Some 2D drawing lines have Z axis elevation height

[Travh2008]

I have a 2D drawing of a factory layout in AutoCAD 2010. I need to use the file, but I am not the original author, so I'm not sure exactly how it was designed. Some of the lines are flat on the 2D x-y plane (understandable because its a 2D drawing), while some are on the Z axis as well. I am new to AutoCAD 2010 and am wondering why this is the case. I have included a picture to help illustrate my question.

Also, I might need to change the layout to 2D completely. Is there a method to go about doing that?

Thanks,
Travis

 

[CarlB]

I wonder why you call it a 2-d drawing, the screenshot sure looks like a 3-d drawing.
It appears some elements are 3-d, or are 2-d with "thickness" or planar. Looks like it was created using an architectural add-on to AutoCAD, or some 3rd party program, then was exported for use in "plain" AutoCAD.

You might try the "flatten" command to put all z values on the same plane.

 

[Travh2008]

CarlB, when opening the file, it is presented as a 2D drawing. I pressed shift + middle mouse and rotated it upwards to see if there were any Z values present, which was what the screenshot showed. Thank you for your input.

 

[MikeHalloran]

You've just got a few 3D blocks in there, nothing to worry about. You can "flatten" them, or explode them and erase whatever sticks up, etc., or just leave them alone if they don't bother what you're doing. (Inaction recommended if you anticipate needing a 3D layout someday.)

I have, often enough, run across blocks from unknown sources (jokers and/or idiots) with a few lines at different Z elevations, parallel to the XY plane but offset from it. ... in one case, by 14,xxx miles. In that case, a zoom extents on a perspective view appeared blank, except for a single pixel.

You should suspect nonzero Z coordinates when osnaps don't seem to work consistently.




Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[chicopee]

I have come across civil engineering drawings such as those showing contours with Z values and what I did was to ignore the Z values when I incorporated such drawings into mine but always mindfull that I had to be careful when connecting my "dots" to their "dots" when I had to do 2D measurements from my drawing.

 

[MechEngNCPE]

Gotta love it how the title block is in modelspace...

 

[chicopee]

Titleblock in model space used to de done until the release of ACAD R14. If one understands how to scale a drawing, it should not a problem.

 

[dik]

Can you view the image in the X-Z plane and erase anything that sticks up using a crossing window? If this creates an unacceptable drawing just undo the command... you may have to explode the blocks using a crossing window in the X-Z plane, also... then erase...

Dik

 

[brandonbw]

Flatten is a good command to turn this into a flat 2d drawing. And I don't see anything wrong with where the title block sits as long as the user understands whats going on. Explode or burst on the drawing might help before using the flatten command. Try not to make the entire drawing into pure lines if you can help it. Though that doesn't always work.

B+W Engineering and Design
Los Angeles Civil Engineer and Structural Engineer

http://bwengr.com

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http://bwstructuralengineer.com

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http://bwcivilengineer.com

 

[ohiocad]

Just a quick caution if using the flatten command with 3d blocks.....

It moves the block so the insertion point of the block is on the 0 plane.... If a block was created with an oddball insertion point in relation to the objects, it could compound the issue and move things off-plane even more.