The example below shows how to make the Plan and elevations into a block called "t3": 

Command: block

Block name (or ?):t3 (or your choice of name) 

Insertion base point:0,0

Make a note of your block name, if not "t3". You must use the same name if you insert the block later. 

Select objects:

Select the whole plan and elevation drawing, completed in the Documentation tutorial. Press left button and drag window, either way, covering all the plan drawing. You may need to pan the drawing slightly or pick some items, near the edge of the screen, to ensure all of the drawing is selected. 

In the following stages the drawing that has just disappeared will be developed into a three dimensional model. It could be re-inserted back onto the screen with the insert command, as described earlier, but there is a simpler method, the oops command. This command will restore the drawing, but unlike the u(ndo) command, which it resembles, oops will not undo the block you have just created. 

Command: oops

Command: From Menu Bar select: View > Tiled Viewports > Layout

These selections will cause AutoCAD to display the Tiled Viewport Layout dialog box. See figure, below. 

Select one of the viewport layouts by double clicking. The vertical split screen (Two: Vertical) is recommended, but the choice is not critical and can be changed at any time. Click OK.

After selection, the screen will divide into the separate, independant viewports chosen (see figure, below). Only one view, the active view, will display cross hairs at any time. Any view may be made active by dragging the pointer onto it and clicking with the left (or Pick) button. When a view is active you are free to zoom, pan and edit any part of the drawing. Any changes to the drawing will be displayed in all views, provided that part of the drawing is visible. 

Command: From Menu Bar select: View > 3D Viewpoint > Tripod

This option path will display the two dynamic viewpoint screen icons, shown below. Both icons define the intended view, and vary simultaneously as the mouse is moved. The concentric circle indicator is analogous to the earth, with the drawing located at the centre. The crossed lines are the X and Y axes. 

The centre of the circle represents the north pole and the outer circle, the south pole. When the cross or cursor is aligned with the inner circle the view will be horizontal. The view may be set by moving the cursor within the larger circle. The effect of the changing view location is indicated by the moving X,Y and Z axes. The selection is completed by clicking the Pick button. 

After a selection is made you are free to pan and zoom to optimise the view. This is much easier to achieve with Ortho OFF. (Use F4) 

Make Floor layer current. 

Method: Assume plan represents the lowest level. Copy this plan and move it up 500mm (ie. the base thickness) to the floor level 

Command: copy

Select objects:

Pick the 4 base perimeter lines only. The grid stays at the lowest level. 

Base point etc: 0,0,500

Second point:

Corners: 

Method: Simply connect the four top corners to their corresponding bottom corners with lines. (ie. use the line command) Command:l (for line) 

From point: end

of

Pick top edge corner

To point: end

of

Pick bottom edge corner

See figure below. 

Command: copy

Select objects:

Select from elevation drawing half of one column (one side) including the column shaft, capital and vertical grid. Note, only one side is needed to define the profile.

<base etc>/Multiple:

Pick any point near column 

Second point:

Pick convenient point, away from the edge of the screen but clear of both the elevation and plan.

Command: pedit

Select polyline:

Pick any part of column 

Object selected is not a polyline Do you want to turn it into one?

Close/Join/Width etc: j (for join) 

Select objects:

Drag window from left to right selecting all of the half column profile, including the top and bottom edges. 

Select objects: (to exit selection) 

3 segments added to polyline 

Close/Join/Width etc: (to exit) 

Command: surftab1 ( segments in the direction of rotation) 

New value etc: 12

Column will be drawn with 12 vertical divisions, or 1 every 30 degrees around the base. 

Command: surftab2 (segments along rotated edge) 

New value etc: 5

Column will be divided into 5 horizontal slices 

Command: revsurf

Select path curve:

Click on the curved vertical profile of the column and capital. 

Select axis of rotation:

Click on vertical column grid centre line

Start angle<0>:

Included angle etc: 360

AutoCAD will draw column after 

From Menu Bar select: Modify > Operation > Rotate 3D

Select objects:

Select column and vertical grid line 

Axis by Object etc: X

Point on X axis <0,0,0>: end

of

Pick bottom end of vertical grid line 

<Rotation angle>/Reference: 90

After  column will flip around to plan view 

Move the pointer and Pick a window showing an oblique view, not a plan or elevation. You will need to be able to pick the bottom end of the column's vertical grid line. Adjust the view, and zoom nearer to the column if necessary. 

