New Plane

Use the New Plane tool to create a new plane. Click on Type in the Details View to display the drop down menu that lists the different types of plane construction:

  • From Plane: new plane is based on another existing plane.

  • From Face: new plane is based on a face.

  • From Circle/Ellipse: new plane is based on a circular or elliptical 2D or 3D edge, including arcs. The origin is the center of the circle or ellipse. If a circular edge is selected, the x axis is aligned to the global x axis. If an elliptical edge is selected, the x axis is aligned to the major axis of the ellipse. The z axis is normal to the circle or ellipse.

  • From Point and Edge: new plane is defined by a point and a 2D line or 3D edge. The plane goes through the point and the two ends of the selected edge. These three locations cannot be colinear.

  • From Point and Normal: new plane is defined by a point and a normal direction. Alternatively, there is the option to create a parameterized and persistent tangent plane, via a Point Feature (construction) point and the base face normal.

  • From Three Points: new plane is defined by three points. The plane origin is placed at the first point and the x axis, by default, is in the direction from the first point to the second point.

  • From Coordinates: new plane is defined by typing in the coordinates of the origin and normal. You can also select a point to use its coordinates for the origin. If you select a point, its coordinates are used as the initial origin coordinates. If the point later moves, or you change any of the coordinates, then the point and plane origin will not be at the same location. Also, if you have "Driven" a coordinate by promoting it to a Design Parameter, then that coordinate will not be changed by the selected point. If you have all three coordinates "Driven" then the option to select a point will not be displayed.

  • From Centroid: new plane is defined by the centroid of the selected geometry. The new plane lies in the XY plane and its origin is set to the calculated centroid value. Only geometry of the same type is used in the calculation of the centroid. If multiple geometry types are selected the highest order type is used. Selection sets consisting of bodies must all have the same body type.

Note that a Plane type cannot be modified after the first generation of the feature.