Defining 3D extrusion planes Once you set up a drawing, you can define the planes that control the depth of 3D extrusions. Extrusion planes are a set of two planes, parallel or not, that define the boundaries of linear extrusions. You will use extrusion planes if you are modeling a structure in 3D. Saving defined planes is a very effective way to work. You can select a saved plane from the 3D Plane pop-up menu in the Status bar before you draw object. This eliminates the need to define new planes every time you create an object. The planes you set up for a house would probably define the wall height, roof length, and built-in furniture heights. If you place down lights in the plan, you can define a plane for the height of those, too. The following example illustrates how to specify and save extrusion planes for the wall height. In this procedure, you establish the height of the walls by defining planes at floor and ceiling level. Once you define the wall height, you can draw 3D walls in Top view. The following procedure uses the Top view in the Draft mode window, the Define Frontal 3D Plane command and the Linear extrusion method to define wall height.

To define a floor-to-ceiling extrusion 1. Open or activate a Draft mode window. 2. If necessary, set the Extrusion method to Linear. To do this in Draft mode, deselect all objects. Then, select the Linear or Sweep extrusion action button. 3. Choose Top view in the View menu. 4. Choose Define Frontal 3D Plane in the 3D Plane submenu. DenebaCAD switches the active document window to Front view. The pointer becomes a crosshair followed by a line. The line represents the first extrusion plane. In this case the line represents the floor of the house. 5. Move the pointer to position the first plane. The line representing the extrusion plane moves along the extrusion axis perpendicular to your original view, no matter where you move the pointer.

6. Click where you want to place the first extrusion plane. For this example, you would move the pointer to floor level at X=0", Z=0". Clicking sets the first reference point. DenebaCAD sets the first extrusion plane at floor level. When you move the mouse, the drawing vector and another line appear. The second line represents the second extrusion plane. 7. Move the pointer to position the second extrusion plane at the ceiling height. For this example, you would move the pointer to X=0", Z=12' to establish a 12-foot-high wall extrusion. Note that the second extrusion plane moves along the extrusion axis perpendicular to your original view. As you move the pointer, the drawing vector extends from the first reference point, letting you measure the range between the first and second extrusion planes. In this case, the drawing vector shows the distance between floor and ceiling (when the Cartesian coordinate system is active). This is the extrusion depth. For this example, the extrusion depth is 12', because the house walls are 12' high. 8. Click to place the second extrusion plane. DenebaCAD then switches the document window back to the Top view.

After you define an extrusion depth, you should save the extrusion planes before you define another set of planes, or else you would lose the first set of extrusion planes. Choose a logical name for the saved planes. When you use these planes, you extrude objects between the floor and ceiling, so a logical name for the planes is "12' walls".

To save extrusion planes 1. Choose the Save 3D Plane in the 3D Plane submenu. The Save 3D Plane dialog box opens. 2. Type the name "12' walls" in the 3D Plane Name text box. 3. Click OK. You can now access the saved extrusion planes using the 3D Plane pop-up menu in the Status bar. You can use these planes in Top view in either Draft or Sculpt mode.

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