The basic problem: I’m trying to move patterns and objects. That’s easy - but I’m unable to define an angle of movement instead of just the default X,Y,Z axes. It seems like it should be possible to define a movement as taking place along a line/axis or plane, but I can’t find the right words to figure out how to do what I’m trying to do.
An example of what I’m trying to do:
I’m creating bolts that follow the straight edge of a surface - I can manually create a line using the offset edge, add the bolts, use lines of equal length to space them, etc. - but this seems kludgy, and certainly mustn’t be the right way to do things.
Any help or suggestions would be appreciated - can I redefine the axes, or can I use a construction plane as a new reference somehow?
Ah, got it! That worked right away to modify one axis, and I was able to do the same thing to rotate the plane in reference to itself (dragging gizmo to the plane itself before rotating) and then get the movement along the defined direction with a pattern. Thanks!
Hi Tim, Just to add to the other good suggestions…
For bolts a good tool to use is the Pattern tool. After you get the first bolt positioned, select it (or multiple bodies, like bolt, washer and nut) then select the pattern tool. Then put the gizmo on the straight edge you can easily create a linear pattern that is evenly spaced. Often, I will also have one more body, a “clearance hole body”. that way, I can easily make the drill holes by subtracting all of these clearance hole bodies from the main body.