Drawing Views

Overview

BricsCAD Mechanical provides a toolset to generate drawing views from 3D models of parts and assemblies. Drawings views are created in the paper space of the same DWG file. The 3D model is created in model space. Drawing views can be annotated using dimensions, leaders, text and tables. Views and annotations are updated when the associative 3D model is changed.

The tools to generate, update and annotate drawing views are located on the Annotate tab of the Mechanical workspace:

Figure 1. Annotate
Table 1. Annotate
Drawing view Description
Base Views Generate associative orthographic and standard isometric views of a 3D solid model in a paper space layout.
Projected Views Generate additional projected views from an existing drawing view.
Section View Create a cross-section view based on a standard drawing view generated by command VIEWBASE in a paper space layout.
Detail View Create a detail view of a portion of a standard generated drawing at a larger scale.
Edit View Change the scale and the hidden line visibility of drawing views.
Update Views Updates a selection of drawing views obtained by VIEWBASE and VIEWSECTION when VIEWUPDATEAUTO = 0.
Section Style Predefined and user-defined styles.
Detail Style
Export Views Export the content of drawing views, obtained by command VIEWBASE and VIEWSECTION, to the Model Space of the drawing, or to a new drawing.

Draft-quality drawing views

By default, BricsCAD generates precise (high-quality) drawing views for any 3D model. The edges of such views (including silhouette edges) are represented by 2D entities; lines, circles, arcs and splines. The generation of precise views for a large number of 3D entities can take a significant amount of time. This is because every silhouette edge must be approximated with an analytical 2D curve.

You can reduce the time needed to generate drawing views by changing the DRAWINGVIEWQUALITY setting to 0. This enables draft-quality drawing views. Such drawing views are internally represented as 3D solids, which makes it impossible to put annotations on their silhouette edges. However, they look very similar to a precise (high-quality) drawing view and you can use them to quickly create layouts.

A draft-quality drawing view can be switched to a high-quality drawing view using its Geometry property (change it from Draft to 2D).