About Offset or Aligned Multi-Plane Section Views

This topic provides more information on multi-plane section views.

The following topics are discussed:

Related Topics
More About Sections/Auxiliary Views
Creating a Multi-Plane Section View
Creating Multi-Plane Section Views from an FTA View or Capture

What Are Offset or Aligned Multi-Plane Section Views?

This sub-topic explains what offset or aligned multi-plane section views are.

A multi-plane section view is a section view that has multiple planes. It can be either:


  • An offset section view (with multiple planes parallel to each other).

  • An aligned section view (with multiple planes that are secant by pair).

In both examples shown above, the section view profile contains three segments. The red point is the origin of the first view, the blue point the origin of the second view and the green point the origin of the third view. These three points will be projected at the same position in the multi-plane section view, and this position will be the origin of the sub-views.

A multi-plane section view contains several sub-views, one for each plane in the section.



These sub-views contain the actual geometry and annotations created in the multi-plane section view (you cannot create geometry or annotations outside a sub-view).

Sub-View Boundaries

This sub-topic makes miscellaneous remarks about multi-plane section views.

General Remarks About Sub-View Boundaries

Each sub-view has two boundaries corresponding to the segment end points of the clipping profile.

Take the following section, for example:



The resulting boundaries are the following:



Display of Sub-View Boundaries

By default, when the multi-plane view is created, the first boundary of the first sub-view and the last boundary of the last sub-view are hidden.

You can show or hide all the boundaries in a multi-plane section view, by right-clicking the view and selecting Section View object > Display Boundaries or Section View object > Mask Boundaries from the contextual menu.

You can also show or hide boundaries on a given sub-view, or on a selection of sub-views, by right-clicking the required sub-views and selecting View object > Display First Boundaries or View object > Mask Second Boundaries.

Note: The Hide/Show command has no effect on boundaries.

Resize of Boundary Segments

You can shorten or extend the length of a boundary segment. To do so, select the boundary segment. Two manipulators are displayed at each end. Drag them to resize the boundary segments as wanted.

You can resize several boundary segments at once by multi-selecting them. In this case, pressing the Ctrl key while manipulating resizes all the boundaries to the same length.

You can also bring back the resized boundary length to the original default length, by right-clicking the view and selecting Section View object > Resize Boundaries On View Background.

Multi-Plane Section View and Sub-View Properties

This sub-topic deals with the properties of multi-plane section views and sub-views.

You can edit the properties of a multi-plane section view or sub-view by right-clicking it and selecting Properties. Only specific properties are detailed below.

The following are discussed:


Multi-Plane Section View Properties

In the Properties dialog box for multi-plane section views, the View tab and the Visualization tab offer options that are specific to multi-plane section views. For options that are not specific to multi-plane section views, refer to View Tab and Visualization Tab.

View tab




  • Name: Specify the name of 2DL multi-plane section view.
  • Angle: Define the angle from the sheet horizontal axis for all the sub-views of the 2DL multi-plane section view.
  • Scale: Set the scale of all the sub-views of the 2DL multi-plane section view.
  • Display View Frame: Show/hide the sub-view frame.
  • Lock View: Lock the sub-view so that it cannot be modified.
Important: You cannot edit the position, scale and rotation of sub-views. They are modified by editing the multi-plane view properties.

Visualization tab




  • Display all boundaries: Select this option to display all the boundaries in the sub-views.
  • Color: Choose the color of the boundaries. By default, it is white.
  • Line type: Choose the line type of the boundaries. By default, it is 4.
  • Thickness: Choose the thickness of the boundaries. By default, it is 1.

Multi-Plane Section Sub-View Properties

In the Properties dialog box for multi-plane section views, the Visualization tab offers options that are specific to multi-plane section sub-views. Other tabs do not offer any specific options.




  • Filter: Select the name of the filter applied to the sub-view.

    Note: Only display filters can be applied to sub-views.

  • Boundaries: Select the boundaries to be displayed in the sub-view.

Miscellaneous Remarks About Multi-Plane Section Views

This sub-topic makes miscellaneous remarks about multi-plane section views.


  • Multi-plane section views appear in the specification tree, at the same level as other types of views. They can be reordered as any other view. The sub-views, which only appear under the multi-plane section view node in the specification tree, cannot be reordered. Their order depends on the order of section profile segments.
  • You can lock each sub-view of a multi-plane section view, but not the multi-plane section view itself.
  • You can insert each sub-view of a multi-plane section view in a mask or display filter, but not the multi-plane section view itself.

    Note: Mask filter cannot be created in sub-views using the Filter > Layout View Filters..., in the Layout View Filters dialog box.

  • To activate the first sub-view of the multi-plane section view, you can right-click the multi-plane section view and select Definition....
  • You cannot create new 2D Layout views from a multi-plane section view and its sub-views.
  • The following commands are not available for a multi-plane section view and its sub-views:
    • 2D Visualization mode,
    • Rectangular/ Polygonal/Circular Clipping,
    • Back-Clipping Plane.
  • The following command is not available for multi-plane section sub-views: Display View