BlogPartsDrawingsGenie
From a 2D drawing to a 3D part
Attach a drawing, as an image or a PDF, and ask Genie to build it. It reads the views and the dimensions, models the part, and compares what it built with the drawing, size by size.
A lot of real work starts from a drawing: an old part that only exists on paper, a supplier’s PDF, a sketch from a colleague. Turning it into a 3D model by hand means reading every view and retyping every dimension. We attached the drawing of a hub flange and wrote one line:
Build this part from the drawing.
What came out
- The part, as the drawing describes it: a Ø100 flange 12 mm thick, a Ø50 hub standing 18 mm above it, a Ø30 bore through both, and six Ø9 bolt holes on an Ø80 pitch circle.
- A side-by-side check: “overall X 100 → 100.0; overall Y 30 → 30.0; overall Z 100 → 100.0; Ø30 holes 1 → 1; Ø9 holes 6 → 6”. Every size on the drawing next to what the kernel measured on the model.
- An honest note about what was unclear. The drawing doesn’t clearly show which edge gets the 1 × 45° chamfer. Genie put it on the hub’s outer edge, left the bore edge plain, and said so, so you can decide.
- The drawing stays with the model as a reference sketch in the feature tree.
Why it helps
- Legacy parts come back to life. Paper and PDF drawings become editable parametric models.
- Fewer retyping mistakes. Genie reads the numbers, and the kernel checks them against the drawing.
- You see the doubts. When a drawing is ambiguous, Genie tells you what it assumed instead of guessing quietly.
Try it: attach a clear drawing (a photo works, a PDF is best) and ask Genie to build the part. Check its “drawing vs built” line before you go on.