Drop to Ground

[arshiel88]

Have you been working in 3D and suddenly you need to drop an object to ground (zero level)?
For example you want to project a section of your model from level 4 down to zero level.
The quickest way to do this is to use the Drop to Ground command. haven't heard? :D

Heres the macro, ^C^C-ch;p;e;0;;
Assign this to a keyboard shortcut and you will be dropping objects to ground in the speed of light. :D

Requirement: Object/s to be dropped must be selected first before issuing command
Side Effects: Works only for Objects with elevation property.
The Other Side Effects: Can also be used in other views, just set the origin of the UCS to a point and objects will be dropped coplanar to that point.

[johan d]

We use this, but probably the same result

C^C_move;_all;;0,0,0;0,0,1e99;_move;_p;;0,0,0;0,0,-1e99;

[arshiel88]

We use this, but probably the same result

C^C_move;_all;;0,0,0;0,0,1e99;_move;_p;;0,0,0;0,0,-1e99;

Similar but this one flattens all objects including non-coplanar objects and even solids. Nice one. How did it happened?
Man, I can't beleive you threw up the objects to the sky (coordinates limits?) and pulled it back much faster than its fall. Maybe thats why its flattened. Any other logical explanation? :D

[Mike.Perry]

Hi

More information can be found here...

ID: TS44903 - Make non-coplanar objects coplanar (http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/item?siteID=123112&id=2875571&linkID=2475323)

Have a good one, Mike

[johan d]

Yeah - we probably found it there...

[arshiel88]

Hi

More information can be found here...

ID: TS44903 - Make non-coplanar objects coplanar (http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/item?siteID=123112&id=2875571&linkID=2475323)

Have a good one, Mike

I experimented a little in this method of making non-coplanar objects coplanar.
I created a box of 1 unit high, moved it up in the z-axis by 1e99 units and down by 1e99 units. It looks coplanar, but when I listed the object, the bounding box is still 1 unit in z-axis. And heres more, I exploded the object, and issued overkill to clean it up, overkill doesnt recognize the lines to be overlapping. is there anything we can do about it?

[Mike.Perry]

I experimented a little in this method of making non-coplanar objects coplanar.
I created a box of 1 unit high, moved it up in the z-axis by 1e99 units and down by 1e99 units. It looks coplanar, but when I listed the object, the bounding box is still 1 unit in z-axis. And heres more, I exploded the object, and issued overkill to clean it up, overkill doesnt recognize the lines to be overlapping. is there anything we can do about it?Hi

Did you look at the Object in a 3D View ?

If no, take a look... you should find the Object has indeed been flattened.

Have a good one, Mike

[arshiel88]

Hi

Did you look at the Object in a 3D View ?

If no, take a look... you should find the Object has indeed been flattened.

Have a good one, Mike

Yes, I looked in Isometric view and thats why I said "It looks coplanar", but found out that the bounding box is still tha same (by list command). by the way its still a solid object after 'flatenning'. After explode, overkill does not delete overlapping entities but you can say it is overlapping (if its really flattened) because you can delete it manually. just wondering.

Since AutoCAD 14 i've been looking for a perfect solution to flatten 3d objects.
1. WMFOUT and WMFIN - but this method is view dependent and lost scale during the process.
2.Express Tools' FLATTEN-I believe this method also uses WMF method (Hide=on), and arcs are divided into line segment and objects exact size is also lost.
3.Plot to DXB File and DXBIN, more precise than 'WMF' and 'FLATTEN' but in complex geometry, also loses a very small fraction in objects actual size. Arcs and circles are also divided into line segments.
4. FLATSHOT-by AutoCAD 2007. This is the most advanced and most accurate, and circles are still circles (ellipse/spline on non-perpendicular views), but ignores 2D objects.

I thought I can use the 'move up 1e99 units' method, to flatten 3d model but if I can't clean overlapping objects I'd rather use FLATSHOT and draw the 2D objects afterwards.

[mmccarter]

I too have been searching for a way to "flatten" 3d objects, 3d polylines, polylines at non zero Z values etc and have not yet found a way to successfully do it in AutoCAD. There are always some problems which will cuase every method you have mentioned above to not work on certain types of entitities in some situations.

