Autodesk 123D Beta5 Overview

Welcome. This overview document for Autodesk 123D will assist you in developing your understanding of the software and how you can use it to create your design ideas.

Designing in Autodesk 123D .................................................................................................................... 2 Overall Process ....................................................................................................................................... 4 User Interface .......................................................................................................................................... 5 Navigation ................................................................................................................................................ 8 Selection .................................................................................................................................................. 8 Adding Placed Features to the Model Design ......................................................................................... 9 Creating 3D Model Geometry Using Sketches ....................................................................................... 13 Geometric Constraints ........................................................................................................................... 15 Precise Input .......................................................................................................................................... 16 Units ...................................................................................................................................................... 16 Creating 3D Models Using Primitives ..................................................................................................... 17 Directly Edit the Model Geometry ........................................................................................................... 21 Combine ................................................................................................................................................ 23 Using Dimensions or Assembly Constraints to Incorporate Design Intent .............................................. 24 Import .................................................................................................................................................... 27 Document your Design........................................................................................................................... 28 Share Your Designs ............................................................................................................................... 29

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Designing in Autodesk 123D

When you design in 123D, you create solid models that are an electronic representation of your ideas. 123D enables you to create precise models in both size and structure, in the units and precision that you require. If your design consists of separate parts, you can represent the relationship of those individual parts by combining the separate components into an assembly. From your design, you are able to view the relationship of the different component parts and make physical objects from your design ideas. In the following illustration, two different views of the same design consisting of multiple separate components are shown. By having separate components, you electronically organize the solid bodies of the design to match the intended physical world. Along with enabling you to organize your design, having separate components enables you to easily set the material and color and control the visibility of each individual component.

After you complete your design in 123D, the physical versions of the designed parts can be created manually or directly from the solid model. To directly create a physical part from the solid model version, you can export the solid to a file that can then be used by computer controlled machines. The part can be created using processes like stereo lithography (also known as rapid prototyping or STL), water jet cutting, or CNC machining. If you are using the STL process, you can select to have an entire assembly of parts created or just a single part.

Along with being able to create highly precise models and create assembly structures of multiple components, you can also have the model display in near realistic terms. The way you look at the model can be set to a perspective view; you can set the material, color, and appearance of the part or part faces; have shadows cast onto parts and onto the ground; have a reflection of the design shown on the ground; and set the environment or background image. In the following illustration on the left, the assembly design is shown using default materials and colors with a plain solid color background and an orthographic view. On the right, the same assembly design is shown with materials and visual settings applied, shadows and reflections being cast in an environment, and the view set to perspective.

You have a lot of flexibility in how you create the solid models that represent your designs. 123D enables you to create 3D primitives, parametric features, and sketches that you convert into 3D shapes. You can use these creation methods in any combination to shape the solid model.

The following illustrations show four basic primitive shapes and then a model that was created entirely using those primitive shapes. As you can see, the shape of the model consists of some primitives adding volume and other primitives removing volume.

In the next illustration, the base shape of the solid model was created from a 2D sketch that was extruded. The generated shape was further refined with the addition of a rounded top edge and beveled inside edge.

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123D will let you start with very rough generic shapes and then use various methods to modify the shape or size and add details. A primary editing method is to do direct model edits. The direct model edit method enables you to modify the design regardless of how the 3D geometry was initially created. In the following illustration, a more freeform and complex shape was created by directly manipulating the faces and edges of a simple box primitive, using smart features such as editing edges and symmetry. The edits consisted of moving the edges of the end face close toward the middle, pulling that end face out and rotating it back, and editing the position of the top edges.

Overall Process
If you are new to 3D modeling, the basic workflow is to create an initial shape with volume (either using Primitives or by making 3D shapes from sketches) and then refine that shape using the Combine tools or sketches drawn of faces that help remove or add volume. Another way to refine the design is to directly adjust the initial volumes size and shape by manipulating edges or faces of the initial shape. The following illustration shows the progression of the design as it went from a standard primitive solid shape to a more complex shape. Along the way, volume was added and removed to the initial solid and the general size and shape was directly modified.

