creating quick 2D drawings

colin_daly

I want to make a sketch in a part studio, and then create a drawing of just that sketch without having to make an extrusion first.  Other than exporting a DWG file and then re-importing it into a drawing, is there an easy way to do this?

john_mccullough

There is no way to make a drawing view of a part studio sketch today. Views contain only parts or assemblies.

Your method of export DWG/DXF of the sketch and import as a drawing is the best way to do it. Of course this drawing will not have associativity to the part studio sketch.

colin_daly

Thanks for commenting John.  For my purposes exporting and then importing will work alright even though this of course does not give associativity. I don't need to do this often so its not a major issue.  Do you know if importing the dwg back in always results in the black background? or is there a way to get rid of the black background?

john_mccullough

The black background is currently normal for the "model space" section of the DWG file, which is what is created from the sketch/face DWG/DXF export. We have not provided a way to adjust the background color in drawings yet, but several others have asked for that. I'll add you to the request so you get a notice when we get that done. 

jon_mcintyre

When you get the black background, you should see a small box in the upper left which says "Model", in the place where the sheet name normally goes. This is an indication that you are using what's called the "Model Space" of the DWG format, which is an environment in which there's no sheet size defined.   Essentially, it's just lines which haven't been put on paper yet. 

When you see a white background, it's indicating that there's virtual "paper" there.  If you zoom out you'll see the edge of the sheet, as determined by the sheet size.  You'll see a sheet name in the upper left box.   To switch between sheets, or from "Model Space" to sheets, press the sheets toolbar button, and pick in the sheet dialog.