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Reverse actual z-axis in model space (ACAD 2011)


King Louie

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I have an in-house engineer (not a drafter/detailer) that wants to draw some stuff up in 3d for his reference. He wants to know if there is a way to "invert" the z-axis, so that when he inputs relative reference points (x,y,z), the z-axis will work "backwards", i.e. positive z is "down". He has tried the various UCS adjustments, etc., and that is not what he is looking for. All he wants is for away from him to be positive z and towards him to be negative, as if he is inside a building looking up at the ceiling. Ideas?

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Draw it all in normal 3D. Then take a front view, draw a horizontal line from 0,0 and mirror everything about that line.

 

 

+1 good one eldon, spot on. :beer:

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I found this a curious question. If the need is to have the Z axis going away from when viewing an orthographic view then the obvious approach would be to use the BOTTOM view as SLW210 suggests. However, when viewing the bottom view the WCS X axis is to the left and the Y axis points up. This may be undesirable to the OP.

 

If the “in-house engineer” wants and orthographic view in which the X axis points to the right, the Y axis points upwards while the Z axis is pointing away from you then the user is requesting a left-handed coordinate system. I think all engineer applications text books, etc. (there may be an exception) use right-handed coordinate systems. Most AutoCAD commands assume a right-handed coordinate system. The only AutoCAD exception to the RHR convention that I can think of is the 3DROTATE command about the Y axis. It assume a left-handed coordinate system while the X and Z axis rotation use the convention right handed convention. Try it out!

 

~Lee

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