The concept of Assembly and components is a very important one in 123D. Unlike design applications that are structured around layering systems, 123D offers a structure of an assembly consisting of many components that one can reuse, repeat, copy, paste, combine, put in relationships, etc., so you can create different variations or easily evaluate a design model. This structure is clearly displayed in the Browser that additionally offers easy selection and visibility controls for the individual components as well as their individual features (to view and control the individual features of a component, select the toggle Features to on above the Browser).

User Interface
Any time you start using a new software application, you must become comfortable with the user interface and the methods for starting commands, the workflows for creating your work, and the ways you can view your work. 123D has a streamlined and simplified user interface that makes it easy and quick to become comfortable with the user interface. The following illustration identifies and describes the primary aspects of the Autodesk 123D user interface.

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Application Menu: Used to access additional application related commands, such as application options, saving design files as a specific file type, accessing existing content, and printing the design. Quick Access Toolbar: Use the commands located here to create a new file, open, or save a design. Also use to undo previous actions or redo an undo. Command (Main) toolbar: This toolbar contains the tools for creating and modifying the model geometry. The use of this toolbar is two parts. You click once on the toolbar to display the commands within that category. You then click the command you want to start. View Cube: You use the View Cube to change the direction you are viewing your design from and quickly access standard orthogonal views Navigation toolbar: Use the commands on this toolbar to dynamically adjust the viewing of the design and to change how the design is viewed graphically. Click Customize on the toolbar to toggle on additional commands so you can set the display to include shadows and reflections, and the shading settings. Status Bar: Toggle on or off the options on the status bar to control things like the display of geometric constraints, precise dimension entry, sketch grid, and have sketch geometry snap to the grid. Snap Bar (Units): This option can be toggled on within the Application Options dialog box. This dialog box is accessed by clicking Options on the Application menu. The Snap Bar enables you to specify the units that you are working in and what the snap distance is when creating geometry. By default, the snap value adjusts to the first division on the Snap Bar scale. If you zoom into or out of the view, the snap remains at a reasonable value. Browser: The browser displays the structure of your assembly and its individual parts. These contents may include the organization of components and the listing of sketches, assembly constraints, and annotation planes. The browser can be a primary area where you go to access editing options, control the display of aspects of the design and use it to make selection of components. Canvas: This is the area where your design is displayed as you create and modify it.

Along with the different elements of the user interface, 123D also has various context sensitive tools and options available while you are working in-canvas. These in-canvas interface options enable you to follow a heads-up approach where you access commands and options right at the location where your cursor is currently located. Depending on what you have selected or what command is active, you may have in-canvas toolbars display that enable you to select options, select specific geometry, or enter exact values. For some commands, manipulators will display that enable you to set the size or position of the geometry by clicking and dragging the manipulator. The following illustration shows an example of the in-canvas menu and manipulators as a sketch profile is being extruded (in this case, drawing a box and then sketching a profile on one of its sides). When you select the sketched shape, the in-canvas menu options first display as single icons. By hovering the cursor over the icon, a list of additional options for that menu item will display. When you are creating a feature, the relevant fields and options also display in-canvas. In this example the distance value for the extrusion is shown along with the options for setting the direction and type of operation. The distance is set by dragging the arrow manipulator. The angle can be set by dragging the arc arrows after clicking the sphere.

