3D Modeling Workspace in AutoCAD 2011

In my previous post, I described the 3D Basics workspace. It’s simple and friendly and a great place to start if you’re new to 3D modeling in AutoCAD. If, however, you want easy access to the full set of AutoCAD’s 3D tools, you’ll want to use the 3D Modeling workspace.  It includes nearly every tool you could want for creating and visualing your 3D model. You can set the 3D Modeling workspace from the Quick Access Toolbar.

 

The 3D Modeling Workspace has been updated with many new 3D conceptual design tools in AutoCAD 2011. It has ten ribbon tabs: Home, Solid, Surface, Mesh, Render, Insert, Annotate, View, Manage, and Output. It also includes the Express Tools tab if Express Tools have been installed. In this post I’ll focus on the Home tab of the 3D Modeling workspace.

The Home tab provides access to a variety of commonly used tools, which are organized into ten panels: Modeling, Mesh, Solid Editing, Draw, Modify, Section, Coordinates, View, Subobject, and Layers. Most of the panels expand to display additional tools.

 

The Modeling panel includes some of the most common tools for creating solids and surfaces. 

 

The Mesh panel has basic tools for specifying the smoothness and detail of mesh objects.

 
The Solid Editing panel provides access to most of the tools you would use for editing solid objects. Many of the tools are in flyouts.

 

The Draw panel includes nearly every 2D drawing tool you can imagine from Line, Arc, and Circle to Hatch and RevCloud. It also has 3D wireframe tools like 3D Polyline, Spline, and Helix.

 
The Modify panel includes a slew of editing tools for modifying objects and for manipulating them in 3D space.

 
 
The Section panel has tools to help you create 2D documentation drawings from your 3D model.
 

The Coordinates panel has tools for controling the UCS (User Coordinate System) and the UCS icon.

 

Tools on the View panel enable you to control visual styles, set views, and create viewports.

 

The Subobject panel has tools for controlling object culling, specifying a subobject selection filter, and setting the 3D Gizmo.

 

And, last but not least, the Layers panel provides access to most, if not all, layer-related tools.