Horizontal and Vertical Constraints Not Consistent with View Block Text

[Anonymous]

The other posts I looked at about this are year(s) old. Is there still no way to correct this behavior? 

I don't really care about XY planes, positive axes, etc. I expect vertical and horizontal to be consistent with the text on the view block. 

In looking at the plane definitions though, my defaults have the XZ(+Y) plane as the "top" and the XY(+Z) plane as the "front". The only thing I can assume is happening is Inventor is somehow tying the Z axis to vertical because it is vertical on the top, then using Z as the default for vertical everywhere else. 

This is very frustrating to deal with. On the top and bottom faces the Z axis is vertical, but on every other face the Y axis is vertical. 

In fact, on further reflection, the algorithm appears to be something akin to 

If [plane] is [any axis] && [Z]

  Vertical = Z

else

  Vertical = Y

end

When it should be the other way around! The only time that the Z axis should be vertical is in looking at the top and bottom faces, which are both different sides of the XZ plane. Every other face involves the Y-axis, and on those faces Y should be vertical.

Is there any way to change this? 

[LT.Rusty]

You can't change it, no, but you CAN predict it.

When you're looking at a sketch, you'll notice that one major axis is thick, the other is thin.  (In the picture below, the thin one is next to the thin green line, the thick one is next to the thick blue line.)  The thick one will always be the horizontal reference, and the thin one the vertical reference.  This is particularly useful when you've got planes created from features or point sets and they're not aligned with the origin planes.

(But, yes, it's annoying to have to think about this with the origin planes.)

[mcgyvr]

Never noticed that before Rusty.. neat/good tip.

A different color or line style would be better though IMO... I barely notice the difference but it is different.

And yes its a bit annoying.. BUT its done properly in Inventor. 

You may not care about xy planes,etc.. but Inventor does.

[Anonymous]

My question/complaint is, "Why is up not consistent with the text on the view cube?" 

The responses I've gotten are, "the thin line is up" and, "it's a bit annoying, but it's done properly in Inventor." 

Neither of these address the fact that the "thin line" is horizontal when looking at the left and right faces of the view cube. 

Again I ask, why is up not consistent with the text on the view cube? I feel like the answers I'm getting are, "Up is arbitrary, but Inventor shows you which arbitrary direction up is!"

I have never seen any post explaining WHY up is sideways on either side of the YZ plane. 

Granted, every direction is arbitrary until a datum is selected, but my point is that it would appear, based on the only data given (the text in the view cube), that UP would be UP relative to the text on the view cube. 

Maybe Inventor should change the view cube?

The directions on the view cube, again the only point of reference anyone has, would lead you to believe that UP should always be the direction from the Bottom to the Top of the view cube, or else why would you call those sides the top or bottom? The view cube depicted above shows how Inventor treats UP in all sketches on the origin planes, though, where UP is defined as the direction from the Front to the Back of the view cube, and that does not make any sense at all.

[LT.Rusty]

Mac - 

Thank JD.  I was complaining about it for about 4 or 5 years, then he pointed it out to me one day.  🙂

Chuck - 

I can't tell you why it's not consistent with the View Cube, but ... if you look at almost any other software out there (AutoCAD, Mechanical Desktop, Solidworks, probably Revit but I don't know, plus all the CGI packages and the CAM packages - including Autodesk's own CAM stuff that's integrated into Inventor), the Z axis is up-down, not Y.  If you redefine FRONT on the view cube to TOP instead, then magically all the horizontal and vertical stuff inside Inventor makes sense and works the way you'd expect it to.

So, in short, I'd say that it's the View Cube that's inconsistent with, oh, everything else.  

That said, it's probably not going to change, so ... 

[Anonymous]

Well, per this discussion it doesn't seem like there's any way to change the way Inventor defines "up", but I *can* change the view cube orientation... or so I thought. Perhaps I found a bug?

I went to Tools --> Application Options --> Display --> ViewCube... --> 

And, under "Default ViewCube Orientation", I changed:

Front View Plane --> XZ(+Y)

Top Veiw Plane --> XY(+Z)

This would have the Z-axis coming "out of the screen" towards you when you're looking at the top, which means then that, if the Z-axis remains the definition of up, then up is now also consistent with the intuitive definition that it is also the direction from the Bottom to the Top of the view cube. 

However, after applying these changes, the view cube did not reorient. I made a new part, did not reorient. I restarted Inventor, made another new part, did not reorient. I restarted my computer, started Inventor, made a new part, still didn't reorient. I double checked that my changes were still in effect, and they are, but the view cube is still stuck on the same default orientation. 

I think that changing the view cube orientation will, as Rusty said, bring *it* inline with everything else, but now the view cube won't update.

This is in my copy of Inventor, Professional 2015. Any advice? Can anyone else get it to reorient? 

[Anonymous]

Hi everyone,

Since I found this post interresting (I was also searching for an explanation...) and the thick / thin lines answered part of my questions, I made a test in Inventor and here is what I conclude:

You can re-orient the Viewcube the way you want to make it easier for you to understand your 3D and help in tranferring your intent to your collegues, but each face will keep its original horizontal / vertical orientation as if the "home" Viewcube orientation was active. If you look at picture attached, you'll see horizontal / vertical orientation for the Viewcube when in its "original" orientation.

[Anonymous]

Eh, it's not a big deal for me anymore. I convinced my employer to make the switch from Inventor to Solidworks, and we are (I am!) much happier. It's bugs/features like this that drive me nuts working with Inventor. There's a host of other nit-picky issues that drove the switch, but in general Solidworks is much easier to use. I say this having used Inventor in undergrad, Solidworks in grad school, Inventor for about 2 years professionally, and now Solidworks about 6 months professionally. 

In general, the design philosphy for Inventor seems to be, "Why does it matter if X does Y?" while Solidworks seems to be, "Should X do Y?" I'm the lone mechanical engineer in a company of software engineers, and they all seem to have a similar mindset - "Why would I re-write this interface? This is the way it is. It's a training issue and the customer just needs to learn this is the way it is." I also give everyone I work with a hard time about this. It doesn't matter what the easiest way to code/display/etc.

I'll quote "Autodesk Expert Elite" LT Rusty:

> If you redefine FRONT on the view cube to TOP instead, then magically all the horizontal and vertical stuff inside Inventor makes sense and works the way you'd expect it to.

> So, in short, I'd say that it's the View Cube that's inconsistent with, oh, everything else.  

> That said, it's probably not going to change, so ... 

It's not this issue that drove me to switch, it's just that this issue is the epitome of what's wrong with Inventor.