Hello,
Before I get to my question I will provide a little backround information. I work for an aerospace company so all our models are in what is called Aircraft Coordinates (i.e. Water Line, Butt Line and Station). These are directly releated to the X, Y & Z coordinates in soldiworks. But in real aircraft coordinates as used by other companies and mostly all FEA software. These coordinates do not adhere to the standard.
So what I want to know is it possible to change the default direction that the X , Y & Z icon currently sits? I have a attached a quick snap shot of what I am talking about. Currently the "Z" is in the direction that I want the "X" to be in and the "Y" is in the current direction that I want the "Z" to be in. See where I am heading.
Can anyone tell if it is possible to change this and if so how would I go about doing so?
Thanks allot for your help.
James
Seattle
You can create your own coordinate system, the following is from the help file, search coordinate;
Coordinate System
You can define a coordinate system for a part or assembly. Use this coordinate system with the Measure and Mass Properties tools, and for exporting SolidWorks documents to IGES, STL, ACIS, STEP, Parasolid, VRML, and VDA.
To create a coordinate system:
Click Coordinate System
on the Reference Geometry toolbar, or click Insert, Reference Geometry, Coordinate System.
Use the Coordinate System PropertyManager to create the coordinate system.
To change your selections, right-click in the graphics area and select Clear Selections.
To reverse the direction of an axis, click its Reverse Axis Direction
button in the PropertyManager.
Click OK
.
You may need to locate a coordinate system where there are insufficient entities available to define the coordinate system. In this case, you can define a coordinate system someplace on the part or assembly that does provide the entities you need. Then you can move the new origin to the desired location. The new location must contain at least one point or vertex.
To translate a coordinate system to a new location:
Click Coordinate System
or Insert, Reference Geometry, Coordinate System.
Define the coordinate system at a location on the part or assembly that provides the entities you need to control the angle and direction of each axis.
Click in Origin, then select the point or vertex to which you want to translate the origin.
Click OK. The origin moves to the location that you selected.
To toggle the display of coordinate systems:
Click View, Coordinate Systems.
To hide or show individual coordinate systems:
Right-click the coordinate system in the graphics area or in the FeatureManager design tree.
Select Hide or Show.