If you have access to it, the easiest thing is to import your .dwg file into a 2d seed file in Microstation.
I really don't see why something similar or a way to just convert all objects to 0 z value hasn't been written into AutoCAD yet. It is always my number one vote every time the votes are up in the wish list.
Maybe one day enough people will vote :)

[bmedeiros]

I used to have a lisp file that laid every entity to the ground. It can still be found on the internet. It is called zap.lsp. Takes every thing to zero.

[andy.manninen]

What about the FLATTEN command? or FLATSHOT? (LDT 2007)


:Cheers:

[arshiel88]

What about the FLATTEN command? or FLATSHOT? (LDT 2007)

I believe this is the same with Vanilla AutoCAD's FLATSHOT and Express Tools FLATTEN command.

Click here (http://forums.augi.com/showthread.php?p=573757) in case you've missed my previous post.

[Capt. Computer Crasher]

I believe this is the same with Vanilla AutoCAD's FLATSHOT and Express Tools FLATTEN command.

Click here (http://forums.augi.com/showthread.php?p=573757) in case you've missed my previous post.

use the ELEV command for polylines and shapes before drawing. CHANGE>>>P>>>E, after drawing.

[Jay Zallan]

Make all coplanar (and to 0):
CLICK ME (http://cad-vs-bim.blogspot.com/2006/08/make-non-coplanar-objects-coplanar.html) for my Blog post on this exact annoyance (and solution)

Bottom Line in ACAD:
...Make a custom button and paste in the following syntax to the macro area within that button in the CUI: ^C^C_move;_all;;0,0,0;0,0,1e99;_move;_p;;0,0,0;0,0,-1e99;
Then just click that new button whenever you have objects at incorrect Z coordinates; no need to select anything first, this works on everything (no it won't explode walls in ADT, etc) but it will bring xref's down to a Z of 0 so unload if need be.

[mmccarter]

Make all coplanar (and to 0):
CLICK ME (http://cad-vs-bim.blogspot.com/2006/08/make-non-coplanar-objects-coplanar.html) for my Blog post on this exact annoyance (and solution)

Bottom Line in ACAD:
...Make a custom button and paste in the following syntax to the macro area within that button in the CUI: ^C^C_move;_all;;0,0,0;0,0,1e99;_move;_p;;0,0,0;0,0,-1e99;
Then just click that new button whenever you have objects at incorrect Z coordinates; no need to select anything first, this works on everything (no it won't explode walls in ADT, etc) but it will bring xref's down to a Z of 0 so unload if need be.

Unfortunately this method does not work successfully on all entities 100% of the time.
In fact for the type of work I do on 3d topographic surveys or wireframes of underground stations this method hardly ever works successfully. It alters the geometry of linework and often moves it to no where near the original x and y co-ordinates.

The only way I know currently is to convert to 2d in microstation. Although just yesterday we obtained a lsp routine which looks extremely promising called superflatten.lsp.

Surely something called "super" must be the best thing in the world ever!?

[Richard.Kent]

This one from Joe Burke is by far the best one out there so far (see attached), IMO.

You might want to google to see if he has updated it even further.

[OCD]

Instead of "all" objects, I made this one so that I can window or select 2 objects to change Z value to 0. " C^C_move \\;0,0,0;0,0,1e99;_move;_p;;0,0,0;0,0,-1e99; " I am getting back into AutoCAD, so I am a little rusty on making commands. Is there a better way to write command, so that I can keep selecting individually objects and maybe mix in some windowing?

Command works great on multileaders, dimensions & blocks.

[mmccarter]

This one from Joe Burke is by far the best one out there so far (see attached), IMO.

You might want to google to see if he has updated it even further.


This is the one we have just got. From reading the notes on it and looking at the code contained in the .lsp file I think this might be exactly what is needed and unlike all other methods it sounds like it will actually work.
The only down side is that it always flattens to the world ucs which means a bit of copying between drawings on different ucs's to "flatten" a buidling elevation if it has been drawn as a 3d wireframe. A minor sacrifice I think compared to not being able to flatten at all!

[mmccarter]

Having used the superflatten.lsp routine a bit now I have found one thing which it does not work with.
If an arc is drawn on a non planar UCS and is selected amongst multiple objects for flattening this will cause the routine to abort with an error. To get around this I have found that filtering for arcs and then moving them away from the drawing, flattening them seperately and then running superflatten on the rest of the drawing gets around this problem.
Still a huge improvement for me over existing methods :)