AccuDraw's Drawing Plane Orientation
AccuDraw is a powerful tool in 2D drafting. It is even more powerful in 3D design, where you can work in a known coordinate system even though the view has a different orientation. For example, you can work in an Isometric view, with the AccuDraw drawing plane oriented in the Top View. AccuDraw orients the drawing plane in accordance with the Coordinate System Rotation setting in the AccuDraw Settings dialog:
| Coordinate System Rotation | Definition |
|---|---|
| Top (default) | Orients compass to match top view (in 2D same as an unrotated view). |
| Front | Orients compass to match front view (3D only). |
| Side | Orients compass to match side view (3D only). |
| View | Orients compass to current view axes. |
| Auxiliary | Orients compass to last defined auxiliary coordinate system (see Rotate Auxiliary). |
| Context | A temporary orientation affected by a number of factors including the current tool, the previous data points and the "RQ" keyboard shortcut. |
AccuDraw’s Automatic Orientation of the Drawing Plane
If you orient a model from one standard view to another, AccuDraw automatically orients the drawing plane to match the standard view. For example, if you are working in an Isometric view with the drawing plane orientation aligned to the Top view and if you rotate the model to the Front view, then AccuDraw automatically orients the drawing plane to align to the Front view.
Rotating the Drawing Plane Axes in 2D
Along with the standard drawing plane orientations, the rotation of the drawing plane axes can be altered using keyboard shortcuts. In 2D, you are limited to rotating AccuDraw's drawing plane about the view axis. This matches the same restriction placed on rotating views in 2D.
Rotation-Sensitive Tools
Depending on the tool in use, dynamically rotating the drawing plane axes yields slightly different results. For example, consider the scenario of placing a block (rectangle) with the Place Block (Orthogonal) tool, which takes its orientation from the drawing plane XY axes.
Once the drawing plane axes are rotated, the block's main axis is constrained to the rotated XY axis.
Contrast this to the effect when using the Place Line tool: The drawing plane axes rotate, and while dynamic readout is a function of the newly rotated system, the tool itself remains available to dynamically place the line wherever desired.