Autodesk Inventor

[#1]

Probably a dumb question, but why does the standard part (mm) template start with the view cube having the front (XY) plane oriented as the top view when you finish the sketch. In other words, when I start a new Standard (mm).ipt the View Cube shows it is the front plane, but when I finish the sketch and it goes to the Home view, that plane is now horizontal, and the view cube shows the Front plane pointing up, and the Bottom plane pointing forward as compared to when I start a Standard.ipt where the View cube Front plane stays in the front and the top is on top. Basically what it amounts to is the Standard.ipt starts with the XZ plane as the top view with the Y axis pointing up, and the Standard (mm).ipt with XY as the top vew with the Z axis pointing up.  I hope that wasn't confusing, I'll attach a screen shot to make it clearer.

My main concern is if I change the template view cube defaults is that doing something behind the scenes that will come back to bite me later? I thought it might be something to do with 3rd angle vs 1st angle projection, but that seems to be handled in the drawing styles.

I should be OK if I change the template to have the View Cube orient how I expect it to right? The Front of the part should be the Front view and not the bottom like currently is.

[#2]

Think of a flat plate laying on the floor, X & Y are the width and length of the plate and Z is the thickness of the plate. Many NC profile burning/cutting software use X & Y as the profile shape of the plate and Z is treated as the thickness of the profile.

You can change the default sketch plane in the Tools>Application Options>Part:

[#3]

Right, but why is that not consistant between the templates? Why would Z be up in the mm template and Y up int the inch? if I change the default sketch plane in the options, it will then be wrong in the other template.

[#4 · Accepted solution]

Create your own templates for how you want to work. The templates are only just starting points.

[#5]

Ok, fair enough.