CST2013: Cutting Plane

View: Sectional View Cutting PlaneProperties

In this dialog box you can set a cutting plane for your structure. The structure will be hidden, left as wire frame or set to transparent at the upper side of the cutting plane and left as before below the cutting plane. Thus you will be able to have a look inside your structure.

Cutplane control frame

Use cutplane: Switch off the structure cutting plane.

Align cutplane with axis: Use the structure cutting plane, aligning it to the standard (XYZ) coordinate system.

Align cutplane with WCS : Use the structure cutting plane, aligning it to the local (WCS) coordinate system.

Free cutplane control: Use the structure cutting plane with the previously set alignment and make the rotation and pitch sliders (see below) available. Also a 'help' plane will be visualized, marking the normal and the 'up'-direction of the plane to help with orientation.

Axis: Align the cutting plane with respect to the chosen control mode. (e.g. in axis-aligned mode choose 'X' to align it with the YZ-plane)

Location

Position slider: Move the cutting plane along the plane normal.

Note: In 'axis aligned control' mode the indicated position is the spatial plane position on the respective axis. In any other mode the indicated position is calculated with respect to the slider position. (Slider at 50% has always an indicated position of 0.0, which marks the center of the range in which the plane can be moved; slider above or below 50% will make the indicated position give the spatial distance to the center of a.m. range)

Rotation slider: Rotate the cutting plane around the up-vector which is indicated on the 'help' plane (see 'Free cutplane control' mode). Angle is given in degrees.

Note: Only available in 'Free cutplane control' mode (see above).

Pitch slider: Rotate the cutting plane with the up-vector which is indicated on the 'help' plane (see 'Free cutplane control' mode).  Angle is given in degrees.

Note: Only available in 'Free cutplane control' mode (see above).

By Index: If you select this option, the cutting plane can only be set on mesh planes. Also the output of the plane location shows the mesh index rather than the spatial location of the cutting plane. This setting can only be used if a valid mesh is already created.

Note: This option is only available for hexahedral meshes with 'axis aligned control' mode (see above).

Appearance of part above cutplane frame

Changes the appearance of the removed part of your structure.

Hide: Don’t display the removed part at all.

Wireframe: Display it as wire frame.

Transparent: Display it as transparent.

Solid: Display the removed part, but also shows the cutting plane.

Note that this setting will not be used if you have activated the Wireframe in View: Options View Options () – General or clicked the View: VisibilityWire Frame () control. If the fields are displayed on a 2D plane and the Transparent shapes in field plot mode is activated  this frame is disabled.

Options frame

Transparent shapes in field plot mode: Display all the shapes transparent when the field plot mode is activated.

Draw 2D when cut plane is active: Display  the structure in a flat and true 2D style.

Draw solid cutplane: If this field is checked, the cutting plane will be displayed as solid in the shapes color. Otherwise it will be transparent.

2D fields on selected shapes only: Draw cutlines and 2D fields only for the selected shapes for a better performance or visibility.

Cutplane location in selected shape only: Move the cutting plane relative to the selected shape only. This feature offers you a better cutting plane handling for small details within bigger structures.

Close

Closes this dialog box.

Apply

Applies any changes to the visualization. Only active if changes in the edit fields have been made.

Help

Shows this help text.