• AutoCAD

Identify and create 3D polylines in AutoCAD

Identify when to use 3D polylines, and create several different 3D polylines.


00:04

Just the name 3D Polyline tells us that

00:06

this object is different than a regular Polyline.

00:09

But exactly what is a 3D Polyline?

00:12

When is it useful

00:19

These elevation values are applied at each vertex

00:23

or change in direction along the 3D Polyline

00:33

In a plan view of your drawing 3d poly lines will look like regular poly lines.

00:38

The only difference is that they will have elevation values applied.

00:42

Let's discuss a possible project design scenario in

00:46

which 3D poly lines would be useful.

00:49

After discussing the example,

00:51

I will demonstrate creating and editing 3d poly lines.

00:57

Here's an architectural example.

00:60

You may want to lay things out in 3d to see

01:03

how the components relate to each other in a spatial environment.

01:06

In

01:07

this example, we could take a standard 3D room layout,

01:11

apply elevations to the top and bottoms of a wall

01:15

and then create additional items to see how

01:18

they will relate to the elevations of those walls

01:21

with the ability to see relationships in 3D architects

01:25

and designers could create preliminary models in AUTOCAD,

01:29

which could later be brought into a BM environment.

01:32

When further 3D modeling is required

01:37

to create a 3D poly line,

01:39

you can either type in three P at the command line or come to the home tab.

01:46

Click on the draw, drop down

01:48

and click on the 3D poly line.

01:52

After starting the command,

01:53

you're prompted to specify a start point of the poly line,

01:60

you can then click the points that you want for your 3d Polyline.

02:04

One major difference between regular poly lines and 3d poly lines is

02:09

that 3d poly lines do not have the same command line options

02:14

as two D poly lines.

02:16

Of particular note is the arc option.

02:19

Although this option is missing,

02:21

there is a workaround for this that I will discuss later in this video.

02:26

Now I'm gonna start laying out the 3D poly lines for this example.

02:31

So I will go ahead and type in 20

02:35

ft

02:36

and then enter.

02:38

So my first 3d polyline is created,

02:42

I'll now go ahead and create the second one

02:46

entering 23 ft.

02:50

And now what I could do is use the copy command

02:58

to copy each of these lines over or I could have

03:03

drawn them as well.

03:07

So now that I have the base for this,

03:11

I'll go ahead and use the copy command again

03:18

and I'm going to copy

03:21

what I have from endpoint

03:24

to endpoint

03:26

so that I have double the lines.

03:33

One thing I want to point out

03:36

is if we look at one of our elevations,

03:39

we have a sloping wall

03:42

that starts 8 ft away from this wall. So one thing I'm gonna do

03:47

is I'm gonna use a regular poly line

03:52

as a construction line

03:54

and I'm going to use the offset command to offset it 8 ft.

03:59

Now, the reason for this is 3d poly lines cannot be offset.

04:08

Then I'll use the copy command

04:11

afterwards.

04:13

Or actually I'll use the copy command

04:19

to copy this line from endpoint to end point.

04:23

And then I'll delete my polyline construction line.

Video transcript

00:04

Just the name 3D Polyline tells us that

00:06

this object is different than a regular Polyline.

00:09

But exactly what is a 3D Polyline?

00:12

When is it useful

00:19

These elevation values are applied at each vertex

00:23

or change in direction along the 3D Polyline

00:33

In a plan view of your drawing 3d poly lines will look like regular poly lines.

00:38

The only difference is that they will have elevation values applied.

00:42

Let's discuss a possible project design scenario in

00:46

which 3D poly lines would be useful.

00:49

After discussing the example,

00:51

I will demonstrate creating and editing 3d poly lines.

00:57

Here's an architectural example.

00:60

You may want to lay things out in 3d to see

01:03

how the components relate to each other in a spatial environment.

01:06

In

01:07

this example, we could take a standard 3D room layout,

01:11

apply elevations to the top and bottoms of a wall

01:15

and then create additional items to see how

01:18

they will relate to the elevations of those walls

01:21

with the ability to see relationships in 3D architects

01:25

and designers could create preliminary models in AUTOCAD,

01:29

which could later be brought into a BM environment.

01:32

When further 3D modeling is required

01:37

to create a 3D poly line,

01:39

you can either type in three P at the command line or come to the home tab.

01:46

Click on the draw, drop down

01:48

and click on the 3D poly line.

01:52

After starting the command,

01:53

you're prompted to specify a start point of the poly line,

01:60

you can then click the points that you want for your 3d Polyline.

02:04

One major difference between regular poly lines and 3d poly lines is

02:09

that 3d poly lines do not have the same command line options

02:14

as two D poly lines.

02:16

Of particular note is the arc option.

02:19

Although this option is missing,

02:21

there is a workaround for this that I will discuss later in this video.

02:26

Now I'm gonna start laying out the 3D poly lines for this example.

02:31

So I will go ahead and type in 20

02:35

ft

02:36

and then enter.

02:38

So my first 3d polyline is created,

02:42

I'll now go ahead and create the second one

02:46

entering 23 ft.

02:50

And now what I could do is use the copy command

02:58

to copy each of these lines over or I could have

03:03

drawn them as well.

03:07

So now that I have the base for this,

03:11

I'll go ahead and use the copy command again

03:18

and I'm going to copy

03:21

what I have from endpoint

03:24

to endpoint

03:26

so that I have double the lines.

03:33

One thing I want to point out

03:36

is if we look at one of our elevations,

03:39

we have a sloping wall

03:42

that starts 8 ft away from this wall. So one thing I'm gonna do

03:47

is I'm gonna use a regular poly line

03:52

as a construction line

03:54

and I'm going to use the offset command to offset it 8 ft.

03:59

Now, the reason for this is 3d poly lines cannot be offset.

04:08

Then I'll use the copy command

04:11

afterwards.

04:13

Or actually I'll use the copy command

04:19

to copy this line from endpoint to end point.

04:23

And then I'll delete my polyline construction line.

Was this information helpful?