Command: block

Block name (or ?): col

Use the block name you employed previously 

Block COL already exists. Redefine it? <N>y (for yes) 

Insertion base point: end

of

Pick bottom of vertical grid line 

Select objects:

Select column and vertical grid line 

Block COL redefined

Caution: offset is a 2D command meant for use in the plan view. If you use it with an active oblique view AutoCAD will display a warning. 

O...distance: 200

Select object:

Pick a column perimeter grid line 

Side to offset:

Pick one side, either inside edge or outside edge. Don't forget which! Repeat for each of the remaining three lengths 

Change layer of the newly drawn beam edges to BEAM and turn off other layers to simplify visibility and selection. 

The overshot lines at the corners are most easily cut to length by means of the fillet command. 

Command: fillet

<select first object>:

Pick beam on one side of corner 

<select second object>:

Pick meeting beam 

Continue until all four junctions are neatly cut 

Convert beam lines to one polyline, in order to simplify the next stages. 

Command: pedit polyline edit command 

Select polyline:

Pick any beam line. As entity selected is a line, prompt will query your intentions. Respond with 

Close...etc: j (ie. means join) 

Select objects:

Pick other three beam lines 

3 seg...etc: x ( ie. means exit) 

Select objects:

Select the beam polyline you have created. 

Base point...: 0,0,3700

This will move object up 3700 = height plus slab thickness. 

Second point:

O...distance: 400

Select objects:

Pick beam polyline 

Side to offset:

Pick side of other edge. Remember the choice you made above. 

Select objects:

Pick beam polylines 

Base point...: 0,0,600 (ie. move up 600) 

Second point:

Draw corners of beams. Use line command in 3d view and simply draw lines from all eight upper to corresponding lower corners (end to end) of beams. Use int. Freezing the col layer will help clarify situation. 

The beams are now completed unless you wish to divide them into segments. 

Command: offset

O...distance: 200

Select object:

Pick top outer edge of beam 

Side to offset:

Pick outer side. May have to use 2D view to do this unambiguously! 

Change layer of the offset polyline to ROOF. Set layer to ROOF and turn off other layers 

Copy roof edge to gutter line 300 above, and ridge line 1500 above. 

Command: copy

Select object:

Pick roof edge 

<Base../multiple: m (for multiple) 

Base point...: 0,0,0 

Second point...: 0,0,300 

Second point...: 0,0,1500

Second point...:

Draw gable end: 

use line command drawing from end of roof at gutter to centre at ridge level. Draw ridge line from end to end. Delete/trim unnecessary construction lines/plines. Explode plines as required. Freeze beam layer. 

Now that you have a model you no longer need the remains of the drawing completed back in Tutorial 3. Delete the elevations, grid lines and any other clutter you might have created getting to this point. 

AutoCAD produces solid views of 3D wire frame objects by means of its hide and shade commands which eliminate elements that lie behind object surfaces. 

The revsurf command used to construct the 3D columns in Tutorial 4 is, as its name suggests, a surface command. However the plane shapes, such as the roof and floor, have been constructed in the wire frame model by drawing their edges. No surfaces have been defined. 

To utilise hide and shade commands it is necessary to define plane surfaces using the 3dface command. Surfaces are defined by selecting their corners. For rectangular figures corners should be selected by proceeding either constantly clockwise or constantly anticlockwise. For polygons it is necessary to proceed as shown below.

Command: ddlmodes

Command displays Layer & Linetype properties dialog box. 

• To turn off unwanted layers Select unwanted layers, then Off 
• To create new layer. Select New button. Type floor-surf . Select floor-surf layer from list. Click colour square. Choose a colour then OK

Later in this tutorial you will be required to create two other layers, beam-surf and roof-surf. It may be convenient to do that now, while the method is fresh in your mind.

