The model is built, and now a flat drawing is needed for the printed set: an isometric for a cover sheet, an illustration of an assembly detail, an elevation to dimension. Redrawing it by hand costs a morning, and tracing over a screenshot leaves every line slightly out.
The flatshot command in AutoCAD solves exactly that: it squashes everything three-dimensional on screen into flat linework, at the right scale, placed straight into the drawing. For the whole modelling toolkit see our AutoCAD for Construction course.
Where to start it
Read from the acad.cuix interface file and the acad.pgp file of the 2027 release, for the default workspace.
| Way in | What to use |
|---|---|
| Full command | FLATSHOT |
| Alias | FSHOT |
| Ribbon | none |
| Classic menu | none |
| Toolbar | none |
Three empty rows in a row. This command is all but hidden: no button, no menu item, nothing but typing its name. Which is why people model in three dimensions for years without discovering it exists.
Autodesk's FLATSHOT page puts it in one line: "Creates a 2D representation of all 3D objects based on the current view." The last three words are the crux, and the section below shows why.
What is in the dialog
Typing the name brings up a dialog rather than command line prompts. Four groups:
| Group | What it holds |
|---|---|
| Destination | Insert as new block — Replace existing block — Export to a file |
| Foreground lines | Color, Linetype |
| Obscured lines | Show, Color, Linetype |
| At the bottom | Include tangential edges |
Destination decides where the result goes: a new block in the drawing, overwriting an existing block, or straight out to a separate .dwg file. The second option is the valuable one in real work — change the model, run the command again, overwrite the old block, and every place that block was inserted updates itself.
Foreground lines are the visible edges and obscured lines are the ones hidden behind the solid. The Show box turns the hidden ones on or off, and the two below it give them their own colour and linetype — usually dashed, so they read differently. Linetypes are covered in our article on linetypes in AutoCAD.
What a flattened view actually produces
This part wants measuring rather than guessing.
Take a box of 1000 × 600 × 400, look at it from directly above, run the command, and read what appears.
| What was measured | Value |
|---|---|
| Object type | a block, auto-named in the form A$C... |
| Inside the block | 4 lines |
| Bounding box | 1000 × 600 × 0 |
| The original solid | untouched |
That zero in the third dimension is the important part: the result is perfectly flat, with no height at all. It is genuine two-dimensional linework — dimension it, plot it, edit it like anything else.
And nothing is lost from the model. The command reads it and adds a block alongside.
The current view decides the projection, and the obscured lines
Autodesk's phrase "based on the current view" means something very concrete: turn the view and you get a different drawing.
Take that same box, change the view direction to 1, −1, 1 — an isometric — and run it again.
| From above | Isometric | |
|---|---|---|
| Lines inside the block | 4 | 12 |
| Bounding box | 1000 × 600 × 0 | 1131.37 × 979.80 × 0 |
The figure 1131.37 is no accident: it is exactly 1600 divided by the square root of two, the width an isometric projection has to give for a 1000 × 600 box. The program projects the true geometry rather than drawing an approximation.
And 12 lines is all twelve edges of the box, including the three hidden behind it. So the Show box in the obscured group was on, and the hidden edges went into the block rather than being dropped.
The practical upshot: set the view before typing the command. For an elevation, look square at the elevation; for an isometric, turn to the isometric. Changing the view direction is covered in our article on the plan command in AutoCAD.
Curves stay curves
There is a perfectly reasonable worry here: once flattened, does a circle come back chopped into straight segments?
Tested with a cylinder of radius 400 and height 800, seen isometrically.
| What was measured | Value |
|---|---|
| Objects inside the block | 6 |
| Of which | 4 ellipses and 2 lines |
| Bounding box | 800 × 1115.08 × 0 |
The four curved edges are true ellipses, not faceted polylines. So the flattened view still snaps to centres, still takes a dimension on an arc, still stays smooth at any zoom. This is where it beats tracing over a screenshot outright.
The two remaining lines are the silhouette edges down either side of the barrel.
That is worth more than it first appears. A projection whose curves are still curves behaves like real drawing work: snap to a centre and carry on drawing, dimension a diameter, trim, fillet — all of it works normally. Where the program hands back faceted polylines, every one of those operations lands slightly wrong, and the drafter usually finds out only after the dimensions are on.
The Include tangential edges box at the bottom decides whether edges where two curved faces meet are drawn. On a plain cylinder it changes nothing, but on anything with rounded corners or blended surfaces it makes the fillet boundaries visible; leave it off and the drawing is cleaner but says less. Illustrations are usually better with it off, fabrication drawings with it on.
Turning 3D into 2D: which route
Three routes in common use, each with its place.
| Route | What it gives | When to use it |
|---|---|---|
FLATSHOT | A block of flat linework in model space | A projection to place on a sheet and dimension |
SOLPROF | Visible and hidden lines split onto two layers, inside a layout viewport | A drawing set with several views from one model |
| A layout viewport | No new linework, just a view | Printing only, with no editing needed |
The key difference: FLATSHOT writes linework into model space, so it can be edited freely, while a layout viewport is only a window looking at the model. Layouts are covered in our article on layouts in AutoCAD.
A tidy way to run a real job: build the model once, run the command from four view directions to get four blocks, and lay those out on the sheet as four views. When the model changes, run each one again with Replace existing block.
Worth saying plainly, because it decides how you organise a job: the flatshot command in AutoCAD produces a snapshot, not a live link. The block does not follow the model when the model is edited. That is a limitation against a proper parametric package, but it is also why the result is so easy to work with — the linework belongs to you, and you can trim it, add to it and annotate it without anything overwriting your work. The discipline it asks for is simply to keep the model and its projections in the same drawing, so re-running them later is a minute's work rather than an archaeology exercise.
A 3D model that has been built cleanly pays off here more than anywhere. Solids that overlap, faces left open, stray edges left in from earlier attempts — none of it shows on a shaded screen, and all of it appears in the flattened linework as extra edges nobody can account for.
Five things people say that are not true
| What people say | What the 2027 release actually does |
|---|---|
| There is a ribbon button for it | No button, no menu, no toolbar; only the name or FSHOT |
| Running it loses the 3D model | The model is untouched; a block is simply added |
| The projection still has height | The bounding box has a third dimension of 0 |
| Curves come back as straight segments | A cylinder gives 4 true ellipses and 2 lines |
| The program picks the view for you | It uses the current view; turn the model and you get a different drawing |
Frequently asked questions
What is the alias?
FSHOT. There is no ribbon button and no menu item.
Where does the linework end up?
In a new block, auto-named in the form A$C..., placed wherever you pick when the command asks for an insertion point.
How do I get an isometric?
Set the view direction to the isometric first, then type the command. It projects along whatever direction you are looking.
Are hidden edges drawn?
Yes, when the Show box in the Obscured lines group is on. A box seen isometrically gives all 12 edges, the three hidden ones included.
The model changed — must I redo the projection?
Run the command again and choose Replace existing block, pointing at the old one. Every insertion of it updates by itself.
Can the projection go out to its own file?
Yes, choose Export to a file and give a path. The result is a .dwg holding nothing but the flat linework.