I’d like to suggest a small but useful improvement to the existing Section View tool: the ability to limit how much geometry is displayed behind the section plane.
The problem
When working with complex assemblies, especially curved structures, the current Section View doesn’t always produce a clear and readable cross-section.
For example, I’m currently working on a curved bar counter consisting of a metal frame, plywood components, and external cladding.
Screenshots 1–2: The original model and an example of the cross-section I want to achieve.
When I use Section View, the geometry behind the cutting plane remains visible. In curved assemblies, this creates visual clutter because components located farther away overlap with the section I’m trying to examine.
Screenshots 3–4: The standard Section View and the resulting visual clutter.
There is already a useful option called Section Only, which removes the geometry behind the cutting plane.
However, this option also removes the visible edges and surfaces of components behind the section. As a result, the cross-section loses important visual information about the internal structure.
Screenshot 5: Section Only removes the background geometry, but the resulting view is too limited for my purposes.
My current workaround
To achieve the desired result, I currently have to manually isolate a small portion of the assembly.
For example, I create a section approximately 100 mm deep, separating the required portion of the model from the rest of the geometry.
This allows me to display the actual cross-section together with a limited amount of geometry behind it, preserving the visible edges and internal components without unnecessary background details.
Screenshots 6–7: The manually isolated portion of the assembly and the resulting view.
The result is useful, but obtaining it requires additional modeling operations that could potentially be avoided.
Suggested improvement
It would be useful to have an optional Section Depth parameter in the existing Section View tool.
For example:
- Standard Section View: Displays all geometry behind the section plane, as it does now.
- Section Only: Displays only the geometry intersected by the section plane, as it does now.
- Limited Section Depth: Displays the cross-section and all geometry within a specified distance behind the section plane (for example, 100 mm).
Everything beyond that distance would be temporarily hidden, without modifying or splitting the actual bodies.
This would allow users to create clean, informative cross-sections while preserving the original model.
Practical application
Screenshot 8: An example of the final technical illustration created using this approach.
This type of presentation is particularly useful for furniture design, metal structures, architectural elements, and other complex assemblies where showing a small amount of internal geometry makes the cross-section much easier to understand.
