Most Popular AutoCAD 3D Commands and Tools for Creating Common Architectural Models
As mentioned in a previous post concerning AutoCAD© Learning Courses, I will publish an article about the most used AutoCAD 3D Modeling commands. This tutorial is divided into four parts to make it more accessible to everyone. However, the Rendering section will be treated independently in the next posts.
In this blog post, you will learn how to create and manipulate 3d architectural models.
My training e-course is well supported with illustrations to help a good understanding of the topic discussed. Go to the link provided to start learning or visit my home page, located on the sidebar, where you can read more about it or place an order;
 |
| The CAD software became an indispensable tool for achieving complicated architectural 3d modeling |
👉 Want to learn more about AutoCAD 3d modeling in less time? Then why don't you try My Big e-Book of Practicing AutoCAD? Check my landing page to make the purchase and you won't regret it; Money-back garanteed. Likely, you can subscribe anytime to my online course on Tutorialspoint.com.
Disclaimer:
As always for your convenience, it is good to note before we start that my tutorial is perfectly compatible with the AutoCAD 2013 version and above. Therefore, and as a result, your UI —User Interface— might look slightly different from mine in some screenshots.
Case-Study and Professional Insights
Sometimes, delving into subjects completely unrelated to your professional trajectory can often feel like squandering and wasting valuable time. Giving you unnecessary info, something wrong, and non-accurate will make you feel like you are lost in the middle of the tutorial with nothing to gain.As an experienced architect for years so far using CAD programs —especially AutoCAD— I surely understand what is critical when I want to submit my project to a client. This means proper tools to use to produce the right presentation, and of course, to save time and money with many profits to gain from.
The ideal tutorials that fulfill my requests aren’t for sure, those settled by IT developers or else similar, who pretend to have the complete tutorial of the software. But with all due respect, they are only good for filling pages of blogs with content or online videos.
Where the majority is a time-wasting and even money-savers; They will never get you close to the target, due to their lack of knowledge of the career and its priorities. Anyway, at the end of this tutorial, you should be able to do the following:
- Converting 2D wall drawings into a 3D solid model- Working with different Visual Styles
- Changing the UCS orientation and origin according to the working plane that you need to perform the various commands
- Creating openings for the windows and doors inside the walls
- Creating blocks for windows and doors (details included such as wood frame, glass, etc…)
- How to create the ceiling slab and the tiling roof
- Creating an indoor two-floor staircase (with details such as balustrade and skirting)
- Likely, you will be able to create and manipulate different types of 3d solids, faces, and meshes, most of which are essential to producing your architectural models of houses and residential projects or else.
Rolling Up with a Typical Process!
So, to get started with exploring the tools discussed in this chapter, you should download a prepared AutoCAD drawing (.dwg file) named 2D-Drawing_Tutorial.dwg: you will be directed to a shared link from my Dropbox drive and prompted to save it onto your device. The file is 100% free of charge, virus-free, and will not harm your PC;
It is only about 600 KB in size and compatible with the AutoCAD 2013 version and later, as noted before.
 |
Fig.1- The given modeling file in this tutorial is downloadable for free. |
Importing the 2D Drawing File | The Insert Command
After downloading the file mentioned above, which is free of charge, virus-free, and provided from my Dropbox shared files, you will have to insert it into a new AutoCAD file; press CTRL+N to create a new drawing from the AutoCAD Application menu at the upper left corner of your screen: New > drawing.
- Select the "acadiso.dwt" file as a template for your new project and save it under the name: my_first_model.dwg
- Insert the downloaded file into your newly created drawing by typing I for the Insert tool, or by selecting the Home tab on the ribbon > Block panel > Insert. While on the Insert dialog, click the Browse button. Go to the location of the downloaded 2D-Drawing_Tutorial.dwg, select it, and then click Open. Back to the Insert dialog, uncheck the "Specify On-screen" option under the Insertion point section, and then click OK. Don’t forget to tick the Explode option found in the same dialog, in the lower-left corner.
- You are now ready to start transforming an initial 2D drawing of a small house into a 3d model, using some fundamental AutoCAD 3D Commands.
For your ease, and in case they were already active, you will need to turn off the following layers:
- A-DIMENSION- A-HATCH- A-FURNITURE- A-FIXTURES- A-ANNOBJ- A-DOORS
Doing so will clear your perception and free your drawing from adding further and unnecessary objects to the 3D modeling process already overwhelmed.
Creating 3D Architectural Models with the proper 3D Modeling Commands and Tools
First, create a new Layer named "3D-WALLS" and set the color to #6 (magenta) for better sight, then switch it to current. While selecting the object snap to Endpoint, start the Polyline (PL) command, and draw as directed in Fig. 2 below.
 |
| Fig.2- The polyline construction, shown in magenta color, and the rectangles’ corners in yellow. |
Next, launch the "Rectangle" command or type (REC) and start by specifying its corners as indicated in Fig.2 above, and also by drawing the remaining polylines shown in Fig.3 as well. Note that the external or the outside walls are 300 mm thick, while the indoors are 100.
 |
| Fig.3- The 4 remaining polylines to complete the exercise are as shown and directed here. |
Now switch the current Workspace to "3D Modeling" by using the Workspace drop-down menu on the Quick Access Toolbar or the Workspace Switching menu on the lower status bar for easy access to the commonly used 3D tools and commands. (Fig.4)
 |
| Fig.4- Switching to the 3D Modeling workspace |
Click the (F3) button on your keyboard to activate the Object snap mode and check the Endpoint Snap.
Besides, from the Home tab, launch the Group command from the Groups panel. At the Select objects or [Name/Description]: prompt, select the entities of each elevation separately and create the related groups respectively. We have now created four groups that allow us to easily select and manipulate each elevation independently, as we will see in the next steps.
You will need to change the view of your model for better visualization of the various elements now present in our scene. To do so we will simply use the "ViewCube" quick tool for setting the requested view. Choose the lower right corner and your screen should show the same view as Fig.5 below:
 |
| Fig.5- The view switched to SE-Isometric |
Alternatively, you can change the view by using the View panel in the Home tab and choosing SE Isometric from the drop-down menu. (see Fig. 6)
 |
| Fig.6- Alternative method to set the isometric views |
Quiz!
Welcome to the Quiz section! Within this post segment, you will not only test your knowledge in AutoCAD but also discover some useful tips you still need to learn in the course itself. So, keep this additional knowledge resource, and good luck with your work!
Here are your selected 4 questions:
A) What is the alternative method of using the Orbit tool?
1. Press and hold the CTRL key then orbit using the scroll key of the mouse
2. Press and hold the ALT key then orbit using the scroll key of the mouse
3. Press and hold the SHIFT key then orbit using the scroll key of the mouse
4. Press and hold the TAB key then orbit using the scroll key of the mouse
B) What will happen if you use the Solid EXTRUDE command on an open 2D geometry?
1. It will not create an extrusion
2. It will extrude a surface
3. The command line will prompt you to make a closed boundary before using the EXTRUDE command
4. A Region will be created from extrusion
C) To create a shape as shown in the image below, which command can be used efficiently?
1. Extrude
2. Sweep
3. Revolve
4. Extrude and Presspull
D) State True or False: Presspull command can be used to create a groove in an existing geometry.
1. False
2. True