Does anyone know if there’s a way to orient section perpendicular to the viewport so when I take the Linear Dimension in the viewport it will show correct value sample geometry with section.3dm (291.9 KB)
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I normally take a section and rotate it, so it would be showing correctly in either Front or Right view, and then I create a normal section drawing with all the dims and stuff:
, but whenever our model changes, I need to retake the section - rotate again etc so looking for a method without the rotating business.
I’m confident (hopeful) that there’s an easy way to just align the viewport view somehow to that section, at whatever angle it was taken. I seem to remember in the past we used to do this with either Clipping plane or positioning the camera perpendicular? Anyone?
Your section view (or the section line you create) will always be planer. So you could create a cplane on that line, set the view to look directly at that cplane, create your linear dimension then toggle back to the default cplane without having to orient your geometry.
1.) VIEW > SET CPLANE > 3 POINTS (or whatever works, I just picked 3 points on your section curve)
2.) VIEW > SET VIEW > PLAN (look directly at the cplane you created)
3.) Create your linear dimension
4.) VIEW > SET CPLANE > WORLD TOP (return to default cplane)
This keeps your dimensions on the same plane as your section. Seems like a few steps but goes quickly with commands and shortcuts.
Actually…after step 2 when you’ve switched to PLAN view, go to
VIEW > SET VIEW > NAMED VIEWS and save that view.
Now you can switch back to CPLANE WORLD TOP and in a new viewport select the saved view. Then you can always have a viewport that’s showing your section view.
(I wonder if it’s possible to permanently link a cplane to a planar geometry (that you’re using to define your section) so that the saved view always updates with respect to the planar geometry. Would be a nice way of creating a viewport with a section view that’s always updating (whenever you move the planar geometry) & looking directly at your section ready to create linear dimensions.)
Genius! Thank you so much @ftzuk ! And yes, it would be pretty fabulous if that view (with dimensions) was updating whenever geometry changes. It kinda does update (if you select the solids together with the curves, and since the dims were linear, they do update as well), but only when making a simple change (like scaling up). I wonder if ticking on ‘Record history’ could be an answer in some way… if I find a way, I will report back!
