I am having trouble putting a working plane where I want it

[Hal]

Hi folks,

Is there any way to numerically define where a working plane should be? I am having trouble putting the working plane exactly where I want it. I put a bunch of 3d locus around in the drawing space and snapped to them with the "Set Working Plane Tool", but as often as not the plane still needed rotating. The I & J axis labels are really hard to see. Having to set points to define my many working planes seems so clunky for such an otherwise fine piece of software. Is there a better way? A third party script perhaps? Thanks for any suggestions.

Hal

[P Retondo]

Hal, I can't imagine that being able to enter values for setting a working plane would fit most people's way of working, but I guess it could be done - set (x,y,z) coordinates for the origin and two angles to rotate the x axis, for example.

But I have no problem doing basically the same thing graphically by constructing a 3d polyline based on a rectangle, and placing it and rotating it as desired. Then three clicks defines the working plane.

The attached images show taking a 3d polygon, translating it to a selected point in space, rotating it from a selected corner "about the y axis" 25 degrees, then rotating it about the z axis 20 degrees. These are all controlled motions using the 3d rotate tool and selecting appropriate viewpoints (i.e., "Front view" for the first rotation and "Top view" for the second).

I think it is true that by the nature of axis rotations, these operations result in different orientations if done in a different order. I actually don't do two rotations in practice - I usually have some object I can snap to from which a single rotation gives me the orientation I want.

[Hal]

Pete, I tried that method and it does seem easier than placing 3d loci everwhere. At least with your method, I can determine how the plane lies in space by the object information pallet and not be fooled by my eyes.

Thanks for your tip!