Create construction planes and axes

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Create construction planes and axes.

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After completing this video, you'll be able to

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create a construction plane and create a construction axis

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to get started. Let's open up the supply data set, locking ring

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construction dot F 3D.

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We already know that to create a sketch,

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we need to have either a construction plane or a planar face.

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In some instances,

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you may not have a default plane from the origin folder or a planar

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face available and you may need to create your own construction plane or axis

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to do this.

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We've got a construct menu that gives us options to create our planes,

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our axis as well as specific points.

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We're gonna focus on the process of creating these and not cover each option

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but note that it is important that you

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at least explore these and understand how they work

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first. And most common is the ability to create an offset plane.

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An offset plane will require us to select either a current plane or planar face.

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For example, if we needed to have a specific face that was offset from here,

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a distance of one inch,

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we could simply select it and create that offset plane at one inch.

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There are options, for example, to go to an object.

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When we use this option,

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we can select a reference and there'll

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be a parametric link between this specific selection

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and where the plane is located.

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This means if the design changes, the plane will also update as well

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from the construct menu, we also have the ability to create planes at angles. In

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this case, we generally will select a line to rotate our plane about.

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In most cases, you'll use one of the default axes such as XY or Z.

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But it can also be an edge on your model.

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All the new construction planes will be inside of a construction folder.

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It is a good idea to rename these.

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For example, if you're creating a mid plane or a plane at angle. In

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this case, plane two, I'm gonna call plane 40 deg for 40 degrees.

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That's a good reminder as to what that plane is.

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Let's take a look at a couple more options.

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We have a tangent plane option.

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This will allow us to create a construction

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plane that's tangent to a specific selected reference.

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And then we can again rotate this around.

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Once again, this is a great option and we can use a reference plane, for example,

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this plane or face to create our new plane tangent to that cylinder.

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I'm gonna select cancel.

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So we don't continue to create new construction plans in our folder.

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But let's take a look at a couple more

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mid plane is another great option,

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especially if you need to create a plane between two selected faces.

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In this case, our faces are currently parallel, but they don't need to be,

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they can be tapered.

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Let's go ahead and take a look at just a few more.

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The options for creating a plane through two

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edges or through three points are pretty straightforward.

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You simply need to select your references.

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The most common one to use when you're creating

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complex models is going to be plane along path.

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Oftentimes creating a plane along path is a great way to create lofted profiles. In

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this case, if we select plane along path, we can select a reference.

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In this case, the circular edge

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and we can position it at 50% 0% or 100% fairly easily or at any point along the path,

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we can also change the distance type to

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physical and enter a physical numerical value.

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For example, if it needed to be a quarter inch along that cylinder,

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we could go ahead and add it there.

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This is great for adding references to prismatic models.

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But again, it's also great for using things like lofted profiles in complex shapes.

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Now that we've seen how to create a couple of construction planes,

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let's take a look at axes,

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we have access through cylinder cone and Taurus.

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And this one allows us to create a reference axis based on selected references

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in this case, it can be a cylinder, a cone or a Taurus.

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We also have some additional options for axes such as perpendicular at a point

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through two planes through two points

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through an edge and perpendicular to a face at a point.

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So this allows us to make selections such as a face

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and select a reference point to create a new axis.

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The new axis will be normal to our selected reference

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plane and it'll go through our selected reference point.

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Once again,

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playing around with these options is going to be important

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to better understand how all of them will be used.

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But for the most part, each time we create a new plane, an axis or even a vertex,

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we simply need to walk through the dialogue

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to better understand what selections are needed.

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Once we're done, there's no need to save this file.

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But if you want to continue to play around with these,

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go ahead and save your work before moving on to the next step.