Whatever tool you choose to use, always look up for additional icons, pills or menus that appear next to the mouse as they guide you through the process, or offer the additional selection or tool options. Commands and options are also available in a marking menu or shortcut menu. The marking menu and shortcut menu is accessed by using the right mouse button. When you click the right mouse button in canvas, the marking menu and/or shortcut menu will display depending on what is active or selected. If you right-click, only the marking menu is active. In the case of a right-click and drag, the command option that is in that section of the click and drag will be run when the right mouse button is released. An alternative technique to execute a command in the marking menu involves gesture behavior. This is useful when you are very familiar with the marking menu layout and need a faster way to execute commands. So before using gesture behavior, a little practice with the marking menu to develop some muscle memory around the layout of the marking menu is helpful. A gesture consists of starting the marking menu (right mouse down), immediately dragging the cursor to the location of the intended marking menu wedge and releasing the right mouse button before the entire marking

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menu is displayed. If these operations are completed within 250 milliseconds, only the selected wedge is briefly displayed to confirm that the operation was performed. During the drag gesture, a trail is visible in the canvas, showing the cursor path. When you release the cursor, the selected wedge is displayed for a brief time span. The command corresponding to this wedge then gets executed. In the following illustration on the left, the marking menu and shortcut menu is shown when nothing is selected and no command is active. On the right, one of the commands on the marking menu is being accessed through a gesture (right-click and drag). This is the fastest way to get to your commands.

Navigation
Beyond using the View Cube or the Navigation bar for orbiting and reorienting the 3D view of your model, you can also change the viewing angle and distance by directly using the mouse. Scrolling the mouse wheel zooms the display in and out while clicking and dragging the mouse wheel pans the display. To orbit the display using the mouse you just need to press SHIFT while clicking and dragging the mouse wheel. You can zoom, pan, and orbit all the while working in a different command.

Selection
Mechanical designs often have many objects in the canvas, which can make selecting the appropriate object difficult if traditional selection methods (windows selection as example) are applied. 123D offers two ways of selecting items: - Browser selection: we strongly recommend reaching to the browser for main selections of components or individual features. The browser lists all components and even the individual features of the components. - In-Canvas selection: when selecting an entity with the mouse, a selection glyph appears, offering different options that make it easier to select obscured or difficult-to-select geometry. These options are accessible

through a glyph which can be seen when you hover the cursor over a face/edge, and include select ByDepth, Parents, and Neighbor. Windows selection, typical for other 2D and 3D programs, does not currently exist in 123D.

Adding Placed Features to the Model Design

Adding rounded or beveled edges, holes, and hollowed out parts to a modeled geometry are referred to as placed features. Fillets and chamfers are added to the outside or inside edge of your model. A fillet creates a radius between the faces that create the selected edge. A chamfer adds an angled face between the faces that create the selected edge. In the following illustration, the same part is shown before (1st image) and after the addition of fillets (2nd image) or chamfers (3rd image).

Hole features are parametrically created features that are placed on existing model geometry. You can create hole features with a number of different options, such as simple, counter bore, and counter sink. In the following illustration, two different views of the same part show examples of the different types of holes that you can add to your designs.

With the Shell command, you can remove material from an existing part and create a cavity in the part by specifying a wall thickness for the faces. Generally, you select at least one face on the part to be removed from the shell feature, leaving the remaining faces as the shell walls. This is particularly practical for both digital

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modeling of real shapes with wall thickness as well as for 3D printing that uses less material and produces lighter objects. In the following illustration, The model is shown before and after adding a shell feature. Notice that the one face was set not to shell (which enables us to view inside the part) and how the wall thickness is consistent through the part.

And here a vase shape that has been initially modeled as solid full revolve and then applied shell to it.

ACCESSING FEATURES When you want to add a placed feature to your design, you have two primary locations where you can start the commands. Those two locations are the Create category of the command toolbar or the Solid Features shortcut menu that displays on the right mouse click.

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Command Toolbar > Create

In-Canvas Shortcut Menu

If you want to chamfer or fillet an edge of the model, you can also access the commands from the in-canvas menu after selecting that edge. After you select a model edge, the in-canvas menu displays the icon for the Fillet command. Click that icon to start the Fillet command. Hover over that icon to expand the menu so you can select any one of the commands in that menu.

