Section Views

Section views

Section Views draws views cut by a plane, like a part sawn in two: the cut faces are hatched, and each cutting plane is shown on a neighbouring view with arrows and a letter (ISO 128-3, ISO 128-50). Up to three sections, one per view: front, side and top.

Add a cut

1. Open Section Views (under Views) and click Front, Side or Top: a cutting plane goes through the middle of the parts, parallel to that view. The view is ticked in Views if it was not.
2. Move the plane with G in the 3D View (it only moves along its axis), or with the Position slider: 0 % is the side the view looks at, 50 % the middle.
3. Click Make Plan: the view is drawn cut, titled « SECTION A–A ».

A view already cut has its button greyed out. Choosing a view taken by another cut in the cut's settings swaps the two cuts.

The list of cuts

• Click a cut to make it active: its plane is selected in the 3D View, ready for G. Selecting a plane in the 3D View does the same.
• The coloured square is the colour of the plane: click it to change it.
• The arrow button selects the plane; the cross removes the cut and its plane. Deleting the plane in the 3D View removes the cut too.

For the active cut:

• Letter: the name of the section (A gives « SECTION A–A »). I, O and Q are skipped when letters are given automatically, as they read like 1 and 0.
• Hatch (mm): distance between hatch lines on the sheet. It is reduced on small cut faces, and varied from one part to the next so that touching parts stay apart.

Options

• Hide Cut Material: in the 3D View, the material in front of the active plane is hidden, as in its section. The other planes are drawn fainter.
• Isometric: where the cutting planes are shown in isometric.
  • Separate Page, Cut (default): an extra page « CUTTING PLANES », one isometric view per plane, with the material in front of the plane removed. The main isometric view stays clean.
  • Separate Page: the same page, with whole isometric views and the plane drawn through them.
  • Main Isometric View: all the planes on the isometric view of the drawing.
  • None.
• Colored Planes: each plane in its colour on the drawing (cut lines, section titles, a light tint under the hatching, planes in isometric). Off: black and white, as in ISO 128.

Good to know

• Only closed parts are hatched. A part with holes in its mesh is cut but not hatched; the panel and the drawing warnings name it.
• On heavy scenes (more than 1.5 million triangles), the cutting planes page uses whole isometric views, which are much faster to draw.
• Files made with Ichno Labs 0.5 get their cuts back when they open.