Dynamic UCS and wall faces: How to control the X and Y direction?

Roy Klein Gebbinck

I am testing the BIM features of V15: Creating walls, inserting windows etc.

The easiest way to insert a window in a wall is to work with a dynamic UCS (DUCS). The problem is that the positive Y direction of the DUCS does not always point to
the top of the wall (= the positive Z direction of the WCS). In some case the positive X direction of the DUCS points to the top. This depends on the orientation of the wall relative to the view. If you do not pay close attention you can end up with windows that are rotated 90 degrees.

Is there a way to control the orientation of the DUCS?

Jason Bourhill

Hi Roy,

you must be working the night shift

I'm not aware of a direct solution to control the orientation of the DUCS, but while running a command you can press the SHIFT key to lock the DUCS. Potentially a work around? You hover over different surfaces until you get the DUCS orientate the way that you want, then press SHIFT to lock.

You can also press TAB to cycle through different surface selections, which in turn will change DUCS orientation.

Regards,

Jason Bourhill

CAD Concepts 

Jason Bourhill

I see there is an option with _BIMINSERT to rotate the object being inserted. However if you select this option you can no longer place the window! Help says there are no options for the command. I guess the menu display is because essentially you are inserting a block.
 

Regards,

Jason Bourhill

CAD Concepts 

Roy Klein Gebbinck

Thanks for looking into this Jason.
A window, which is called a component, is indeed a block (actually, behind the scenes, some xref 'magic' is taking place). The funny thing is that with a fixed UCS with the positive X direction pointing to the top of the wall, windows are inserted right side up.