×
INTELLIGENT WORK FORUMS
FOR ENGINEERING PROFESSIONALS

Log In

Come Join Us!

Are you an
Engineering professional?
Join Eng-Tips Forums!
  • Talk With Other Members
  • Be Notified Of Responses
    To Your Posts
  • Keyword Search
  • One-Click Access To Your
    Favorite Forums
  • Automated Signatures
    On Your Posts
  • Best Of All, It's Free!
  • Students Click Here

*Eng-Tips's functionality depends on members receiving e-mail. By joining you are opting in to receive e-mail.

Posting Guidelines

Promoting, selling, recruiting, coursework and thesis posting is forbidden.

Students Click Here

Jobs

Rotate object in screen plane?

Rotate object in screen plane?

Rotate object in screen plane?

(OP)
Okay, here's another one.
I can use pre-defined views to see a side view of the thing I am making.  Let's say it's a car.  The problem is, with my axes orientation, the car is pointing down in the side view.  I want it to point to the side; I need to rotate the view 90 degrees in the plane of the screen.  How do I do this?

RE: Rotate object in screen plane?

Hold down Ctrl, Alt, or Shift (I forget which) and use the left/right arrow keys.

RE: Rotate object in screen plane?

Depending on you system settings, the arrow keys will move the part/assembly x°. Another option, if you want to be able to easily return to that view, is:
Get it orientated how you want it
Hit the space bar and, when the dialogue box pops up, select 'new view'.
Name your view and close box. You'll be able to return to that view at your leisure.

Jeff Mirisola, CSWP
CAD Administrator
SW '07 SP2.0, Dell M90, Intel 2 Duo Core, 2GB RAM, nVidia 2500M
http://designsmarter.typepad.com/jeffs_blog

RE: Rotate object in screen plane?

ALT + cursor arrow keys...

RE: Rotate object in screen plane?

Is there a reason the orientation has to remain the way it is?

If not, you could "correct" the orientation using mates.

cheers

RE: Rotate object in screen plane?

Is this on a drawing or model?

RE: Rotate object in screen plane?

And of course, the best way is to model it in such a way that it points correctly (what you need) from the standard front view.  (But sometimes you inherit what others did or import dumb solids that are turned around.)

I use the arrow keys all the time since I can get those rotation options all with one hand.  CTRL-Arrows will pan, Shift-Arrows will rotate in 90* increments, and ALT-Arrows will rotate within screen plane.

Jeff Mowry
www.industrialdesignhaus.com
Reason trumps all.  And awe transcends reason.

RE: Rotate object in screen plane?

If you are past the point where you can easily correct the model orientation to match the standard views (preferred), you can update the standard views to match the model (better than nothing).

Start by rotating things till the model matches how you want it to look in one of the 6 standard views.  Then click on Standard Views -> View Orientation, select the view that you want the current orientation to become and then click on Update Standard Views.

Eric

RE: Rotate object in screen plane?

Quote:

And of course, the best way is to model it in such a way that it points correctly (what you need) from the standard front view.
That is typically true, but as has been pointed out before, what SW calls the "front view" is really the top view if it is going to a cnc machine (z-axis):
X-Y axis

SW07 SP2.0

Flores

RE: Rotate object in screen plane?

Makes sense, Flores--good point.

I think "front" works well for the orientation of most monitors being the way they are.  That way the part really still maintains it's "top" orientation, although what is considered the X-Y plane then changes.  (I don't think I would have done this differently if I were SolidWorks--the part maintains its orientation regardless of the X-Y plane.)

Jeff Mowry
www.industrialdesignhaus.com
Reason trumps all.  And awe transcends reason.

RE: Rotate object in screen plane?

(OP)
Thanks Everyone,

Once again, you've been a great help!

Red Flag This Post

Please let us know here why this post is inappropriate. Reasons such as off-topic, duplicates, flames, illegal, vulgar, or students posting their homework.

Red Flag Submitted

Thank you for helping keep Eng-Tips Forums free from inappropriate posts.
The Eng-Tips staff will check this out and take appropriate action.

Reply To This Thread

Posting in the Eng-Tips forums is a member-only feature.

Click Here to join Eng-Tips and talk with other members!


Resources