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Placed features are parametric features. This means that they are listed in the browser and can have their values modified after creation. The features are not automatically displayed in the browser. To have them display in the browser, click the Toggle Features on the Browser title bar. You change the values of a placed feature by doubleclicking the feature in the browser and then entering a new value in the value field.

In the following illustration on the left, the hole feature is shown being double-clicked in the browser to activate it for editing. On the right, that activated hole is shown being modified by clicking and dragging its manipulators.

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Creating 3D Model Geometry Using Sketches

Sometimes for the geometry you want to create, it is easier or required that you create a sketched feature. Sketched features are 3D features that are created from an existing 2D sketch. When you create a sketched feature, you begin by first creating the sketch or profile for the 3D feature. For simple sketched features, this profile usually represents a 2D section of the 3D feature being created. For more complex sketched features, multiple sketches can be created and used within one sketched feature. In the following illustration, the base shape of the part was easily created from the initial input sketch. Creating this shape from primitive shapes would have taken the creation of multiple shapes.

When you create a sketched feature, you create solid model volumes that add, remove, or are an intersection of any existing solid body. The sketched feature can be an extrusion, revolution, loft or sweep of the sketch. A profile or path sketch can consist of objects such as points, lines, arcs, circles, and splines. You can use several methods to create closed shapes. You can use tools such as the rectangle, circle, or polygon, or you can constrain sketch geometry so that separate sketch elements come together to create a closed shape. At times you may need to create sketch geometry that is not closed, for example, a path for a sweep or loft feature.

Sketching Guidelines Follow these guidelines for successful sketching: Keep the sketch simple. Repeat simple shapes to build more complex shapes. Draw the profile sketch roughly to size and shape. Use 2D constraints to stabilize the sketch shape before setting size. Use closed loops for profiles.

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The following illustrations show different model shapes being created from sketched geometry. Each feature uses the exact same ellipse as a base. Creating additional sketches and sketch geometry can generate very complex geometry with very simple inputs. The sequence of the methods illustrated in the images below are: Extrusion, Loft, Revolution, and Spline

One more detail. During the extrusion of certain sketch shape, lets say a rectangle, and before finishing the height for the box, you will notice a red dot under the yellow arrow for extrusion. If you position your mouse over the red point, a taper manipulator will display a circle, dragging along which you can taper the shape of the cube.

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Geometric Constraints
When you are sketching geometry, the geometry is controlled by geometric constraints and sized by numeric values. As you create geometry in 123D, some geometric constraints are applied automatically. The easiest way to view what geometric constraints are applied to sketch geometry is to toggle on the display of geometric constraints. You toggle on the display of geometric constraints on the status bar. You can remove a geometric constraint by selecting it when it is displayed and then pressing DELETE.

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To manually add a geometric constraint to sketch geometry, you select the sketch geometry and then the required geometric constraint from the in-canvas display. If you want to apply a geometric constraint between two pieces of sketch geometry, you need to press CTRL while you select the second piece of geometry. After both objects are selected, you can then select the required geometric constraint.

Precise Input
As you sketch the geometry, if you have Precise Input enabled, you can enter exact distances to define its size. After the geometry is created, you can adjust its size by double-clicking the sketch geometry and then entering the required value.

Units
The units of the model are defined and can be changed in the Snap bar. The visual control of the Snap bar display is in the Applications menu, under Options.

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Creating 3D Models Using Primitives

There are eight different primitive shapes that you can create dynamically; they are box, pyramid, wedge, cone, cylinder, torus, sphere and polyhedron. You access the creation of all of these primitives from the Command toolbar. You first click Primitives on the toolbar and then you click the primitive you want to create. Change image

When you create a primitive solid, you start its creation by defining its base shape and orientation. The plane where you start sketching determines the orientation of the solid body. The result of creating the primitive will either be adding it to the solid body of the active component, cut the volume, or be a resultant of the intersection of what exists and what is being created.

