Working with a 3D Support

You can create a 3D support, composed of three regular grid of lines, used both as an input to create geometry as well as a visual help.

It allows you to create reference points on the fly on each support, whenever you need a reference point to create other geometric elements. You will no longer have to explicitly select the support element.

Before you begin: This command is only available with the Automotive BiW Templates product. To access this command in the Part Design workbench, Automotive Class A, Automotive BiW Templates or FreeStyle Optimizer licenses are required.
Related Topics
Working with a Support
About Working on a Support and a 3D Support

  1. Click Work on Support 3D in the Tools toolbar.

    The Work On Support 3D dialog box appears.

    Part Design default configurations do not provide this icon in the standard toolbar. If you wish to access it, simply use the Customize capability to add this icon to the toolbar of your choice. Otherwise, select the Tools > Work on Support 3D item from the menu bar.



    Important:
    • Each of three grid lines has one default primary spacing of 100mm for each direction. The three directions of the main axis system define the grids directions. When the local axis system is modified, all related features are updated.
    • You can edit the spacing values by clicking on the spacing tag to edit and modify them. Note that you can modify these values at creation, not at edition, and that there can only be one value per grid.
    • You can also modify the name of the labels of the main directions by clicking on the direction tag.
    • Labels' directions and primary spacing are defined in Tools > Options > Shape > Generative Shape Design. Refer to the Customizing section for further information.

  2. Choose the Labels position:


    • Full Screen: labels are displayed all around the screen
    • Bottom/Left: labels are displayed on the bottom left of the screen
    • None: no label is displayed

  3. Specify the Label size value.

    The label size indicates the height of the label in pixels unit.

    By default, the value is set to 8 pixels.

  4. Define the Support Type:


    • Reference: the 3D support is created according to the main axis system.
    • Local: a local system must be specified. There can be as many local 3D works on support as desired.

  5. Select the Type of the visible area, that is the visualization range for each of the three grids:

    • Infinite (default type): the visible area corresponds to the three infinite planes.

      Note: If selected, the Furtive grids option is automatically selected and the Support Type and Origin fields are grayed out.

    • Finite: an origin point that defines the intersection of the three grids should be selected (if not, the default origin of the reference or local axis system is taken into account).

      You can define which area is to be visualized from the origin point for each of the three grids. To do so, select a position among the 8 possible positions (defined by double dots as shown in the picture above).

      Once you have clicked Preview, the three limited grids appear along with manipulators to resize the visible area of the grids.



      Note: If selected, the Furtive grids option is automatically cleared.

      Important: In Infinite mode, there can be only one reference 3D work on support, whereas in Finite mode, multiple 3D working supports can be created for both Local and Reference support types.

  6. Optional: Clear the Furtive grids option to visualize the three grids.

    Note: This option is selected by default and persistent. When selected, it lets you see the grids only when they are parallel to one of the three planes of the 3D support.

  7. Optional: From the Grid sub-toolbar, click Grid Featurization Switch to create either featurized lines or featurized planes on the grid lines. Featurized planes are created normal to the current grid.

  8. Optional: From the Grid sub-toolbar, click Snap to point to snap the point being created onto the nearest intersection point on the grid.

  9. Click OK in the dialog box.

    The elements (identified as Working support 3D.xxx) are added to the specification tree under the Working supports node.

    The 2D working supports belonging to the 3D working supports feature are displayed in the specification tree and are aggregated under the 3D feature. Therefore, the visualization of the three grids can be individually controlled by the Hide/Show contextual command.



    Warning:
    • The work on support must be parallel to one of the three planes to be visualized. As a consequence, the active 3D work on support may be seen independently in each view of the same document.
    • There can only be one active 3D work on support at the same time.

  10. Click Top View from the Quick View toolbar.

    The active work on support is visualized and labels are displayed on each straight line.

Important:
  • In case you are working in a environment, and providing there are several representation, you can only see the 3D working support whose representation is active. If the product is active, 3D working supports cannot be applied.
  • The children that appear under any feature may not follow the same order as their order of creation.
  • The Work on Support 3Dcommand can be used along with the Measure between command. Refer to Using the Measure Between Command with a 3D Support.