Preparing and Exporting the DWG File

Open the file:

• From AutoCAD 2004 (or a later version), choose File > Open and browse to the \tutorials\designviz\vizwalkthrough folder. Open wt_start.dwg.

  

Freeze the layers:

This file contains a lot of elements that aren't necessary for the 3D walkthrough. Using the Layer Manager, you can hide all the elements that you will not use. The only layers that VIZ requires for this tutorial are 01-Walls and 02-Windows.

1. Click the Layer Manager button to open the Layer Manager.

2. Select the 01-Walls layer.

3. Click the Set Current button to make this layer current.

4. Choose the Freeze > All Used Layers Freeze to freeze all the layers. A dialog appears to inform you that the current layer cannot be frozen. Click OK.

   

5. Unfreeze the 02-Windows layer.

   

6. Create a new layer by clicking the New Layer button (or press Alt+N). Name this new layer 3DWalls. Change its color to a dark blue using the square color icon in the Color column.

7. Right-click the new layer (3DWalls) and click Set Current.

8. Click OK to close the Layer Manager.

   In the viewport, you should now see walls, windows, and doors.

   

Create polylines:

In order to create 3D walls in VIZ efficiently, you need to create Polylines using the wall lines and the Bpoly command. This command draws a closed polyline around the boundary of a selected field, leaving the original wall lines untouched. Using polylines instead of lines greatly simplifies the creation of walls later on in VIZ.

1. Make sure Snap is turned off. (Pressing F9 toggles Snap)

2. In the viewport, zoom out until you see all the wall lines. This is required for the Bpoly command to work.

3. On the command line, type bpoly and then press Enter.

   A Boundary Creation dialog appears.

4. In the Boundary Creation dialog, click Pick Points.

   

5. Click the wall shown in the following illustration, and then press Enter.

   AutoCAD creates a polyline.

   

6. Retype bpoly. Click Pick Points once again, then click the wall shown in the following illustration. Press Enter. This time the polyline wasn't created properly. Press Ctrl+Z to undo this last operation.

   

   The polyline was not created because the wall is not continuous. You must close the gap before you can create a polyline.

7. Press Esc to exit the Bpoly command.

8. Zoom in until you get a better view of the gap between the walls.

   

9. Fix the gap by extending the line on the left to the endpoint of the next wall.

   

10. Zoom out until you see all the wall lines again, then repeat the Bpoly command.

    This time, a polyline is created.

11. Use Bpoly to create polylines from all the walls in the drawing file. Don't forget the small lines between the windows.

    

    If you see a warning that says “Valid Hatch Boundary not found,” zoom out so all the wall lines are visible in the viewport, and then use the Bpoly command again.

    Note: The new polylines should have the dark blue color of the 3DWalls layer.

    

Save the DWG file:

• Your work in AutoCAD is now done. Save the file as wt_2dplan.dwg, and then exit AutoCAD.