By default, when you initiate your Mechanical APDL session, there is a working plane located on the global Cartesian X-Y plane, with its x and y axes colinear with the global Cartesian X and Y axes.
The following topics are available to help you create and use a working plane:
You can define a new working plane by using any of these methods:
To define a working plane by three points, or by locating it on the plane normal to a viewing vector at a specified point, use the WPLANE command.
To define a working plane by three nodes, or by locating it on the plane normal to a viewing vector at a specified node, use the NWPLAN command.
To define a working plane by three keypoints, or by locating it on the plane normal to a viewing vector at a specified keypoint, use the KWPLAN command.
To define a working plane by locating it on the plane normal to a viewing vector at a specified point on a line, use the LWPLAN command.
To define a working plane by locating it on the X-Y (or R-θ) plane of an existing coordinate system, use the WPCSYS command.
To obtain the current status (that is, the location, orientation, and enhancements) of the working plane, use the WPSTYL,STAT command.
To reset the working plane to its default location and style, use the WPSTYL,DEFA command.
You can move a working plane to a new location (that is, a new origin) using any of the following methods (all of which translate the working plane to a new location parallel to its original location):
To move the working plane origin to the average location of keypoints, use the KWPAVE command.
To move the working plane origin to the average location of nodes, use the NWPAVE command.
To move the working plane origin to the average of specified points, use the WPAVE command.
To offset the working plane, use the WPOFFS command.
You can rotate your working plane to a new orientation in two ways: by rotating the working plane's x-y coordinate system within the plane, or by rotating the entire plane to a new position. (If you do not know the rotation angles explicitly, you might find it easier to simply define a new working plane at the correct orientation using one of the methods described above.) To rotate the working plane, use the WPROTA command.
Although you cannot actually "save" a working plane, you can create a local coordinate system at the working plane origin, and then use this local coordinate system to recreate a previously-defined working plane.