While you are creating a primitive, you can interactively drag its size an approximate distance, use snap to set its size, enter exact values, or select existing geometry to help define its size. To enter an exact size, the status bar option Precise Input must be enabled.

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In the following illustration, a box is being created with a precise size. The value fields are displayed because Precise Input is enabled. The distances are snapping to an exact increment because the Sketch Grid Mode option is also enabled.

The orientation of the primitive is dependent on the initial sketch plane. The possible planes that you can sketch on include one of the three origin planes, on a work plane, or on any flat face on any existing model geometry. You set the orientation of the initial sketch by either pressing Tab to cycle through the origin planes (x,y,z) or by hovering over a visible plane or face. After the base solid has been created, any resulting shape after creating a primitive can be the addition, subtraction or intersection of the primitives volume to the initial solid volume. You also have the option of creating a new component. By default 123D does its best to guess if it should add or remove the volume. You switch the operation through the in-canvas menu during the creation of that primitive.

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Placing the primitives is quite straight forward, however here are a few further details on some of them.
Pyramid: The default set pyramid base is 3 sided, but you can change this to 4, 5, etc., by entering new values in the field that dispalys the number of sides (to access that field, click on Tab key while dragging the base shape). After a new value is entered, the number of sides changes and then you drag the height. By changing the numbers of the base you can get any of the shapes in the following figure.

Polyhedra Quite an amazing array of really complex shapes can be made with few clicks, using the Polyhedra tool. 123D supports 4 base types of Polyhedrons: Platonic, Catalan, Archimedes and Kepler, each of which contains subshapes.

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Directly Edit the Model Geometry

After you have created the initial solid model for a design, you can resize and reshape the design by directly manipulating that solid body. The resizing and reshaping is done by using the Press/Pull, Move, or Edge Edit command. You use the Press/Pull command to change the size of a part by pulling a part face away from the part or pushing the face into the part. By doing this edit, you end up offsetting the face from its initial position to a new location.

Press/Pull can invoke two additional commands: Fillet and Extrude. If, while in the Press/Pull command, you select a model edge, a fillet starts on that edge. If you select a sketch closed profile, an extrude starts on that profile. The Move command enables you to move or rotate model geometry or entire components. When you move or rotate model geometry, you can change the position and orientation of one or more faces or edges. In the following illustration, two views of a cylinder with a taper are shown during and after the moving of the top circular edge.

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You start the Press/Pull and Move commands from the Press/Pull category of the command toolbar, the marking menu, or in-canvas menu. The Move command is also accessible from the Browser and upon selecting any component in it

Command Toolbar > Create

In Canvas Shortcut Menu

Marking Menu

You can use the Edit Edge command to reshape a model by changing the position of points along an edge. After you select an edge to edit, points display on that edge. The number of points along a selected edge depends on the shape of the edge. Additional points can be added at any location along the edge. Through the use of this command, you can easily create very complex model shapes. In the following illustration, the shape of the model was dramatically changed just by editing two edges that were created by splitting the flat face with a rectangle shape.

If the model shape you are modifying is symmetric, prior to editing an edge you can enable and define a Symmetry plane. After defining the symmetry plane, as you edit one edge the same edit occurs to the symmetrical edge.

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You start the Edit Edge command from the Freeform category of the command toolbar or the in-canvas menu.

Command Toolbar > Create

In-Canvas Menu

Combine
Another way to arrive to desired forms is combining different bodies and parts. This is done using the Combine toolset that you can access from the context menu, right click, under the Solid features. The combine command will prompt a glyph, that when expanded offers three Boolean actions: Join, Cut, and Intersect. The workflow is to first select the command (Combine), than pick the glyph and select which type of combine (Join, Intersect or Cut) and finally pick (recommended to do from the browser) first the body that will be affected, and second the one that will perform the action. You finalize the action with OK on the right click. In the example below, the action of cut is performed, first picking the Box and then the Torus and finish with OK.

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If you switched the order of selection and first picked on the torus and then on the box, the result would have been a torus sliced in its half by the box.

