Rotate 2D drawing objects in 3D space?

[Anonymous]

I'm wanting to take 2D geometry and rotate it about the X axis into Z space to get a pseudo-foreshortened version.  Is this possible, or do I need to create a 3D object somehow in Autocad?  I'm a very new user, and don't even know if A-Cad has any decent 3D capability.

Thanks for any help that you can offer...

Don

[imadHabash]

Hi,

>> ... Is this possible, or do I need to create a 3D object somehow in Autocad? <<

>> ... and don't even know if A-Cad has any decent 3D capability. <<

as i understand it ... Yes it's possible . also you can create 3D objects as well . 

[Anonymous]

That's good news.  So how would I do the rotation of the 2D data?

[imadHabash]

>> So how would I do the rotation of the 2D data? <<

it will be great if you show us your case or attache a CAD dwg file as a sample . BUT you can try 3DROTATE ( Click )  command and use navcube in the upper right of your CAD screen ( NAVVCUBE = ON ) . 

Command: NAVVCUBE
Enter an option [ON/OFF/Settings] <ON>:

[leeminardi · Accepted solution]

Don, to rotate geometry in 3D space you can use the 3drotate or rotate3d commands. I prefer the rotate3d for keyboard entry.

Try the following:

1. Go to the top view (the XY plane) and add a rectangle from 0,0 to 2,1 then zoom to fill it on the screen. 
2. Give the rotate3d command and specify the y axis, a base point of 0,0,0 and an angle of 45°. The rectangle will foreshorten in the horizontal (x) direction. 
3. Now give the rotate3d command again and this time specify the x axis, 0,0,0 for the base point and an angle of -35.2644°. This is the angle of the diagonal of a cube with its base (= atan(1/sqrt(2))).  That is, the isometeric orientation.

The result will be that the rectangle will be at an isometric orientation when seen from the top view. Note that two side of the resulting parallelogram are vertical and the other two at an apparent 30°. In this example you have rotated the rectangle in space.  From the top view all line principal lines are foreshortened the same amount (about 82%). This is different than rotating YOU, the observer with the view commands that keep the geometry fixed with respect to the world coordinate system.

Try the above steps but instead of a rectangle start with a 3D box with a corner at 0,0,0 and the opposite at 2,1,3.