AutoCAD Guide - How to Create Section Views of 3D Objects

In this article I will provide a a simple step-by-step process to creating a section view of a 3d object in very simple terms and in easy instructions. Obviously some background to AutoCAD is necessary in order to be able to use this feature of the program, such as drawing 3d objects, and understanding modelspace and paperspace well.

Having said that, the 3d object can be as complicated or as simple as you desire for this to be a practical solution to producing section views of your object. In fact I've even used this feature myself to create elevations of buildings. For that reason, any architect, engineer, or draftsperson will find this series of commands worth learning.

Step-By-Step Instructions:

1. Draw 3D object in Model space.
In order to get a grasp on how this works and to see the benefits, I'd suggest drawing some sort of typical shaft in 3D that would normally require a lot of tedious 2D drawings to create a fully sectioned drawing.

2. Go into paper space (layout1) and create a viewport.
Create a layer for the viewports, and use the command "Mview". Select where you want the 3D viewport on your sheet.

3. use the command "solview".
This is the key command to create views of your 3D object.
You can see there are 4 different options within this command depending on what you want to do.

4. Press "S" for section.
In this case, we want to create a section view of the object.
You can see that once you have pressed "S" for section, it moves into model space (in the viewport). If you had multiple viewports you could select which one you wanted to work with at this point, but we'll assume you just have one. It has now prompted us to "Specify first point of cutting plane:"

5. Select first and second point of the object you want to make a cut through.
If you picture yourself slicing the 3D object in half, starting at point one (one end) through the object to point two (the opposite end), that's essentially what you are doing when you select your first and second points.
What I did is I made the cut right through the center of the object - I specified from center of one end, to the center of the other end, as it's a cylindrical shape.

6. Select the side of the object you want to view FROM.
This would be as if you're standing on that side of the 3d object looking into it. So move your cursor to one side of the object (anywhere), and click.

7. Enter view scale.
Select a scale of 1 for the time being.

8. Specify on the screen where you want the center of the view to be by clicking with your mouse button somewhere in your title block. You can click as many times as you want, so that you position it where you want the view to be.

9. Create a viewport for this view by making a box around the object.
I'd suggest creating a viewport from the upper corner of the Title block, to approximately the center of the page - this will take up around 1/4 of the sheet space, and leaves room for other section views.

10. Name view.
I've named the view "Right" as it's a view of the object from the right.

Done! . . . Almost.
Why is it just showing the 3D object, and not a section?
Well it's sliced the object, but now you have to tell autocad to draw the actual 2D lines.

11. Press "enter" to exit the Solview command.

12. Enter the command "soldraw"
This is the command that will now draw the 2D lines.

13. Select the viewport you want drawn.
Obviously select the only viewport we've created for our view.

14. Press return and let autocad do it's little magic.
And there it is. Autocad automatically creates a series of layers, and freezes the 3D object in the section view so that the 2d drawing can be seen.

And that's all there is to it - you can then work with the 2D object as you normally would. You can now create section views of any part of the drawing, rapidly, and with accuracy.