Skip to main content

Sectioning 3D models with cutting plane tools

Updated over a week ago

This article explains how to use CoLab's cutting plane feature.

Cutting plane tools enable you to cut and section the model along the X, Y, and Z planes. You can toggle these cutting planes on and off as needed.

Screenshot 2024-06-07 at 1.51.36 PM.png

Here's an overview of each cutting option and what it does:

Reset cutting plane

CuttingPlane.svg

Resets all sections that you have made on the model, and removes all cutting planes. This resets the model back to its ‘home’ view.

Cutting plane on selected face

CuttingPlaneToNormalFace.svg

To make custom cutting plane, select a face on the model and click Cutting plane on selected face.

Cutting plane X

CuttingPlaneX.svg

To make a cut in the X plane, click the Cutting Plane X tool and make your cut once the plane appears.

Cutting plane Y

CuttingPlaneY.svg

To make a cut in the Y plane, click the Cutting Plane Y tool and make your cut once the plane appears.

Cutting plane Z

CuttingPlaneY.svg

To make a cut in the Z plane, click the Cutting Plane Z tool and make your cut once the plane appears.

Show/Hide cutting plane

CuttingPlaneVisibility.svg

Toggles the visibility of the cutting planes from the viewer, while keeping the sections that you made on the model.

Cutting plane toggle sections

Click ‘Reverse’ on Cutting Plane X, Y or Z to toggle the direction of that cutting plane.

Screenshot 2024-02-13 at 10.02.36 AM.png

How to remove cutting planes and reset the model

In addition to clicking ‘Cutting Plane Reset’ to remove all cutting planes and reset the viewer, you can also reset the model by right clicking on any part on the model and selecting ‘Reset viewer’.

Changing the colour of the sectioned face

Click ‘Settings’ on the 3D model toolbar, under ‘Colour’ on the ‘General’ tab, select a colour from the ‘Capping Face Colour’ and ‘Capping Line Colour’ drop down menus.

Did this answer your question?