Does ACAD 2011 Mechanical have 3D tools?

[Anonymous]

Hello,

I am newly employed at a company and we are using Acad 2011 Mechanical which came as part of an Inventor 2011 install.

I am accustomed to using solid modeling tools in Acad 2010 from a previous company, and I can't find these tools, not yet anyway.

Do they need to be enabled, or installed?

I pulled up 3D models I have done previously, so it's my guess that this version supports 3D modeling?

Please advise.

Thanks for any info.

[Anonymous]

ACAD Mechanical still retains the 3d tools used in earlier versions of ACAD.  I found the typical commands that I use regularly by right-clicking on the extreme right-hand portion of the program's screen (where the toolbars use to dock at).  This brings up a menu allowing you to turn on/off the tool menus from either Mechanical, the viewer tools, or the older ACAD modeling tools.  Let me know if this helps, if not I'll send some screen shots to help.

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

Oh! Thanks I was able to bring them up.

[Anonymous]

No problem, good luck though.  I'm doing some small models of padeyes and find ACAD 2011 difficult to navigate.  Seems it's gone too far towards rule based software.  We have had more success modeling in Inventor for 3D items.

[JDMather]

If you have Inventor why are you fooling with AutoCAD?

In any case, if you go to Start>Programs>Autodesk>Mechanical> you should see a vanilla AutoCAD, simply right click drag an icon to the desktop to start vanilla AutoCAD.  If you are really lost with the Ribbon you can set to Classic interface.

[Anonymous]

Right!!  Unfortunately I am still forced to utilize ACAD at times.  Inventor has become my weapon of choice for 3d design, but we're in the shipbuilding industry and as such recieve a 3d structural model of the vessel from an outside source, typically a ShipConstructor model file.  Inventor and ShipConstructor don't seem to play well with one another yet, so when I'm confirming padeye placement on the 3D model it's simpler to use ACAD than to import a STEP file w/50K + parts.

Otherwise, I'd rather be in Inventor playing with simulation and running FEA.

Good to know that I can still pull up the classical menu, because at the moment the ACAD ribbons are losing me.  Whereas in Inventor they feel like second nature.

[Anonymous]

Inventor vs AutoCAD 3D modelling, a debate that will never end until they are fully merged.

It all depends what you are modelling, what 3rd suppliers use, Clients requirements etc....

Good designers should be able to use both when the need arises.

Both are only tools of the trade it's the end product that is the most important.

[Anonymous]

Why ACAD instead of Inventor?

Well, since the companies I have worked for for the last 20 some-odd years before had Autocad, naturally I learned the in's and out's of that.

Now I am with this company, and we have Inventor in our toolkit, of course I am interested in Inventor, and I play with it when i get the chance, but as one might well imagine, there is a learning curve to overcome.

Inventor is very extensive in it's scope and capability to be sure. And I am using it for learning, but it is still quicker for me to knock out a 3d model of things we work with on a dailey basis.

*still pondering working planes and how to manipulate them*

Thanks for the input, have a great day

[Anonymous]

I have read your comment pretaining to the right hand side and i could not figure out how to achieve this.

[nestly2]

Welcome to the Autodesk forums

If using the Ribbon, try right-clicking on any part of the Ribbon.  If there is a "Tabs" or "Show Tabs" option on the menu, check "Solids"

If using toolbars, right click on a toolbar and check "Modeling" and "Solid Editing"

If this doesn't work. please let us know what version you're using.

[Anonymous]

Like nestly said, but you can also just switch on the 3D modelling or 3D basics workspace. I switch between those and the regular Mechanical one once in a while (but i mostly just type reg, ext, su, uni, sweep etc).

Keep in mind however that you will not be able to use the actual AutoCAD Mechanical tools a lot in 3D: the partrefs will always get put on the x-y plane and as such not often connect to your solid objects (unless you mess with blocks etc), the leaders, baloons and basically anything "Mechanical" will have the same problem.

Mechanical never got updated since before the age of 3D... hence the inconvenience. But the AutoCAD component is getting better and better at 3D.

[Anonymous]

okay i went to the ribbion and there was into the show tabs. there wasn't a solids tab in there. i am using the autocad mechincal 2011 version.

[Anonymous]

At the top of your screen there should be a pulldown that says "Mechanical" (or alternatively your own workspace name), with the pulldown you can also choose the "Structure", "3D Basics", "3D Modelling" and "Mechanical Classic" (toolbars) workspaces.

If the pulldown is not there, on the right side of the "quick access toolbar" (the small icons directly next to the big A) there is a small arrow with an extra line that allows you to switch on which tools are shown there: switch on "workspace".