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AutoCAD Tutorial 14: Project Two – Modelling a soft-drink cup

This is the second project in my AutoCAD tutorial series. This time we will be making something more simple using new time-saving tools.

We are going to make a soft-drink cup with a rounded lid (so it doesn’t look too plain). The cup will consist of 3 parts, the cup base, the lid and lastly, the straw. Here are some rough dimensions I quickly drew in paint:

With that in mind, let’s get started. I’m going to start on the base of the cup. Open up AutoCAD and using the 2D circle tool, click and create a circle anywhere in the AutoCAD drawing window and input 5 for the radius (since radius is half the size of diameter) and press ENTER:

Now select the 2D line tool and click at the centre of the newly created circle to start off a line:

Now it gets a bit tricky. For the height, input 12.5 but DO NOT press enter or click:

Now press the TAB key to adjust the angle of the line. Now look closely, HOLD down SHIFT and move the mouse so that the line appears to be standing up. NOTE: Look for the +Z, if you can see it you know you got it right. When you are happy finalize it by clicking:

Now you have a line going up from the centre of the circle. This line will be used as a drawing aid. (Press ESCAPE to stop the 2D line tool if you already haven’t). Now select the 2D circle tool again, this time clicking at the end of the 2D line you just created (the snaps should automatically highlight the end in red):

For the radius of the circle, input 6.5 and press ENTER:

So far you should have something that looks like this:

Select the LOFT tool by clicking on it at the 3D make panel OR by typing “_loft” and pressing ENTER:

This tool in short, creates surfaces between 2 or more cross sections; it’s sort of a “filler” tool. Anyways with the loft tool selected, first click on the base of the cup (the bottom 2D circle) and then click on the top of the cup (the top 2D circle):

Press ENTER and you will see this:

Press ENTER again and a settings window will appear. Make sure “Ruled” is selected and press OK:

Now we have our cup base:

With that done, we are going to make the cup lid. Now move away from the cup by using the pan tool (don’t move away too far, we just need some space to work with). Now select the 2D circle tool again and draw a circle with a radius of 7 and press ENTER:

We are going to draw another vertical 2D line, so select the 2D line and click at the centre of the circle:

This time, for the length of the line, input 4:

Press TAB, hold shift and move the mouse until the line looks upright and you can see the “+Z” then click to finalize your line:

Press ESCAPE to de-activate the line tool. Activate the 2D circle tool and draw a circle on top of the line we just created, for the radius, input 5 and press ENTER:

Now, activate the loft tool again. Click the 2 2D circles we just created:

Now press ENTER and then select “Cross-sections only”:

Now the loft settings screen will once again come up. Change the settings to match the picture below:

Press OK and you should have something similar to this:

Activate the cylinder tool. Move your mouse to the endpoint of the 2D line we created before we lofted the circles and click there:

For the radius, input 4 and press ENTER:

For the height go down, we want the cylinder to pass through the lofted object because we are going to subtract that. The height doesn’t matter, as long as it passes through the lofted object:

Activate the subtraction tool. First select the lofted object FIRST and press ENTER. Then select the cylinder we just made and press ENTER. You should be left with this:

Great! That’s the second piece done, time for the last. Move away from the cup lid to give ourselves some room to work with. Activate the Polyline tool by clicking on it OR by typing “_pline”:

Firstly, click anywhere (not too far away from the cup lid) to create a starting point. For the second point, input 20 and press TAB and for the angle, input 90. Press ENTER:

Like the 2D line tool, we can continue and draw another line. For the length of the next line, input 5 and press TAB and for the angle, input 60 (since 180 – 60 = 120), once done, press ENTER:

Then press ESCAPE to stop using the tool. Unlike the 2D line tool, the 2 lines we created are joined together. Next activate the 2D circle tool and draw a circle next to the line we just created with a radius of 0.5 and press ENTER:

Create another 2D circle and click at the centre of the circle we just created:

For the radius, input 0.3 and press ENTER:

You should have something similar to this:

Moving on, activate the sweep tool by clicking on it OR by typing “_sweep”:

Now while the sweep tool is active, select BOTH circles we just made and press ENTER:

For the sweep path, select the line we made earlier (the Polyline):

Now you should have something like this:

Change your view using the constraint orbit tool so you can see the end of the straw (either end, doesn’t matter):

Select the subtraction tool, firstly select the outer round object as the source and press ENTER. Then select the inner object and press ENTER and you should have something like this:

Great! We have something that resembles a straw! All we need to do now is to put the pieces together and “colour it in”. Firstly let’s deal with the cup lid. Adjust your view so you can see the cup lid:

Select the 3D move tool and select the cup lid with it and press ENTER:

Now the 2D line you created at the cup lid should be still there. Move the mouse cursor to the bottom of the 2D line’s endpoint and click:

Now the cup lid should be moving with your mouse. Move your mouse so that it goes over the cup base and place it over the cup base’s 2D line’s endpoint and click:

Now we have something that looks like this (yes, the lid is meant to be bigger than the cup base, otherwise how can you put it on?):

All the cup is missing is a straw. Adjust your view so you can see your straw again:

Zoom in at the bottom end of the straw (the side without the bent end) you may need to use the pan tool to adjust your view:

Select the 3D rotate tool and click on the straw then press ENTER:

For the base point, click at the centre of the circle shaped end of the straw:

Then select the red axis (the one that is highlighted in yellow in the picture below):

For the angle starting point, click at the same spot as the base point (should have a snap):

Now the straw is freely moving! Hold SHIFT and move your mouse until the straw is standing upright, then click:

Just a few more steps to go, adjust your view so you can see the bottom part of the straw clearly:

Select the 3D move tool, and select the straw and press ENTER:

For the basepoint, select the centre of the straw end (or endpoint, if the 2D line is there):

Now the straw is freely moving. Here’s a tip if you haven’t already figured it out. While using other tools, you can use the view tools and change your views. Once you finished changing the views, press ESCAPE to stop the tool and resume using the previous tool.

Anyways, back on task move the straw and click at the centre point/ endpoint of the cup base using the tip I showed you above if needed:

So far, here’s your cup:

Do you know what’s wrong with it? The straw is standing upright. We are going to fix this. Select the 3D rotate tool and select the straw and press ENTER:

Now zoom in until you can see the outline of the highlighted straw clearly. For the basepoint, select the centre of the straw end OR, if the 2D line is still there from the first few step, use that:

For the rotational axis, select the green axis (the one highlighted in yellow in the picture below):

For the angle starting point, make it the same as the base point:

Now the straw is rotating with your mouse. Now move your mouse so that the straw appears to be touching the side of the cup lid. You may need to adjust your view to get a better look. Once you are satisfied, click to finalize it:

Anyways, once done select the explode tool by clicking on it OR by typing “_explode”:

This tool will break down an object. Once you selected it, select the cup base ONLY and press ENTER:

Now the cup base is now 3 different objects. Why did I explode it? Now that the cup base is in 3 parts, I can colour each part separately, the top part of the cup base could be coloured as the liquid that the cup contains so I don’t have to draw another object and the other 2 parts could be the colour of the cup itself. Confused? Well in a moment I’ll show you my cup and it will become clear.

Open the materials panel by right clicking at the top of the tools palette and selecting “materials”

Here you can “colour in” your cup with the different materials available. I’m not going to hold your hand and tell you which materials to select, you should decide that yourself. Anyways, here is my cup in render mode (I have never been good with colouring in):