As I teach VB at an architecture university for 5 years now, the problem of not being able to extract perfect looking drawings from the model has been discussed many times, with students and colleges.
I also design, so I totally understand the need to communicate clearly ones intends, and also the price of poorly coordinated drawings
Here are my 5 cents:
- Drawing is more flexible than modeling, so there is always stuff that takes much more work to represent correctly on the model than in a flat cad drawing.
- You can model practically everything to obtain "perfect" drawings, but the longer it takes to do the more money you loose.
- For the same amount of effort, 2d drawings are probably better looking than 2d from a model.
But:
The clarity of drawings you may loose from doing a 100%model derived drawing is largely compensated by the coordination and correctness you get from it.
So, if the choice is between pretty drawings that are based on paper and pen conventions from last century or correct drawings, I think this is a no brainer.
As long as the constructor understands our intend, you should not go any further in trying to perfect the looks of your drawings, especially if this will rob work hours from the job you where given: designing.
James Murray explains this much better, as usual:
http://www.onland.info/archives/2006/03/beauty_is_third.php
