What is it that determines the size of the section plane?
In the drawing I am currently working on, the section planes started off being slightly larger than my model. But now they are way larger, making manipulation quite tricky. Could it have to do with geolocation?
This is an example:
The answer to my question seems to be yes, it is to do with geolocation. I got rid of the map and terrains and that shrank the section planes right back down again.
It’s determined by the extent of the model in the context of the section plane.
It seems section planes are sized to fit around all geometry, hidden or not, in the planes context. So deleting the hidden terrain would make them smaller because the size of the geometry shrinks. You could also put the plane inside a group or component with the house, which would size it for the house only.
Maybe my mistake when I downloaded the geolocation map was to choose too large an area. If I had zoomed in further just to get my plot and a bit beyond it, I wouldn’t have encountered the problem.
Ah yes. I have never done that before but it makes sense.
You could always trim it down.
By trimming do you mean limiting the number of entities that fall within the scope of the section plane either by delting or grouping? I can find no way to actually trim the plane itself. Thanks
Yes. For example I have made a component containing only the components shown cut by the section plane here. Then I opened that top level component and added the section cut. No deleting required.
Continuing the discussion from Section Plane size:
Hi Dave! Happy New Year to you! I realise this is an old conversation, but I have basically the same question, and I’m not quite understanding your solution here. I’m drawing permit sets based off of a single model, as per your invaluable advice last year (my work flow is so much easier now!). When I need details to insert into Layout, I create them in the same SU project, away from the main model, and I isolate them as Scenes with all their inherent Styles, etc. But these are always small compared to the OG model and relevant topography, backgrounds, etc. If I want to view a section from one of these small details, the section plane is giant-size as it is based on the extremities of the largest view. Your solution here seems elegant and simple, but I am missing something. I tried making a detail a component, opened it, and selected the section tool with no success changing the scale relative to the component. I think I’m stuck on “then I opened that top level component”. Is there a hierarchy of components that I’m missing?
Cheers!
Adrian
Hi Adrian, hopefully this illustration will help to clarify. It’s from the model I happened to be working on but the idea is the same. For the section through the head, housing and bearing I first collected them together. In this case it’s a group but it could just as easily be a component. That is the top level object. Then I opened the group for editing before adding the section plane. As you can see, the section plane is basically contained to the group and it doesn’t extend into the pump on the left.
I’m thinking you could manage that differently so you don’t have to create the detail away from the rest of the model but either way, if you want a section that only cuts through the detail you can collect the components/groups making up that detail into a nested component or group. Then open that object to add the section cut.
FWIW, if you need multiple active section cuts yyou can do that by adding them in different contexts. For the next image I double wrapped the front head component (component inside a component and added a section cut to the upper level component for just the head.
Oh wow! The thing I missed was choosing to edit it! Section tool is now tiny and wonderful! Thanks a million, once again!
So far I haven’t had to do anything on a scale that would necessitate that method, but it sounds awesome! If and when the time comes, I will come straight back here and ponder this until it penetrates my unusually thick cranium!
