2D Drawing in 3D

If you create a new profile further used for rotation or extrusion to 3D or if you edit an existing profile of solid, VariCAD uses 2D drawing functions directly in 3D space. 2D drawing in 3D uses the same functions as the standard VariCAD 2D editor or 3D modeler, but the functions are limited only to drawing, editing or display control.


You can select the drawing plane, if you create a new profile (see Creating 3D Solids from 2D Profiles )


Displaying Objects

The 2D profile is drawn in one color. You can switch display of objects using the following functions:

Toggle between thick and thin outlines display in 2D
Switch on/off the auxiliary grid in the drawing plane
Toggle all 3D solids display between shaded and wireframed

Work with zoom, pan or view rotation or undo-redo of view changes are the same as in 3D. There are additional methods related to the 2D drawing plane:

Define zoom by two window corners in the drawing plane
Drawing plane perpendicular to a view
Zoom all in the projected drawing plane
Select a center of 3D view rotation in the drawing plane

2D Drawing

The functions are limited to drawing or editing lines, arcs, curves or points. 2D drawing in 3D does not support any functions working with texts, dimensions, blocks or hatches. You can use Copy and Paste; insert an existing drawing into the drawing plane or save selected objects to a file. If unsupported objects (like text objects) are inserted from another drawing, they are automatically deleted.


Usage of construction lines is the same as in 2D. Auxiliary grid, however, can be switched between sparse or dense pitch and switched off. The pitch is initially defined automatically according to dimensions of edited profile. You can change the pitch in a command:

Parameters of Aux. Grid - AXGP

Working with 3D

During the definition of a location in the 2D drawing plane, you can select the location in 3D space. The result is the nearest perpendicularly projected point in the drawing plane. Press the following icon in the 2D location toolbar to allow this:

3D location projected into the drawing plane

You can also create new 2D objects (lines, arcs or curves) as an intersection of a selected 3D solid and plane:

2D Object as Solid X Drawing Plane - SXDP
2D Object as Patch X Drawing Plane - PXDP