World Axes

The default coordinate system and grid can be modified by changing the world axis.

Drawing and Modeling with Axes

When a blank sketch is opened in FormIt, the World Axes are displayed as three red, green and blue lines in the center of the screen. These three lines, define the three Cartesian directions that define the 3D world. The "X" direction is defined by the red line, the "Y" direction by the green line and the "Z" or "up" direction by the blue line.

To rotate the grid and redefine the origin point for the sketch, right-click on empty space in the scene and choose the Set Axes (SZ) icon from the context menu

The Set Axes widget appears. Click on the large grip in the center to pick up the widget. Click again to set the origin point. Now click the dot on the red axis to rotate the grid, or click the dot on the blue axes to pivot the grid plane vertically. Click off into space to confirm the change

To reset the origin and grid back to the default setting, right-click on empty space in the scene and choose to Reset Axes (RZ)

World Axes and Local Axes

The steps above explain how to control the global coordinate system of your sketch. When you start working with groups then you can control the local coordinate system of that group uniquely from the overall sketch. When you edit a group, you can edit the local coordinate system following the same steps as above - but these changes will only apply to the group

Interactions with Axes

• The red, green, and blue axes display when you're in sketch tools to guide your 3D sketching

• The purple axis displays a perpendicular and parallel axis relative to lines drawn at an angle

• Hold down the Shift key while sketching or moving to lock to the current axis