Command: 3dface

First point: int

of

Pick a corner 

Second point: int

of

Pick an adjacent corner. 

Line between the selected points will change colour after the second point is picked 

Third point: int

of

Pick next corner, continuing in the same direction. As with the previous step, the line joining the points will change colour. 

Fourth point: int

of

Pick fourth corner 

With this selection the line joining the points picked and the fourth line, completing the rectangle, will both change. 

Third point: (to complete the command) 

Command: qsave

Should you intend to view the building from down low, at close range, you will also need to define the under surface of the beam, and perhaps inside surfaces as well. You could treat each length of the beam as a separate rectangle. Several options are suitable for treatment of the corners. This refinement, which is entirely optional, could be added now or later. 

Command: qsave

Command: hide

The hide command regenerates the drawing, while suppressing the hidden lines. The command must be repeated whenever a view is changed, as the viewpoint returns to normal (wire frame mode) each time. Try this command initially to check your success in defining the 3dfaces. If necessary enter additional 3dface commands for undefined surfaces. Turning off layers, other than those showing surfaces, may be a useful action during this checking process.

Command: dview

Select objects:

Try both of the following methods: 

1. Select part, or all, of your model and select dview options to create an ideal view. 

AND 

2. Enter instead of selecting the model. With this option AutoCAD provides a simplified 3D house instead of your model. Once you have finalised options, and ed, your model will be redisplayed. 

This second method offers significant speed advantages if a model is complex, and your computer is slow, as the 3D house redraws very quickly. On entering the dview command environment you will be presented with the following command options. As each is selected, by keying the upper case option ID, (shown in bold text) AutoCAD will modify the view and redisplay the command options, repeatedly until you exit dview. 

CAmera/TArget/Distance/Points/Pan/Zoom etc:

Experiment first with the CAmera and TArget options. These are varied by moving slider bars. 

• CA CAmera —Orbits the camera (or the point from which you are looking) around the target point.
• TA TArget —Rotates the target point (the point you are looking at), around the camera. At first you may encounter some surprising results, such as images expanding beyond the screen or disappearing altogether. Simple errors can be corrected by the undo command. Total disasters can be overcome by exiting and re- entering dview. Note that you can always get back to the plan view (after exiting dview) by entering plan at the Command prompt, and entering w (for World coordinates)

Only after gaining some familiarity with CAmera and TArget, should you experiment with the next option, Distance. 

• D Distance— Refers to the distance between camera and target. You will find this feature more subtle than CAmera or TArget, and perhaps frustrating at first, because entering a Distance value also activates perspective mode. It is most important that you "prime" the slider bar initially, and set a workable initial distance value of (say) 20000, after you key D for the first time. When you wish to vary distance later, including reducing it to show internal views, the slider bar will be effective.

• PO POints— Allows you to specify the exact locations of camera and target. This option is especially useful for setting up a series of accurately positioned serial views. eg. when making a virtual movie. 
• PA PAn —Shifts the image without magnificaton or change to the Distance.
• Z Zoom —Provides a Zoom/Centre function and, when perspective mode is on, enables the lens length to be adjusted.(eg. wide angle to telephoto)
• TW TWist— Permits rotation of the view about the line of sight. Measurement is similar to AutoCAD angular measurement generally. ( ie. anticlockwise from 3 o'clock )
• CL CLip —Enables unwanted objects at edges to be eliminated from view. 
• H Hide— Performs hidden line suppression on the view.
• O Off— Turns off the perspective view, when necessary. (eg. when control is lost)
• U Undo— Reverses the effect of the previous dview operation. (eg. if something goes wrong)
• X Ends— the dview command and causes AutoCAD to regenerate the selected view of the model. 

Once you have gained some familiarity with the dview controls, settle on a suitable view, using the methods you are most comfortable with, eXit dview, and proceed to the next section. 

Command: shade

The shade command, like hide, needs to be entered each time a view is changed. 

Command: mslide

Type the slide file name in the Create Slide File dialog box. Amend path if you wish to store slide files in a special directory. 

Command: vslide

Select a slide from Select Slide File dialog box.

Command: end (to save and exit) 

Remember to log off before leaving.