Any way to generate 2D drawings from 3D objects, that preserve layers and/or colors?

Joe Dunfee

 I have v14 Platinum. I commonly use color to distinguish parts in an assembly, and recently wanted to use that with some details that needed to be converted into 2D drawings. 

 I have looked at several possible commands, FLATSHOT, SOLPROF, and DRAFTING VIEWS.  But, all of them remove any layer and color information that the original had. I know that printing to a PDF and then using a 3rd party to convert the PDF to a line drawing is one option, which will preserve the colors. But, PDFs don't preserve the precision. This would be important on a building, where the error could be significant.

P.S. Also, I will mention that the Drafting Views only permit orthographic and isometric views.  I commonly want a 3D view that is non-isometric.

Are there any options I have not discovered yet?

Thanks for any suggestions,

-Joe

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Joe Dunfee

 I just tried the CHSPACE command.  It was surprised that it worked on a 3D solid.  However, there was no way to hide objects.  And, it remained a 3D object.  I was surprised when I copied the object to my clipboard, and then pasted it back into model space, that it stayed a 3D solid. Apparently the 2D paperspace can store 3D objects, even if it is technically only 2d.

-Joe

Jim Canale

Joe,  I too would like to be able to have multi-color (or layer) 2D views.   And while they're at it, give us a way to do a zoom closeup of a cross section view.