Section View

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Introduction

The Section View function is used to create a sectional view of solid geometry in the Workspace. This also includes the ability to create wireframe geometry by extracting the edges currently visible in the section view. When opening Section View, the solid model displays using wireframe and the Section View viewing plane displays. You can click the arrows in the center, or the edges of the viewing plane, to manually update the viewing plane position and orientation. Also, next to the arrows in the center of the viewing plane is the normal indicator, which represents the positive direction used for modifying the viewing plane parameters.

Navigation

To open Section View, do one of the following:

In the View menu, click Section View.

On the View toolbar, click the icon.

Right-click anywhere in the Workspace, point to Views and click Section View.

The parameters display in the Data Entry tab of the Data-CAM Tree Manager.

The Data Entry Parameters

Generate Wireframe - extracts the visible edges of a solid from the current sectional viewing plane and places the wireframe entities on the Active Layer.

Section Plane

You can select the viewing plane using one of the two following methods.

Pick a Surface - enables selection mode for you to click a solid face or surface to set the viewing plane zero location and orientation.

UCS - allows you to select any user coordinate system from the UCS Manager to set the viewing plane zero location and orientation. Click the down arrow to select a UCS from the list.

Distance - sets the Z-axis position of the viewing plane in reference to the selected face or UCS zero. Type a positive or negative value to update the viewing plane. You can also update the distance by clicking the arrows that display on the viewing plane in the Workspace and then clicking a new location.

Rotation X - sets the amount of X-axis rotation for the viewing plane. When using Pick a Surface, the selected surface becomes the zero for the rotation angle. You can also update this distance by clicking either side of the viewing plane (parallel to the X-axis) in the Workspace and rotating the plane.

Rotation Y - sets the amount of Y-axis rotation for the viewing plane. When using Pick a Surface, the selected surface becomes the zero for the rotation angle. You can also update this distance by clicking either side of the viewing plane (parallel to the Y-axis) in the Workspace and rotating the plane.

TIP: After using the section view handles to change the Distance or Rotation parameters, you can then update the values in the Data Entry Manager if needed.

Reset - returns the Distance, Rotation X, and Rotation Y values to zero.
Cancel - closes the Data Entry Manager.

Quick Steps - Section View

1 Open the function and select the viewing plane using either Pick a Surface or by selecting a UCS from the list.

2 Update the Distance and Rotation values using either Data Entry or by clicking the drag handles on the section view plane in the Workspace.

3 If you want to extract the visible edges and create wireframe geometry, click Generate Wireframe.

4 To reset the section view parameters to the selected UCS or surface, click Reset.

This is helpful if you want to create a sectional view for another solid.