Getting the correct Orientation

The Normal To command is used to bring a selected face flat to the screen, a quick way to access this tool and other orientation commands is via spacebar this will place an orientation manager window where ever the cursor is located.

After the selected face has been brought through normal to (flat to the screen) you may experience undesired results. The selected face is flat to the screen though not in the correct orientation that we require. 

We can manipulate the orientation of the model further, select the face which you want to have flat to the screen then by holding down ctrl select another face to reference the top afterwards select the normal to command this will give the correct orientation.

The view now is in the perfect orientation but what if we need to come back to the same view or maybe reference it within a drawing. You can save custom views via orientation manager (Spacebar – New View) type in a suitable name for the view and this will then be available for future use within the part and even drawings. 

Give it a try get the orientation the right way up first time.

Mark McVeigh    

Applications Engineer