Understanding Drawing Views in BricsCAD Mechanical
Quick answer: BricsCAD Mechanical’s toolset generates drawing views from 3D models of parts and assemblies. Views create in the paper space of the same DWG file that holds the 3D model in model space, confirming VIEWBASE covered elsewhere in this hub, and are annotatable with dimensions, leaders, text, and tables, updating automatically whenever the associative 3D model changes. Find these tools in the Views ribbon panel, under the Annotate tab of the Mechanical workspace.
The Views Toolset
| Tool | Description |
|---|---|
| Base Views | Generates associative orthographic and standard isometric views of a 3D solid model in a paper space layout. |
| Projected Views | Generates additional projected views from an existing drawing view. |
| Section View | Creates a cross-section view based on a standard drawing view generated by VIEWBASE, in a paper space layout. |
| Detail View | Creates a detail view of a portion of a standard generated drawing at a larger scale. |
| Edit View | Changes a drawing view’s scale and hidden line visibility. |
| Update Views | Updates a selection of drawing views obtained via VIEWBASE and VIEWSECTION when VIEWUPDATEAUTO is 0. |
| Section Style | Predefined and user-defined section view styles. |
| Detail Style | Predefined and user-defined detail view styles. |
| Export Views | Exports the content of drawing views obtained via VIEWBASE and VIEWSECTION to the drawing’s Model Space, or to a new drawing. |
Draft-Quality Drawing Views
By default, BricsCAD generates precise (high-quality) drawing views for any 3D model, with edges (including silhouette edges) represented by 2D entities, lines, circles, arcs, and splines. Generating precise views for a large number of 3D entities can take significant time, since every silhouette edge needs approximating with an analytical 2D curve.
Reduce generation time by setting DRAWINGVIEWQUALITY to 0, enabling draft-quality drawing views instead. These represent internally as 3D solids, still letting you annotate their silhouette edges, and look very similar to a precise view, making them useful for quickly building out layouts. Switch a draft-quality view back to high-quality by changing its Geometry property from Draft to 2D.
Frequently Asked Questions
What’s the practical difference between a draft-quality and a high-quality drawing view? High-quality views represent edges as precise 2D entities, taking longer to generate on complex models; draft-quality views represent internally as 3D solids instead, generating faster while still looking very similar and supporting silhouette edge annotation.
How do I switch a draft-quality view back to high-quality later? Change its Geometry property from Draft to 2D.
Which tool would I use to zoom into one portion of an existing drawing view at a larger scale? Detail View.
Do drawing views update automatically if I change the 3D model they’re based on? Yes, since they’re associative to that model, unless VIEWUPDATEAUTO is set to 0, in which case use Update Views to refresh them manually.