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Not necessary. Get your drawing to the view you want (top, front...), then
set the ucs to world. Run flatshot and place the block it creates. Do
again for each other view you want. When you're through, set your view back
to top, or what ever corresponds to World, and move your views wherever you
need them.

"Bill Gilliss" wrote in message
news:6115962@discussion.autodesk.com...
malche wrote:



The FLATSHOT command in AutoCAD works very well to convert 3D outlines
to 2D linework. There is a setting to control whether the hidden lines
are removed entirely (as you requested), or given a different color
and/or linetype than the outlines.

But the procedure needs work: after you get the view of the model as you
want it, set UCS > View to force the block of 2D lines to match the
current view. Then run FLATSHOT. The 2D block will be inserted in the
current UCS -- usually not where you want it. So get back to UCS World,
and re-insert the most recently created block (named something helpful
like A$C521D28B8), and all should be well.

This is with 2008; I don't know if things are improved any in 2009.

-Bill

malche wrote:

FLATSHOT came in with 2007.

So your best bet to get 2D vector linework is to plot to a DXB file with
hidden lines removed, then use DXBIN to insert the 2D linework back into
the drawing. In ver. 2000, use DXBOUT or set up a plotter definition
that writes to a DXB file.

If your 3D original is indeed the size of a house, set the plot scale to
an appropriate known value so you can scale the linework back up easily
if accurate scaling is important -- using "Scale to Fit" will cause
problems later. DXB loses all layer information, and (in 2008 anyway)
linetype info for 3dsolids.

malche wrote:

Although the documentation says that FLATSHOT converts all 3D objects,
it should really say "3Dsolids" since it does not work on polygon or
polyface meshes (which is how 3DS models get imported into AutoCAD), or
3dfaces.

Probably not as I think that it is a surface/facet modeller - not a
solid modeller.

George Drayton CD-CAD Ltd Christchurch New Zealand