Plane

Every sketch sits on something flat. Top, Front and Right are always there, and you can also sketch on any flat face of a part. Plane makes a new flat surface wherever you need one: higher up, further along, or tilted. Think of it as a sheet of glass you can put anywhere.

Use a plane to:

• draw the top shape of a loft, such as the top of a lamp shade, above a shape on Top
• sketch on a slope, such as the leaning back of a phone stand
• mirror or split parts somewhere that is not Top, Front or Right
• find the middle of a board, to mirror a hole or a slot from one side to the other (Mid plane)

The Plane type list at the top works like Plane type in Onshape:

How to use it#

1. Click Plane, or press K.
2. Choose what it starts from: Top, Front, Right or A face. For A face, click a flat face of a part in the view.
3. Type the Distance: how far the plane moves away, in mm.
4. To tilt it, type an Angle, then choose Across or Up for Tilt about.
5. Click ✓ or press Enter.
6. To draw on it, click the plane in the view (or pick it in the feature tree), then click Sketch.

Line angle#

1. Click Plane, then choose Line angle in Plane type.
2. Click a straight edge of a flat face: click on the face, close to the edge.
3. Type the Angle: how far the plane lifts off the face, hinged on the edge. Type a minus angle to tilt it down.
4. Click ✓. Its across direction runs along the edge, so a sketch on it lines up with the edge.

Use it for the sloping back of a chair or a phone stand, hinged on the edge of the seat or the base.

Mid plane#

1. Click Plane, then choose Mid plane in Plane type.
2. Click the first flat face, then the second. They must be parallel: the two sides of a board, or faces on two different parts that face each other. The dialog says how far the plane is from each face.
3. Click ✓. If the board gets thicker later, the plane stays in the middle.

To pick a face again, click its box (First face or Second face) and then click the face.

Step by step#

Here is the whole thing on a round stand 60 mm up, from the SchoolCAD video tutorial.

: the part starts on the new plane.](plane-step-4.webp)

Options#

Tips#

• Sketches drawn on a plane follow it. Change the plane's Distance or Angle later, and the sketches, and the parts made from them, move with it.
• A plane on a face tilts about the middle of the face. A plane from Top, Front or Right tilts about the origin.
• To change a plane, double-click it in the feature tree.
• Too many planes in the way? Click the eye beside a plane in the feature tree to hide it, and again to show it.
• To mirror parts across a face, make a plane on that face first.

If it does not work#

• The two faces are not parallel. A mid plane needs two faces that are parallel, such as the top and bottom of a board. Click the box of the face that is wrong and pick another.
• Pick a different face. You clicked the same face twice. Pick the face on the other side.
• Pick a flat face. You clicked a curved face. A plane can only sit on a flat face.
• Pick a flat face to put the plane on. The face the plane was on has gone after an earlier change. Double-click the plane in the feature tree and click a flat face again.
• The plane is on the wrong side, or tilts the wrong way: type a minus number for the Distance or Angle, or swap Across and Up.
• You cannot click the plane to sketch on it: it may be hidden. Click its eye in the feature tree, or right-click it there and choose Show plane.