Part IV: Creating and Using Libraries
Tip
To force a 3D dimension to have a certain orientation, dimension from a plane or planar face rather than from
an edge, vertex, or sketch entity. A dimension from a plane is always measured in a direction perpendicular to
the plane, but a dimension from a line or point is always measured by the shortest distance between the enti-
ties. Two-dimensional sketches can force dimensions to be horizontal or vertical, but 3D sketches cannot. n
- With the Line tool activated while still in the 3D sketch, Ctrl+click the flat end face
that the previous dimension referenced. This moves the red “space handle” origin to
the selected face and constrains any new sketch entities to that face. You are still in the
3D sketch, but are constrained to the selected plane and still must play by all the 3D
sketch rules. The elements of 3D sketches are described in detail in Chapter 31. - Select the Temporary Axes view by choosing View ➪ Temporary Axes.
- Place the cursor near the center of the activated end face; a small, black circle
appears, indicating that the end point of the line will pick up a coincident relation
to the temporary axis. Draw the line so that it picks up an AlongX sketch relation. The
cursor shows the relations about to be applied, just like in a 2D sketch. - Draw a second line again from the center, but this time do not pick up any auto-
matic relations. This line should also be on the flat end face.
Note
Although you can set these lines to display as construction lines if you like, this is not required for the feature
to work; the lines also work as regular solid lines. n
- Put an angle dimension between the lines and change the angle to 30 degrees. To be
thorough (which is always recommended in 3D sketches, which have a tendency to han-
dle underconstrained sketch geometry unpredictably), constrain the ends of the lines to
the circular edge of the cylinder. At this point, the part looks like Figure 17.6.
FIGURE 17.6
The example part at the end of Step 11