawings on our big castings and very complex models are not fully dimensioned.  We only dimension critical features and let the other features float per a profile tolerance on the print.

< .. >

Shane, I've done a bit of work in the past for castings and did the same thing. Used the Model for Presentation Visualisation and Mass calcs etc then just cut sections and solprofs for the "Design Manufacturing" drawings .. along with some ISO views as required.

[t-bear]

3D almost exclusively for about 4 years.  Mechanical/structural....lots of piping etc.........  Going to 3D cut shop time by 20%.........rework due to mis-alignment etc...has virtually disappeared.  The shop now can pre-fab pipe runs that used to have to wait for equipment lead times........the guys love it.  Tried to do some 2D work for a guy a couple months back.........was this ol' ba'ar LOST!  finally knocked it out in 3D and solprof'd the darned thing....he thought that was the best 2D he'd seen ....never tol' him dif'rent............

[David Hall]

Kerry, what sucks is that I used to teach 3D at college, but no-one round here wants to use it.  :realmad:

Im in the same boat!  Then they ask for it, and Im the only one that can do it, so i suggest a class, BUT we have mo time, just get it done.

[CADaver]

just for my own sanity, let's clarify something.  when you guys talk about "2d drawings" do you mean that after you build the 3d model you use something (like sol?) to "step" on it and make it 2d for drawing purposes?

Or do you, lke me, use dview sliced views in layouts to produce 2d drawings of the 3d model?

[Jim Yadon]

3D almost exclusively for about 4 years.  Mechanical/structural....lots of piping etc.........  Going to 3D cut shop time by 20%.........rework due to mis-alignment etc...has virtually disappeared.  The shop now can pre-fab pipe runs that used to have to wait for equipment lead times........the guys love it.  Tried to do some 2D work for a guy a couple months back.........was this ol' ba'ar LOST!  finally knocked it out in 3D and solprof'd the darned thing....he thought that was the best 2D he'd seen ....never tol' him dif'rent............

I'm with t-bear on this. I drew on the board and in ACAD for some time in 2d. It wasn't until I got into 3d on a regular basis about 7 or so years ago that I really saw a decline in my error rate when it came to the alignement and relations ships of parts in products. I always get these comments asking how I can visualize some of the things I draw and the answer is always the same. I don't draw it, I build virtually. This allows me to see where the problems to used to routinely crop up. It has also helped me when dealing with designers and showing them why something won't work out quite the way they think it's going to. As the software improves, more and more of my work is being done exclusively 3d.

[Kerry]

Hi Randy,
For me, both { or either } of those.

.. also use a couple of commercial packages, plus "stuff" of our own.

For Shop Detailing, as you MAY know, our local details are <say> 1:10 , which for an A1 sheet < with a 790mm border> extends anything longer than about 7000 < 7M or about 22' > past the border edge .. usefull as teats on a stool.

... So, The drawn length MAY have to be reduced while retaining linear dimensional accuracy.
... So, We can't detail off solids most of the time.