AutoCAD 2010 Demo: Mesh Modeling

>> AutoCAD 2010
gives you 3D power

to explore your ideas

in almost any
shape imaginable.

Imagine designing
a new camera body

that is free-form
and flowing.

The many new and improved

3D design tools are easily

accessible from
the AutoCad ribbon

when the 3D modeling
workspace is active.

You might start with a 3D

mesh primitive
such as a box.

You can specify default
tessellation values

for each type
of primitive.

To design the new camera
body, for example,

you might want a
few additional

tessellation divisions

along the length
of the camera.

Begin drawing a
simple mesh box,

providing approximate
values for

the length, width,
and height.

Notice the additional
mesh tessellations

along the length compared

to the width and height.

Form the camera shape by

editing individual
mesh faces,

pressing the control key

as you select each face.

The intuitive 3D Gizmo

automatically displays,

enabling you to constrain
the movement of

the selected objects to

a specific plane or axis.

You can just
as easily edit

individual edges
or vertices.

A new sub-object filter

makes it easy for you to

specify which of these

sub-objects should

take precedence
when you select.

Setting the
sub-object filter

to edge, for example,

ensures that if you

select on the
edge of a face,

Autocad will choose

the edge rather
than the face.

To continue forming
the camera body,

you can stretch the
front edges forward

and maybe you
want to stretch

the top edges down.

The camera is starting
to take shape,

but it needs to
be smoothed out.

You can easily apply

smoothness to the
mesh objects,

increasing the smoothness
value as needed.

Even after you've applied

smoothness to the mesh,

you can continue
editing its shape.

So far, we've used

the 3D Gizmo to move
the selected objects,

but you can also use it

to rotate and
scale objects.

Use it, for example, to
scale the center face

of the front of

the camera body for
the camera lens.

Using the right-click
menu on the Gizmo,

you can select the
scale option and

then either from the
right-click menu

or the Gizmo icon,

constrain the
scale operation

to the ZX plane.

To make the lens opening
more symmetrical,

you can perform
an additional

scale operation along

the Z-axis and maybe

move it up along the
Z-axis just a little.

Now, the face is
ready to be extruded.

You can use a
similar process to

form the eyepiece on
the back of the camera.

The intuitive
and predictable

sub-object selection and

3D gizmos combined with

the powerful free form

capabilities of meshes,

enabling you to create

your models quickly
and efficiently.

The eyepiece is
almost done,

but instead of having
a curved lens,

maybe you want
it to be flat.

The crease tool
enables you to crease

selected mesh
geometry so that

it remains unaffected
by the mesh smoothness.

Notice the hard edges that

are formed on the
eyepiece lens.

Finally, you
can scale down

the lens and move it

slightly into
the eyepiece.