3D Drawing - Part 2: 3D Face Box

This tech tip explains how to draw a 3D box using 3D Face entities.

Change view direction and drawing plane to Top (View > View Direction > Top and also View > Drawing plane > Top).

Draw a rectangle (Draw > Rectangle), 390 wide by 190 high.

Enable DP Snap (in the Status Bar) and switch to Point Snap mode.

Change current elevation to 190:

Go to Draw > Rectangle, then snap to the diagonal corners of the existing rectangle to draw a rectangle at elevation 190 above the other.

Please note that the two rectangles are on different planes. Change the View to SW Isometric (View > View Direction > SW Isometric).

Click on DP Snap to disable DP snap. Change current elevation back to 0. Change the current pen to Green.

We can now use the corner points of the 2 rectangles as the vertices of the 3D Faces that will make up our 3D box.

Select (Draw > 3D Face > Face) from the menu, and then indicate 4 corners on the 2 rectangles (using Point Snap) to create the 3D Face as in the picture below. (Note: By convention we specify the four vertices of the 3D face in anticlockwise order, viewed from outside of the object, so that the 'front side' of the 3D Face is facing 'outwards').

Note that only the edge lines of the 3D Face will be visible at this stage:

You have now drawn the 'front' face of the 3D box.

Repeat the (Draw > 3D Face > Face) function to draw 'left', 'right', 'top', 'bottom' and 'back' sides of the 3D box. Remember to specify the vertices of each 3D Face in anticlockwise order, viewed from the 'outside' of the object.

Quit the Draw 3D Face function, then right-click in the drawing and select Render View. To change Render View settings, right-click and select Render Settings:

Change Render mode to Smooth Shading and other settings to those pictured above, and then click OK.

The rendered drawing should look like the image below.

Note: While you can also use Draw > Meshed Solid > Box to draw a 3D Box, you can use 3D Faces to create an open box or a box with one or more faces removed.