topic Betreff: Sketch Constraints how to tell Horizontal vs Vertical in Inventor Forum

Sketch Constraints how to tell Horizontal vs Vertical

jordanJ246P — Tue, 20 Sep 2022 03:02:47 GMT

I've seen similar questions asked without a satisfactory answer. This should be very simple, I must be missing something. Often when using sketch constraints I'll want two objects to align horizontally, however, when I select the horizontal constraint they snap vertically. Even when I check the coordinate system down the bottom left of my screen I still can't see where I'm going wrong.

I've attached a screen shot showing that:

1. I've selected the vertical constraint

2. The coordinate system shows the x axis as horizontal and the y axis as vertical

3. The view cube looks to be also oriented correctly

4. The preview line shows the vertical constraint apply horizontally.

Please help 😭

Betreff: Sketch Constraints how to tell Horizontal vs Vertical

cidhelp — Tue, 20 Sep 2022 06:17:06 GMT

Hi @jordanJ246P

horizontal an vertikal sketch constraint means parallel to x- or y-axis of the sketch-coordinatesystem, not to the world's system in the bottom left corner. You can show the sketch coordinate system using the application option marked in my screenshot.

Re: Sketch Constraints how to tell Horizontal vs Vertical

SBix26 — Tue, 20 Sep 2022 17:35:34 GMT

The dotted line attached to the cursor shows the direction of the constraint (vertical or horizontal) that you have selected. If it is not what you want, merely hold down the Shift key and you will have the other one. See left end of the Status Bar for prompts:

Sam B

Inventor Pro 2023.1.1 | Windows 10 Home 21H2

Re: Sketch Constraints how to tell Horizontal vs Vertical

blandb — Tue, 20 Sep 2022 18:07:25 GMT

I believe what @SBix26 references is only in 2023. I opened 2022 and do not have option. I was blown away as how did I miss this for so many years, but then noticed it wasn't there until I opened my 2023 version lol.

Sketch Constraints how to tell Horizontal vs Vertical

jtylerbc — Tue, 20 Sep 2022 20:29:21 GMT

In addition to what everyone else has already said:

If the sketch axes are turned on (as they are in @cidhelp's screenshot), the thicker one is horizontal, and the thinner one is vertical. This remains true no matter what orientation you are viewing the sketch in.

Betreff: Sketch Constraints how to tell Horizontal vs Vertical

jordanJ246P — Tue, 20 Sep 2022 21:29:58 GMT

This is a big help! I didn't know the coordinate systems can be different. Do you know under what circumstance this would happen? Surely it still tries to align x to the xz plane and y to the yz plane? In the screenshot I attached that wasn't the case 🤔

Betreff: Sketch Constraints how to tell Horizontal vs Vertical

cidhelp — Wed, 21 Sep 2022 06:57:01 GMT

Hi @jordanJ246P ,

sorry I don't know the rules, inventor is orienting the Sketch coordinate system on creating a new sketch. It seams that linear edges of the planar face are used to align the x- or y-orientation.

I have sketched a polygon (purposely nothing is horizontally or vertically)

than extruded and added some chamfer

If I create new sketches, it seams that Inventor sometimes aligns the x-Axis with one of the egdes of the selected planar face

but sometimes the y-Axis

If an Autodesk employee is reading this, please let us know, what are the rules Inventor is using on sketch creation to align the sketch coordinate system.

Betreff: Sketch Constraints how to tell Horizontal vs Vertical

jordanJ246P — Thu, 22 Sep 2022 23:27:18 GMT

Thanks for looking into this! I've noticed there are a few commands in inventor that change what they do depending on the current camera angle. Adding a plane to a tangent face or the slice graphics command are examples of this. Maybe its the same when creating a new sketch? 🤔

Betreff: Sketch Constraints how to tell Horizontal vs Vertical

johnsonshiue — Fri, 23 Sep 2022 01:40:11 GMT

Hi Jordan,

If you don't like the default sketch rotation behavior on Look At, you may want to change the following option.

Tools -> App Options -> Display -> Look At Behavior -> select "Align with Local Coordinate System."

Many thanks!

Betreff: Sketch Constraints how to tell Horizontal vs Vertical

jordanJ246P — Fri, 23 Sep 2022 01:59:32 GMT

Perfect! This is what I wanted, thank you.

@cidhelp I'm not sure if you've come across this option, it will rotate the view and orient the sketch so x is always horizontal and y is always vertical.