Using Dimensions or Assembly Constraints to Incorporate Design Intent

After you have created model geometry or multiple components in a design, you have the option of creating and including additional design intent. The design intent can be in the form of dimensions or assembly constraints. Dimensions are added using the Dimension command and constraints are added using the Assemble command. You start the Dimension or Assemble command from the Design Intent category of the command toolbar or the shortcut menu.

Command Toolbar > Design Intent

In-Canvas Shortcut Menu

Dimensions that are added between geometry in the same solid model can drive the size of that model geometry. When you first add a dimension to a model, that dimension is initially driven by the selected geometry. This means that the dimension value is a reflection of the current distance or angle. After you have added a dimension,

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you can use that dimension to drive the geometry size or position by editing the dimension value.

To edit the value of a dimension, with no command active you just double-click the current dimension value and enter the required value. A dimension that has been edited is automatically locked so it continues to drive the geometry. When a dimension is locked, the size or angle of the dimensioned geometry will remain that value even if you attempt to do a direct edit of the geometry. In the following illustration, the linear dimension for the material thickness is shown being edited and the results of that edit.

The value for a locked dimension displays in bold text. A locked dimension also displays a Lock glyph when the cursor is positioned over that dimension. An Unlock glyph indicates the dimension is not locked and is therefore driven by the geometry. By clicking the glyph, you can toggle the lock for that dimension.

If you add a dimension between separate components in a design, that dimension will only be a driven dimension. When a dimension is added to a model, it is placed on a flat plane based on the selected geometry. That flat plane is called an Annotation Plane. Depending on what geometry is selected to dimension, there may be multiple

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planes that dimension can be created in. Prior to setting the position of the dimension value, you cycle through the available planes by pressing TAB. Each annotation plane that is created for a dimension is added to the browser under Annotation Planes. These browser entries enable you to toggle on and off the visibility of the dimensions and delete all dimensions on that annotation plane.

When your design consists of multiple parts, you can incorporate your intention of how the components relate to each other by adding assembly constraints. An assembly constraint is a defined relationship between the geometry on one component and the geometry on another component. The general workflow is to start the Assemble command, select the geometry on the component you want to move, select geometry on the second component, ensure the required constraint type is active, and enter the offset distance or angle. The types of assembly constraint relationships are mate, flush, angle, align, center, and tangent. The type of constraint that will be available to use will depend on the geometry you select. The available constraining options will be different if you select flat faces on both components versus selecting circular edges on both components. To change the type of constraint to use, after selecting the geometry on one or both components, you select the constraint type from the in canvas list. The offset distance or angle value is also entered in canvas.

Each assembly constraint you add is listed in the browser under Assembly Constraints. The two components that were selected are listed below the constraint. By right-clicking the constraint in the browser, you access the options for editing, suppressing, and deleting the constraint.

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Import
You can incorporate other designs that you already have, that you downloaded for free from 123Dapp.com or elsewhere, or purchased. 123D supports import of the following file types: 123D, DWG (3D), STEP (only up to version 7.0), SAT, IGES, OBJ, SKP, 123C, STL, DXF (3D). It is important to understand that 123D is a solid modeler and will only be able to fully edit imported models as long as they are solid models. If the imported models are meshes (usually coming from SketchUp, Blender, Max, Maya, Modo etc) 123D can read them, display them, resize and reposition but not geometrically edit them. The purpose of those models would be either to serve as scenes and props for enhancing the environment for visualization or to add to the 123D native model for the purposes of 3D printing. 123D currently does not read surfaces. The base of the ring below was made natively in 123D and the sheep is a mesh model, downloaded from 123Dapp.com, placed on top of the ring, resized and positioned and then all together saved as STL to be sent to a 3D printer.

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Document your Design

Aside from the dimension tools that help drive your designs as well as document them, 123D has ways to measure quantity, mass, volume, perimeter etc. of the shapes/materials used in your design.

