Questions about work planes

[Ed__Jobe]

I have a couple of questions about work planes.

1. I have an assembly and a part file that behave differently. In the assembly, I can resize a work plane and drag a corner of a work plane to resize and only that end moves. But in the part file, the other end resizes symmetrically. What determines the different behavior?

2. I received an assembly with some existing work planes. When I select one, the label resizes and is visible at all zoom scales. But with subsequent work planes that I have added, the label size is fixed and I have to zoom in to see it. What determines the different behavior?

TIA

[Cadmanto]

There was a similar thread just recently that covered this same topic.

Take a look through it and see if it doesn't answer your questions.

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/inventor-forum/adjusting-the-size-of-work-planes-in-an-assembly/m-p/9... 

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[johnsonshiue]

Hi Ed,

The dragging behavior should be the same. When dragging an assembly workplane, did you select Feature Priority (as opposed to default Component Priority)?

Many thanks!

[Ed__Jobe]

Hi @Cadmanto , The problem wasn't that I can't resize a workplane, but a question about the difference in behavior.

[CGBenner]

@Ed__Jobe 

I think for #2, a screen shot of the different label sizes might be helpful.

For #1... so you are saying that in the Assembly, the plane grows from a "locked" corner, whereas in the part the plane grows from a "locked" center point?  Is that correct?

[Ed__Jobe]

Thanks Johnson. Today I can't remember which file had the symmetrical behavior. But I was looking at different files and some have a long menu like Priority1.png. Others have a short menu like Priority2.png. Another difference I can't find an explanation for. I believe it's because the short version is in an ipt. When it has the short menu, it just says Select Features, not Select Feature Priority and I am unable to stretch the work plane. I also discovered that the wp has to have the Visibilty attribute set in order to resize it.

Priority1Priority2

Any idea's on Question 2?

[Ed__Jobe]

Thanks @CGBenner For #2, the problem seems to have gone away. Today when I open the ipt, isn't doing it. Maybe I just needed to save the file after creating the work planes.

Yes you could say that the symmetrical one was changing based upon a locked point. I said "arbitrary" because I couldn't tell where the symmetry point was. Just that when I stretched the left side, the right side grew by the same amount.

[johnsonshiue]

Hi Ed,

I think the difference is indeed due to different environment. The Select Priority menu on the left is for assembly, while the one on the right is for part.

Regarding the difference between label, I think Auto-Resize may play a role here. For the fixed ones, I assume Auto-Resize was off (right-click on the workplane -> Auto-Resize). And, the adjusting ones have the option checked.

However, I cannot seem to see the difference. What is the Annotation Scale set to (Tools -> App Options -> General)?

Many thanks!

[Ed__Jobe]

Thanks @johnsonshiue I think I have most of it answered except why do some work planes adjust symmetrically instead of just the corner I'm dragging?

[Ed__Jobe]

Attached is a sample file with symmetrical work planes.

[SBix26 · Accepted solution]

Assembly workplanes adjust symmetrically (i.e. they cannot be "moved", only stretched).  Part workplanes can be moved and adjusted in size.  Even though they're named the same and look the same, assembly workplanes are a different sort of beast than part workplanes.

@johnsonshiue , can you explain this better?  I seem to recall that I learned this from you...

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Sam B
Inventor Pro 2021.1.1 | Windows 10 Home 2004
LinkedIn

[Ed__Jobe]

If that's true, then I may have to keep work planes in a ipt and insert them into the assembly as a work around.

[SBix26]

That's probably a better solution anyway.  Assembly workplanes are more like components than they are like part workplanes, with constraints to manage and with the inability to change their center location.

---

Sam B
Inventor Pro 2021.1.1 | Windows 10 Home 2004
LinkedIn

[johnsonshiue]

Hi Sam,

I think I might have spread some false information. Assembly work geometry can be stretched or resized just like part work geometry. The difference is that at assembly level, you will need to change Select Priority to Feature or Face/Edge so that you can stretch it. It is because at assembly level, the default Select Priority is Component. At part level, it is implicitly enabled.

Regarding the difference between assembly work geometry and part work geometry, it is more about internal classification. Assembly work geometry is indeed like a component. There is no order of creation and it is largely driven by assembly constraints. Part work geometry is more like a feature. There is strict order of creation. And, it is driven by features (and parent features). The difference has nothing to do with the ability to stretch or resize.

Many thanks!

[johnsonshiue · Accepted solution]

Hi Ed,

I cannot explain the symmetric stretch (assembly) vs corner stretch (part). It seems like a designed behavior. It has been working like this.

Many thanks!

[Ed__Jobe]

Thanks for all your help.