Transitioning from 2D to 3D AutoCAD drawings 112

In my previous posts, I updated my 2D plan to include 3D objects for the columns and beams, walls, lights and diffusers. To get a better idea of how this drawing looks, I’ll set the conceptual visual style.

The next thing I want to update is the VAV box in the HVAC plan. To make it easier to see the 2D objects that I’m working with, I’ll turn off all the layers except for the 2D walls and HVAC plan. The HVAC plan uses blocks for the 2D VAV box. I’ll edit these block definitions using the REFEDIT tool similar to how I edited the column, beam, lighting, and diffuser blocks. Although the process I’ll use is not drastically different, this block has a few more components, giving me the opportunity to explore different methods.

1. Zoom into a VAV block.
2. Select one of the block references, right-click and choose Edit Block In-place. This launches the REFEDIT command.
3. In the Reference Edit dialog box, choose OK.
4. Press the Ctrl and Alt keys and pick inside the VAV box.
5. Drag the cursor up and pick a point or enter a value for the height. I entered a height of 17.125.
   
6. Press the Ctrl and Alt keys and pick inside the small rectangle representing the induced air outlet.
   
7. Drag the cursor up and pick a point or enter a value for the height. I entered a height of 14. The small box representing the induced air outlet needs to be vertically centered on the large box. You can use various tools to move it, including the MOVE command.
8. Select the small box, right-click and choose Move.
9. Pick the midpoint of the back vertical side of the small box.
   
10. Drag the cursor over the back endpoint of the 2D rectangle representing the small box and the midpoint of the vertical side of the large box to acquire these points. You don’t want to pick the points, you only want to pass over them so you can use Otracking (OTRACK must be enabled on the status bar). If you are not familiar with Otrack, these few steps are probably confusing… sorry…  This is easier to show than to explain. Viewing the animation will probably be very helpful for these particular steps.
11. Drag the cursor to the approximate location where you want to move the small box. You’ll know if AutoCAD acquired the points because the tracking vectors will display and the tool tip will indicate that it is tracking the Z values of the Endpoint and the Midpoint.
    

View Animation

Using these familiar tools (Osnaps. Otrack, MOVE, etc) you can easily manipulate objects in 3D space. We still need to make more changes to the VAV box. In the next posting, I’ll create the last two protrusions using slightly different methods.