construction plane from current view?

[graynak]

is there a way to generate a construction plane based on the current view within the viewport?

a simple example is that we scan tubular vehicle chassis for retrofitting parts

i can manipulate the view to a position that 'feels' orthogonal to the tube-section at a particular area ... 

i then want to create a sketch at that one exact view for brackets or collars

i know i can name that particular view ... but i can't then go in and create a plane from it

i think i can do some of that manipulation in mesh-mode with points on three-planes ... but that requires not capturing history ... which destroys all previous work.

thanks!

[g-andresen]

Hi,

Please share an appropriate file with a hint where the layer should be located.

File > export > save as f3d on local drive  > attach it to the next post.

günther

[jeff_strater]

"is there a way to generate a construction plane based on the current view within the viewport?"

No, there is no way to do that.  There should not be any view-dependent operations in a parametric design.  Viewing operations are considered to be graphics-only operations, and do not affect the creation of geometry or features

[graynak]

Thanks Jeff S.

I appreciate that rigor in full parametric design.

I am often straddling the parametric universe and the cold hard steel of less-than-perfect real-life fabrication.

It would be nice to cheat every now and then with the feature described above.

I remember having it in Rhino when I was using that a hundred years ago.

Anyway .. my current method starts at the very beginning with a raw mesh and actually setting real orthogonal planes in the mesh.

The issue is that going back into that raw mesh ... and making adjustments using 'a plane from three points'  requires destroying the files history.

thanks anyway ... 

i'll continue to use the intersecting-planes-to-create-an-axis method

geoff

[g-andresen]

Hi,

I would just like to note that possible solutions will not be given as long as an exemplary sample file for analysis is missing.

günther

[graynak]

Thanks Gunther

Unfortunately ... the files are 100+ MB ... since the meshes are big ... 
but here are a few screen grabs to give the idea: 

as i zoom into a cross section of the lower chassis tube of this scan ...

i can position my view in a way that i can 'guess' at what would be the most orthogonal view to the tube

then ... if i could put a plane on that view ...  i could then make a three-point circle and reverse-engineer the chassis tubing

thanks