Inserting a Plane

  1. Click Plane in the Create group on the Design tab.
  2. Select one of the following:
    Select a: To insert a plane:
    Planar face That contains the face
    Planar face and point Through the point and parallel to the face
    Planar face and edge Through the edge and perpendicular to the face (useful when creating a sweep path)
    Two parallel planar faces At the midpoint between the two faces
    Axial or cylindrical face Tangent to the face at the selection point
    Two axial faces with parallel axes Tangent to both faces as close as possible to the selection points
    Planar edges That contains the edges
    Axis That contains the axis
    Two axes That contains the axes
    Two origin axes That contains the axes
    An origin Three orthogonal planes
    Axis (or line) and one point That contains the axis (or line) and the point
    End point of any line Through the end point and normal to the line at the end point
    Control point of a spline Through the selected point and perpendicular to the plane that contains the spline
    Three points That contains those three points
    Line sketched on a plane Through the line and normal to the plane
    Line and point on the line Through the line and the point
    Two planar lines That contains those two lines
    Two points Through the two points
    Two points and a Plane or planar face Through the two points and perpendicular to selected plane or planar face
  3. (Optional) Click the Build Plane tool guide to select reference objects, then select a temporary (dotted) plane to create the one that you want from the possible planes. See Inserting temporary points, axes, and planes for detailed information about creating temporary planes.
  4. An error message is displayed in the status bar if your selection does not define a plane.

Inserting a Plane Tangent to a Cylinder and Parallel to a Plane

Select a plane, Ctrl+click a cylinder, then click the Plane tool.

Inserting a Plane Tangent to a Cylinder and Perpendicular to a Plane

Select a cylinder, Ctrl+click a plane, then click the Plane tool.

Inserting a Plane Through the Mid-point Between Two Points

  1. Select the Plane tool.

  2. In 3D mode or Section mode, Alt+Shift+click two points to create a temporary plane that includes the midpoint.

  3. Click the temporary plane.

Inserting a Plane Parallel to the Screen

  1. Select the Plane tool.

  2. Activate the Align to Screen tool guide

  3. Hover over geometry to preview the plane through the selected geometry and parallel to the screen.

  4. Select the geometry to create the plane.

Clipping Your Design with a Plane

Right-click a plane and select Clip with Plane. To restore the view of your design, right-click the plane and select Clip with Plane again.

Planes, axes, and annotations are not clipped.