Annotation in 3D

[jspartz]

Say you're doing a presentation, is there any way to get level markers or dimensions (that dimension on the Z axis) to show up in a 3D view?

[BATx2]

It would also be nice to be able to have room names and colors appear in a 3D view. As far as I can tell, room names and colors can only show up in plan or section. We'd like to do a 3D cut of our first floor plan, tilt the view a little so walls, doors, etc. have some height, and still show all of the room names, and color them by department. We've found that our clients who typically aren't a custom to reading plans have an easier time understanding our design if we show the plan in a birds-eye isometric or perspective view rather than a traditional plan view.

[archjake]

One trick to get level markers is to export to DWG an elevation / section view with nothing but the levels on. Then set your work plane to a vertical plane in the 3d view and import the dwg to it.

To get dimensions on the Z axis you have to set your workplane to a vertical plane. Then you can dimension along the z axis. I haven't done this in a while, and I think that you may have to draw the plane along the edge of each object and then set it, then dimension.

Its labor intensive, but its do able.

[archjake]

It would also be nice to be able to have room names and colors appear in a 3D view. As far as I can tell, room names and colors can only show up in plan or section. We'd like to do a 3D cut of our first floor plan, tilt the view a little so walls, doors, etc. have some height, and still show all of the room names, and color them by department. We've found that our clients who typically aren't a custom to reading plans have an easier time understanding our design if we show the plan in a birds-eye isometric or perspective view rather than a traditional plan view.
One method for room colors in 3d was to use massing families. I typically used in-place, but you could use true families.

You may have to go to the DWG trick (export & import) to add room names. Or another option that isn't parametric either is 3D text, but it may show up in other view unless you filter it out.

Good luck.

[jspartz]

Thanks for those workarounds

[3D Jack]

I created these two macros for what I call 3D text. They basically flip the UCS around so you can read the text in 3 different planes. Don't know if this will help but thought I would offer. You could rotate the text after placing if it wasn't in the orientation that you wanted or maybe change the macros.
[3D Text]^C^C-layer;m;3dtext;c;3;;;ucs;w;;z;45;;x;45;dtext;j;mc;
[3D MText]^C^C-layer;m;3dtext;c;3;;;ucs;w;;z;45;;x;45;mtext;\j;mc;

[luigi]

That looks like an autocad thing....:roll: is it in the wrong forum?Maybe???




I created these two macros for what I call 3D text. They basically flip the UCS around so you can read the text in 3 different planes. Don't know if this will help but thought I would offer. You could rotate the text after placing if it wasn't in the orientation that you wanted or maybe change the macros.
[3D Text]^C^C-layer;m;3dtext;c;3;;;ucs;w;;z;45;;x;45;dtext;j;mc;
[3D MText]^C^C-layer;m;3dtext;c;3;;;ucs;w;;z;45;;x;45;mtext;\j;mc;

[christo4robin]

I remember a post some time ago about exporting an area plan as a .jpg, then importing into the 3D view and placing / resizing it to be on the floor box of the floor in question. I don't remember if this worked without having to go the decal/render route or not.

[dbaldacchino]

One trick to get level markers is to export to DWG an elevation / section view with nothing but the levels on. Then set your work plane to a vertical plane in the 3d view and import the dwg to it.

To get dimensions on the Z axis you have to set your workplane to a vertical plane. Then you can dimension along the z axis. I haven't done this in a while, and I think that you may have to draw the plane along the edge of each object and then set it, then dimension.

Its labor intensive, but its do able.
Jake, you don't have to re-set your workplane to every face of an object to dimension it vertically in 3D. A vertical workplane is all you need and you'll be able to dimension anything parallel to that workplane. Just create a new reference plane and make it current ONLY if your current workplane is not parallel to the plane where you want the dimension to run. Alternatively, you can just pick the face of the object as your current workplane and dim away. That's the easiest and fastest method, and leaves no stray ref planes around your model which you then have to delete.