The section plane tool is accessible from the ‘Section’ icon on the 3D viewer toolbar.
The section plane panel stays open as you work, so you can easily toggle between various plane settings. The panel can also be moved around and minimized to prevent it obscuring the model in the viewer.
Section planes
You can section the model using various types of section plane, and you can activate multiple planes at the same time. Section planes are created in the centre of the model by default, and can be adjusted as needed.
💡 You can save your section plane view directly from the section planes panel, using the save icon.
Axis planes
The section plane is oriented normal (perpendicular) to a particular axis (x, y or z). To make this type of cut, toggle the desired axis plane (x, y or z) to ON in the section plane panel. This will activate a section pane on the model, which you can click and drag to the desired position.
To easily distinguish between them, axis planes are colour coded as follows:
X = Red
Y = Green
Z = Blue
Face planes
The section plane is oriented normal (perpendicular) to a selected face on the model. To make this type of cut, toggle the face plane option to ON and select the desired face on the model. This will activate a section plane on the model, which you can click and drag to the desired position.
Plane settings
Individual planes
As well as an on/off toggle, each individual plane has its own settings, so you can easily customize the sectioned view.
Offset: Enter precise offset values to move the associated plane to an exact position, relative to its original position (centre). If you click and drag the plane on the viewer, the plane’s offset value will update in the panel.
Lock: The section plane can no longer be moved by clicking on the section plane. or editing the offset value.
Hide: The section plane is hidden from the viewer, while keeping the sections that you made on the model.
Reverse: Reverse the direction of the section plane.
Group settings
You can apply the following settings to all active planes at once.
Lock all - Lock all active section planes in their current positions.
Hide all - Hide all active section planes from the viewer to better see the model.
Reset all * - This option resets all sections that you have made on the model, and removes all section planes.
Save - Save your current section plane view under ‘saved views’ in the model tree. You can also choose to set the view as the home view.
💡* You can also reset the model by right clicking on any part of the model and selecting ‘Reset viewer’.
Other settings
You can find a couple of related settings via the ‘Settings’ icon on the 3D model toolbar.
Sectioned face colour
To change the colour of the sectioned face, open the ‘General’ tab. Under the ‘Colour’ section, you will find the ‘Capping Face Colour’ and ‘Capping Line Colour’ options.
Offset unit
To change the ‘offset’ unit of measurement, open the ‘General’ tab. Click on the ‘Measurement units’ field and select the desired unit from the drop down list. Note this will also change the default unit for measurements made via the measure tool.