Measure
The Measure command provides two important functions: Provide geometry information (distance, angle, area, and so on). Populate input boxes with measurement. Access the measure command in the fly out of any input box (right click anywhere in the canvas, you will find Measure in the list) You can select objects in the browser or in the graphics window when using measure. You can also use filters to control which geometry types are eligible for selection. The filter appears on the flyout menu after the Measure command is invoked.

Depending on what you selected (a face, an entire body etc.) you can get different valuable information about the size, volume, mass, perimeters of the selected entities. These values can be copied to the clipboard and pasted elsewhere for reuse.

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Share Your Designs

After you have completed your design, you may want to share it with others so they can view it, send it to a service so one or more parts can be machined or rapid prototyped, or print it for your use. Each of these tasks is initiated from the Application menu. Image To create an image file of what you see in canvas, go to the Application menu and click Publish > Image. You then specify the type of image file you want to create and the image setting to use.

Save 3D files By clicking Save As, you have the option of saving the design file as a different file type. You can save to the following file formats: native 123D, STL, SAT, DWG, DXF, IGES, VMRL or STEP file. For 3D printing, you will need to select the STL or VMRL file type. (STL is the de facto standard format for 3D printing; VMRL serves as a file format for color 3D printing, something STL format does not do). When you use the Save As option to save a design file as an STL file, the entire contents of that file are saved to that STL file. If your design consists of multiple components and you want to save just one component that is in a design of multiple components to an STL file, in the browser right-click that component. In the shortcut menu click Save As. You then set the save as file type to STL. The current STL export is ASCII export. While 123D reads both the ASCII and binary version of STL, it currently only exports in ASCII. Note: STL saves both 123D natively created geometry as well as any imported mesh geometry. While the STL output of model exclusively modeled in 123D is watertight solid for 3d printing, when a mesh has been imported into a 123D file, the resulting STL might not be 3D printing ready if the mesh import had issues such as gaps or water tightness. Publish 2D Sheets

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To communicate designs to others, document design or connect with some fabbing machines, one needs to create 2D vector drawings of the designs. 123D supports creation of 2D sheets for documentation drawings and for printing. The current capabilities of this first version of the 2D sheet tool include: Creation of sheets in various standard sizes Ability to create multiple sheets (all appear as separate nodes in the browser) Placing standard views on the sheet (Top, Bottom, Left, Right, Front, Back, and Isometric views) Setting various scales per model view Setting graphic appearance per view Edit properties of each view after they have been placed

Currently 123D does not support adding any annotations or text. The proposed workflow for creating final 2D sheets is to create a sheet in 123D and once the sheets is ready and is active, publish it using the Publish function to either AutoCAD WS or to AutoCAD DWG where you can add text, dimensions etc. (to clarify: Save AS DWG saves only 3D entities. Publish to AutoCAD DWG publishes the 2D layout sheet). You have two choices for workflows of finalizing 2D sheets: Publish 2D sheet to AutoCAD WS or DWG: Publish to AutoCAD WS (a FREE online view, edit and share drafting and documentation service available at www.autocadws.com) where one can then add Text, Dimensions, annotations, make a sheet layout with lines, etc. (Be sure, once it is published to AutoCAD WS, in the AutoCAD WS environment to switch to View tab, Layouts and there change the view to 2D Layout sheets so to see the exact sheet you made in 123D.) You can also simply publish to AutoCAD DWG which will save a 2D DWG file on your desktop and then use any 2D CAD editor to add text, dimensions etc. or manually upload later to AutoCAD WS

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Enjoy using Autodesk 123D Beta5!

Autodesk, AutoCAD and 123D are registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., and/or its subsidiaries and/or affiliates in the USA and/or other countries. All other brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to their respective holders. Autodesk reserves the right to alter product and services offerings, and specifications and pricing at any time without notice, and is not responsible for typographical or graphical errors that may appear in this document. 2011 Autodesk, Inc. All rights reserved.

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