Knobs?

[Steve]

Question:

When I right-click in a viewport and choose "Dynamic...", which brings up the "knobs" menu, does this menu rotate geometry or only the view angle? In other words, does it physically move the geometry in space or is it moving the viewpoint?

If I am creating a view in Annotation, how can I move the view into discrete XYZ orientations? For example, if I choose Isometric -> Isometric XY-Z, and then decide I would like to see the geometry 180 degrees around another axis of rotation, how can I do this? Is there a way to rotate the view angle by specific axis, other than the 3 axis provided under the Knobs menu?

Steve

[May Kung]

It should be only rotating the viewport, not the physical part.

[Steve]

That's what I thought.

Is there a way to rotate the viewport by any arbitrary selected axis and a keyed-in angle?

Steve

[May Kung]

Under the Viewport Settings menu (I'm using SD 9.01D), there's an option for either Active WP, WP, or General. Selecting General opens up the Direction 3D submenu, where you can view by 2-point, surface axis, any of the standard axes (U, V, W or X, Y, Z), Vp, -Vp, etc.

Is that what you needed?

[Jim McKim]

It's often easier to set up a workplane with the orientation you want, then use that to define the view direction for an Annotation view. This won't help with isometric views, as they are relative to XYZ and not to something on your model or a workplane, but can be used for a general view. Unfortunately, "general" allows only a definition of view direction and no control of rotation around that vector. You have to rotate the view in Annotation to get it to be consistent with the standard projections.

[Steve]

May, et al:

Thanks for the replies.

That is not exactly what I am after.

Here is what I am after:

Often, as when making an assembly drawing of a thing, it is desirable to show the object in the Isometric XY-Z orientation. This is obtainable by right-clicking in the VP and selecting Isometric -> Isometric XY-Z.

But then, suppose I want to see the part in the same orientation, but 180 degrees rotated around the Z axis? Without actually rotating the geometry, how can I do this?

Before it is suggested, "flip view" does not provide the desired functionality. I do not need to flip the view, I need to rotate it 180 degrees (or even, say, 90 degrees) about the Z axis.

Anyone?

[Jim McKim]

First, set the view direction to Isometric XYZ. Then, Flip view. This will give the same apparent result as having rotated the model 180 degrees around the Z axis.
Alternatively, or to get isometric directions that you can't get with XYZ, XY-Z, and Flip, you can set the view direction from the Viewport menu using Direction, General, Two Points and define any vector you want with 0,0,0 as the From point and (-)1,(-)1,(-)1 as the To point. In your case, to get the view you are asking for, use -1,-1,-1 for the To point. (Remember that the view direction is the direction of the vector from your eye to the model, not vice versa.)
If you are going to be doing this much, it might be easier to make a direction part with faces that can be used to define your desired view direction. I'm working on one right now and will put it up for download.

[Jim McKim]

I've attached a file of a view direction block that can be used for setting up orthogonal or isometric viewport directions for all fourteen possibilities. In Viewport - Direction-General, choose -Face Normal and click on the desired face of the block. The result and letter(s) you see after the view changes will correspond with the choices in the View menu. The white triangular face will give you Isometric XYZ and the black one will give you Isometric -X-Y-Z, and you can figure out the rest! :D Note that the signs on the faces are NOT the face normal, but are the negatives. This, combined with choosing -Face Normal for the view direction, results in the block displaying the view direction after the change. This is different than if the faces were labeled with their actual signs and choosing +Face Normal (trust me!). Hope this is useful to someone, as I spent way more time on it than I should have!

[Steve]

First, set the view direction to Isometric XYZ. Then, Flip view. This will give the same apparent result as having rotated the model 180 degrees around the Z axis.

Actually, this is not so. The "Flip View" command does not flip the view about the Z axis. It flips the view about a vertical axis parallel to the screen. This is not the same as the Z axis.

However, the "Two Points" method works just fine. Once in the XY-Z view, using 0,0,0 as the from point and -1,-1,-1 as the to point exactly rotates the part as desired. Thanks!

Steve

[Steve]

I have downloaded your "View Direction Block" and must commend you on your very creative way around this vexing problem!!!!! :) :) :)

By using "view by any face" one can use your view block to get whatever desired projection you want. Very very clever.

Question:

Is there a way to define and save views? Not view sets, but views?

Steve

[Jim McKim]

Originally posted by Steve
First, set the view direction to Isometric XYZ. Then, Flip view. This will give the same apparent result as having rotated the model 180 degrees around the Z axis.

Actually, this is not so. The "Flip View" command does not flip the view about the Z axis. It flips the view about a vertical axis parallel to the screen. This is not the same as the Z axis.


Steve

I think you misunderstood me, or I didn't make myself perfectly clear. I assumed you were starting with XY-Z as your first view direction. THEN, set it to XYZ and then Flip, and you will get the same apparent effect as having rotated the model around the Z axis. I tried this enough times, I'm convinced it's correct.

[Jim McKim]

Originally posted by Steve
I have downloaded your "View Direction Block" and must commend you on your very creative way around this vexing problem!!!!! :) :) :)

By using "view by any face" one can use your view block to get whatever desired projection you want. Very very clever.

Steve

Glad you like it. Now, why didn't I think of using "view by any face"? That's a heckuva lot easier than using the Viewport menu!

Question:Is there a way to define and save views? Not view sets, but views?

Steve

No, at least not easily. Just like there's no way to save clipping planes. Your "views" are just viewport settings. You can have a set of commands that define all, or some of, your viewport settings. Try writing out an environment file and looking at it with a text editor; you will find a whole bunch of viewport related commands. I'm sure macros could be written to execute those commands to recreate the viewport settings.

[May Kung]

Sounds like a nifty tool, Jim. I presume you're using OSD 11+? I couldn't open the file in SD 9. :( I'll have to wait until I have time to boot up the test box with OSD 11.5 to give your test block a whirl. :)

[Jim McKim]

Here's a version I saved out in v9.00. I also added some color to the other isometric direction faces. The CAD cognoscenti will note that the colors are the RGB sums of the adjacent orthogonal direction faces, just for fun :cool:

[May Kung]

Ah, I see it now. Thanks for saving it in SD9 format, Jim. :) This will prove quite useful.