Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
View tab:
Contains tools to navigate, visualize and change the current view and
UCS of a 3D model. I cover navigation tools, coordinate systems, and visual styles
in this chapter.
Output tab:
Contains tools to output a 3D model to a DWF or PDF file or even gen-
erate a 3D print. I cover plotting 2D drawings in Chapter 16, and outputting 3D
designs to paper is not significantly different — I refer you to the online help for
specifics. (I don't cover exporting to 3D DWF or 3D printing in this topic.)
Plug-ins tab:
Contains the Inventor Fusion panel with the single Edit in Fusion but-
ton. Inventor Fusion is a freestanding 3D modeling application installed (option-
ally) with AutoCAD 2012. The Inventor Fusion plug-in lets you select 3D objects
from your AutoCAD drawing, edit them in Fusion, and then return to AutoCAD
when you're done.
Materials Browser palette:
Used to apply materials to the objects in the current
model, and to manage materials in saved material libraries.
Materials Editor palette:
Used to apply, create, and modify materials in the current
model. Chapter 23 introduces you to materials.
Advanced Render Settings palette:
Used to manage rendering presets.
Visual Styles Manager palette:
Used to create, modify, and manage visual styles in
the current model.
Lights in Model palette:
Used to manage lights in the current model.
Sun Properties palette:
Used to specify the lighting settings for the Sunlight sys-
tem in the current model.
Modeling from Above
So far in this topic, you've been working with X- and Y-coordinates only. X- and Y-co-
ordinates by themselves define a two-dimensional plane known (logically enough) as the
X,Y plane
.
In this and the following two chapters, you supply a third value, a Z-coordinate, in order
to locate geometry above or below the X,Y plane. You use the same methods to specify
Cartesian (X,Y,Z) coordinates as the ones I set out in Chapter 7 — you just add a comma
and another number. The following techniques can be used to specify points in 3D:
