Design Integration Laboratory

Design Tools - Connections

2D -> 3D by Object PICT

Objective

These notes are intended to help translate drawings previously made in a Macintosh-compatible 2D drawing application into DesignWorkshop® for 3D model layout and contruction, using the PICT format.

In general, it usually makes sense to use DXF to go from 2D into DesignWorkshop, because precise scaling is relatively automatic. If a DXF translator is not available for your drawing application, then you can follow these instructions to bring Object PICT format drawings into DesignWorkshop, using manual tricks to achieve accurate scaling.

2D --> 3D Drawing Translation Process using Object PICT.

Create the Object PICT drawing in your 2D drawing/drafting application:

  1. As for any 2D to 3D export, elimintate any unneccesary objects in the source drawing before exporting.

  2. In the source program (such as PowerCADD or Blueprint) draw an unfilled rectangle of known dimensions which just surrounds the other objects in the drawing. Note the dimensions of this outer rectangle.

  3. Export the objects to PICT format. (In PowerCADD, use the Save As... command.)

    (Note: This exported file must be an object PICT, not a pixel PICT. In DesignWorkshop 1.x, pixel PICTs can only be opened with the File menu Background > Open... command, for viewing or tracing. )

Then bring the PICT drawing you have prepared into DesignWorkshop:

  1. Open a new DesignWorkshop model file in DesignWorkshop 68K-FPU or DesignWorkshop Universal. (Object PICT Import does not work in DW PPC 1.2.)

  2. Import the object PICT file into DesignWorkshop, using the File menu Import > PICT command.

  3. Select all the objects, including the outer rectangle.

  4. Group these objects.

  5. Use the Object Info box to set the overall size of this group to match the intended dimensions of the outer rectangle, as noted in step 2.

  6. Ungroup, and save the new DesignWorkshop file, which now contains the imported PICT objects as scaled 2D entities in the 3D modeling world. (This file can now be used in any version of DesignWorkshop.)

  7. The translation process is complete. Now you can proceed to build your model with reference to the imported drawing objects. Use the Snap-to-Handles setting tool if you want to draw 3D objects based precisely on the imported linework.

Note Also...

Alternatively, drawings made in most 2D drawing/drafting applications can be brought into DesignWorkshop using the DXF format, which (unlike the PICT format used here) is inherently scaled. Follow the first step above (simplification before translation) and also see the nearby instructions on 2D to 3D Using DXF.

Over the next several months, these multi-step procedures will probably be superceded by more elegant translations using the "QuickDraw 3D Metafile" (3DMF) standard recently introduced by Apple Computer, Inc. This format will be supported in DesignWorkshop 2.0, and by most other Macintosh modeling programs.

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http://www.dil.uoregon.edu/computing/tools/2d_to_3d_by_pict.html - Posted 95.11.07 KMM, rev. 96.02.10