Display full version of the post: Help with UCS

varine
08.11.2009, 02:25
First off, I'm not very good with AutoCAD so I might need you to break whatever you say down like you're talking to an eight year old.Anyway, what I'm doing is trying to get angles from a 3D model I made in 3DS Max because I need to build it (it's a truck, I made the model and thought it would be easier than it is for me to make the blueprints), so I need to get the angles and dimensions because I have the weld the steel for the cage of it.Since it's in 3D, not all of the lines are on the same plane so the dimensions I get when I annotate it are the dimensions from that view instead of the true angle if it was a flattened net, right (it's a question because I don't know if I'm right)?The easiest way to get the true angles would be to set the UCS to be perpendicular to the plane of the lines I'm getting the angle from I'm assuming, but I don't know how to do that.Or, is there a way to make a flat net of the model or something, so I can have everything on the same plane while I get those angles?Or, possibly, can I break it down into polygons and then turn them to directly face the view I'm using?

nameci
09.11.2009, 05:12
Hey varine,

Set the view to the view you want (top,right,left, etc.), then type usc space, then in the ucs options on the command line pick view. That will set the ucs to the current view.

Hope that helps,
nameci

varine
09.11.2009, 08:16
Well that's the thing, what I'm trying to do is get the true dimensions instead of the ones from that view, and I think this way I would have to set the view to be parallel to what I'm trying to measure. The utility's option to take measurements is appearing to give me the real angles, so I'm using that and putting notes on them instead of annotating it normally so I can just get this done. Going to take a bit longer, but I don't see why it wouldn't work out.Thank you, though!

KobusErasmus
10.11.2009, 11:40
If you set the view to what you want to see in 2D, you can use the command Flatshot that will create a 2D block which you can dimension.  You do not lose your 3D model and you can turn on or off the hidden line option.