My position remains that stepping on an accurate 3D model is a bad idea, I don't care who is using it.
That is a mighty bold statement considering some people create a 3D model, specifically for the purpose of stepping on it to create a correct 2D representation. Are you saying then that if one does just that it is bad practice? If someone wants a 2D drawing they should just draw it in 2D?
Why waste the time doing it 3D then?
Because it is much faster to draw a 3D representation, explode to oblivion, step on it, remove the offending parts and fill in the blanks
Stepping on it reduces its usefulness, even if YOU never use the data for YOUR work, someone has used it or they would not have built it that way to start with.
What if I am the one who "built it that way to start with"?
I need this clarified. Why go to the trouble of building an accurate 3D model only to step on it??
Because AutoCAD cannot display or plot a correctly drawn 3D model in my line of work.
If you're saying that it is "easier" to add some stuff to the stepped on version, I'd say you should probably re-think your methods (thats how we got where we are). Concepts like annotations belong in paperspace might be helpful.
No, it is infinitely easier to REMOVE stuff that displays incorrectly when plotting from a 3D model, in fact, it is IMPOSSIBLE to remove the offending items in a 3D model, and if we explode the item in question, it then becomes IMPOSSIBLE to edit the offending items without stepping on it.
If the plot is not accurate then the model isn't. If the model is accurate why wouldn't the plot be so??
I didn't write the software so I wouldn't know why. I just use it, the workaround is to step on the drawing and remove the offending portions.
If the creator of the file placed inaccurate 3D data I would not rely on his 2D data. If that works for you carry on (that's seven or nine times now)
Granted, but I am not talking about huge amounts of data here ... I am talking about something that can be checked for accuracy in less time than it takes to plot it out, not much point in redrawing something to make it useful, if I can step on it and make it much more useful.