[Hythos]

Hi guys -
I'm still using BobCad v23, and am able to create/modify new/existing model files just fine. I do, however, need a template to either save and dimension my models - OR - another application that can allow me to create flat 2D, 3 (or more) view drawings within a template / title-block.

The only method I've been using, was to use a flat titleblock I had made within BobCad - but it doesn't have the appearance of quality I could otherwise get out of Solidworks or UG/NX.

Any recommendations?

Thanks in advance!

[mmoe]

It won't be the most sophisticated system of generating viewport drawings, but you can use Viacad 2d/3d to take a 3d model and output a 2d drawing sheet with 4 views automatically populated. The software is only $35 on Amazon right now, but I think you'll find it to be very useful well beyond it's price (I do all my CAD work in Viacad now, unless I'm contract drafting and have to integrate with the rest of an office). With a little further effort, you can even make them look very presentable. Basically, it automatically creates a new layer, with the drawing sheet template and 4 viewports. You tell it a scale and it makes them all the same scale. After the initial drawing is generated, you can go in and adjust the scale of each viewport, change the size of each viewport and add dimensioning to them as well. I've only used it a bit, but so far it seems like a half decent output and most people would consider it to look professional. Having worked around drawing for many years, they look a bit automated to me, but it also seems like you can spend more time on them to make them as good as anything else.

Here's an example of how it works. You just select the model you want the drawing generated for, then click where the red arrow points on the second image. After that, the third image is what pops up (I changed the scale to 1:1 since the part is small). You can see it is a bit off, with two views that are nearly the same (front and left). After adjusting the viewport locations and sizes, plus changing one side view to a bottom view, you get it to the point of the last image. You could go further and dimension it, and changes done later to the drawing itself should update in the dimensions. You can also fill in all the text boxes, which are pretty much the standard drawing sheet style boxes.

As for easy and fast, you can see from the clock on my screen that it took 7 minutes to do everything shown, including capturing and saving the 4 different screenshots. I don't think it can get any easier than that.

[Hythos]

Thank you very much MMOE! That looks like what I'm wanting. I'll check it out!

[mmoe]

No problem. I think you'll be surprised how good ViaCAD 2d/3d is for modeling and drafting as well. I've pushed it to the limits lately and it's holding up well. By that I mean I've created some models that are complex enough that even Rhino has a hard time working with them. It's much easier to use than any other 3d software I've tried, and the 2d drafting is excellent as well.