Since you asked:
This is a very complex topic, but for starters…
I’m with Moby Dk:
Ad 1: Jogs in the sections would be great.
Ad 2: Any 2D projection tool should be parametric / updateable. I’m aware that section tools are.
Ad 3: Naturally. However, I’m wondering if Clipping Drawings can / will work as a full replacement for Make2D? If not, why not?
Ad 6: Quite conclusive.
Some more:
7. The projection algorithm should support hatches also for non-sectioned areas, with the color of the object’s materials. Including textures, if the materials have any. (This is an existing feature of e.g. Sketchup Layout.)
8. The position of the 2D extract must remain in place, so annotation/graphics in layouts can stay in place (you mentioned you are working on this).
9. DWG export from layouts (Sketchup Layout has this, too).
DWG, for good or bad, is an industry standard, and won’t go anywhere anytime soon. So…
But let’s take a step back and look at the whole 3D->2D workflow. With an open mind.
No matter how hard you try to improve and promote this traditional model->layout paradigm, it fail to see how this could result in an elegant solution.
A major problem is: 2D extractions should not clutter the model space (Even if by some tricks layers containing 2D extracts won’t get in the way of more 2D extracts).
I just don’t want to see 57 Make2Ds or Sections floating around in the 3D scene, at random locations. I don’t want to care about where to place them, or have them get in the way of the model if I don’t keep strict layer visibility discipline.
Such a workflow also means more and more layers to maintain in the model.
This whole approach comes from the 90ies or earlier, where CAD meant drawing in 2D, and it was normal to put 2D stuff side-by-side in the model space, and sort it out in paper space. But it was 2D only. The moment you go 3D, and 2D is derived from it, this stops making sense. This is where the whole (Auto)CAD legacy is a shot in the knee.
If these 2D extractions could be placed into Layout space directly, they would need to be selectable as an entity, like a dynamic block. This could be a debatable solution, too, but let’s take this idea even further.
How about adding a “missing link” between model and layout space. This would be some kind of a parametric 2D sheet which does not exist in Rhino yet, that holds the result of Section Tools / Make2D. This sheet, let’s call it 2Dview, should then be placeable in layouts.
2Dviews would be somewhat similar to a Detail view, yet they’re not a ‘window’ into the 3D-sceen, but a sizeless 2D drawing environment containing the 2D projection/section of parts of the model.
- They should be editable, down to the last line, but still be updateable, should the model change.
- A 2Dview is where all the annotation happens (in model space only if it is strictly needed).
- Like in layouts, objects in these hypothetical 2Dviews are visible only there, so they can’t interfere with the 3D scene.
- A 2Dview should have certain parameters: a name, scale (which defines linetypes, hatch size, text size…), and it would be super cool if a Snapshot could be assignable. Should the Snapshot change, the 2Dview will update accordingly (That’s a bit of another story, but it would be a strong feature).
- When finally placed in a Layout, 2Dviews should be croppable with a rectangle or polygon.
Sounds familiar? It’s similar to how Archicad or Revit and others go about this. Quite successfully.
Feel up to the task? Anything better to do in the coming years? ; }
Thanks for reading!