Hi,

Assume I am applying one of the distance tools to a solid.

Is there a way to have the result end up in the same plane as the surface the tool is applied to?

Now it seems as if everything ends up on one of the planes (XY, XZ, YZ) that pass through the origin.

Thanks.

Frederick

Hi Frederick, dimensions are projected onto the current construction plane. You can set the construction plane by using View > CPlane, if you set it so the cplane's origin point is on that surface plane then they will go on there when you draw a new one.

When you're done you can right-click on View > CPlane to reset back to the default world origin/world axis construction plane.

When you place the construction plane for this type of purpose, you probably will want to disable the "Align to objects" checkbox option:


- Michael

Hi,

Thanks for the reply.

That explains what I was doing wrong.

It's a bit tedious when placing a lot of dimensions but I don't see how it could be made easier.

Perhaps I can find a way to assign setting the c-plane to one of my unused mouse buttons.

Thanks again.

Frederick

Hi Frederick, if you want to set up a shortcut key for it, put in this for setting the CPlane:

script: moi.view.setCPlaneInteractive();

And this for resetting it:

script: moi.view.resetCPlane();

I originally had the dimensions go on a plane parallel to the cplane but through the first point that you pick. But that can be bad in other situations, see here for some previous discussion:
http://moi3d.com/forum/index.php?webtag=MOI&msg=9526.62

That also shows how you can modify the dimension command if you want to make it behave like I think you were originally expecting.

- Michael

Hi,

Thanks very much for the link.

Yes that alternate behavior is like what I was expecting.

The issue with placing a dimension from one object to another does not seem like it will be an issue for me in the majority of situations. It's easy enough to work around.

Perhaps a "check box" could be placed on the "dim" panel allowing a quick selection of the two behaviors. This might satisfy most everyone and still allow manual placement of the c-plane as needed.

Just a thought.

Frederick

Hi Frederick,

re:
> Perhaps a "check box" could be placed on the "dim" panel allowing a quick selection of the two
> behaviors. This might satisfy most everyone and still allow manual placement of the c-plane
> as needed.

It will probably end up like that, I kind of want to wait and see a bit how often it comes up.

- Michael