Other Ways of Working with Auxiliary Coordinate Systems
In addition to the AccuDraw keyboard shortcuts for working with an ACS, MicroStation PowerDraft also has an ACS toolbox and an Auxiliary Coordinates dialog. These are the only mechanisms for working with a cylindrical or spherical ACS.
Making an ACS Active
MicroStation PowerDraft lets you define and save multiple ACSs. At any time, you can make one ACS active using either AccuDraw, the controls in the Auxiliary Coordinates dialog, or the Select ACS tool. This lets you work simultaneously with three coordinate systems — the active ACS as well as the DGN file and view coordinate systems.
ACS Plane Lock
If on, ACS Plane Lock sets the default view depth to be on the active ACS's xy plane rather than the view's active depth plane. As with the standard active depth, you can override this default by snapping to an existing element.
This setting decides whether the viewing operations and the AccuDraw shortcuts <T>, <F> and <S> are relative to the design coordinates or to the ACS. It also decides whether the ACS scale will be used (in case you have explicitly set a scale other than 1.0 for your ACS).
When you enable the ACS Plane Lock, the rotate view tools in the View Rotation toolbox rotate the view with respect to the ACS and not the default view; that Top view is not the default Top view, but the Top view of the ACS. This means that instead of creating different ACS’s for each view such as top, front and side, you can create only one ACS and then go to the top, front and side views using the <T>, <F> and <S> AccuDraw shortcuts.
Gridplane Lock
You can toggle the settings for ACS Plane Lock, ACS Plane Snap, and Grid Display, with the key-in ACCUDRAW LOCK GRIDPLANE. This key-in is mapped to the AccuDraw shortcut <L>,<P> and also to the F8 function key.
Precision Input Key-ins with an ACS
While an ACS is active, precision input can be specified as one of the following:
| For precision input as | ACS Type | Key in |
|---|---|---|
| ACS coordinate | Rectangular
Spherical Cylindrical |
AX=x value, y value, z value
AX=R value, q angle, f angle AX=R value, q angle, Z value |
| Distances, along the ACS axes, from the most recently entered tentative point or data point | Rectangular
Spherical Cylindrical |
AD=x value, y value, z value (x, y, and z, axes)
AD=R value, q angle, f angle AD=R value, q angle, Z value |
Manipulating an ACS
You can manipulate an ACS as follows:
| To | Use this tool in the ACS toolbox |
|---|---|
| Rotate the active ACS. | Rotate ACS |
| Move the origin of the active ACS. | Move ACS |
| Apply the ACS to the selected view. | Apply ACS to Selected View |
SET TPMODE key-ins and ACS
You can use the SET TPMODE LOCATE key-in to view coordinates relative to the global origin. If you do not want the snap point projected to the active ACS plane, that is the active depth, turn off the ACS Plane Snap.
If you set a specific ACS for a view and want to use the ACS tools and the Auxiliary Coordinate Systems dialog and not the active depth tools, use the SET TPMODE ACSLOCATE key-in.