Problem with Creo 2.0 and Parallels on a Mac

There is not concept of a view port orientation in Creo, the coordinate system is based on the model you are viewing. If you create a new part or assembly using a template model, those template models will have a coordinate system in them.

If you configure Creo using one of the Academic Program configurations found in the "creo_standards" folder, the direction of the Z Coordinate will be pointing up as is typical in most CAD systems.

If you are using Creo out of the box (unconfigured), you are using the commercial template models and the Z Coordinate direction of those models does not point up.

The arguments put forward all have weight and show thing shave become confused over time with no accepted global standard.

I first heard this explanation by a CAD tutor in the early 1980s. "Early 2D CAD systems used the standard used in mathematics of x axis horizontal and y axis vertical. When CAD moved into 3D wire frame, the z axis became 'out of the page'. A default 3D view was needed so they tilted model space a little leaving the z axis still pointing out of the screen".

I have no idea how the Z axis came to be vertical in current CAD systems.

When the education templates for Pro|ENGINEER were first created, pictorial views including isometric and trimetic were top of the list to make it easy to orient models for rendering and in drawings. I am puzzled why professional engineers don't ask for these views in the default config?

Choosing the education coordinate system direction was influenced by the axes in 3 axis mills and routers. Most of the machines in schools, colleges and universities use Z for vertical movement. If a student creates a model to be machined, the default pictorial views display the model as it will be seen on the bed of the NC machine.

I have the same problem. Is there any solution, yet ?

Hi,

I am a first year engineering student at york university and its my first year working with creo. Although I am not sure how to deal with the axis problem, I can answer the question where a real world application uses a z axis that is up and down and the y axis is in and out.

The machine shop at my unversity has 2 mills which have their axis labelled as x-> sideways, y-> in and out and z-> up and down. I was completely confused when I used the machine for the first time. When I asked the machine shop guy, he said in all 30 years of his experience he has always worked with milling machines labelled like ours! So i guess in real world applications the z axis is up and down while the y axis is in and out.

Anirudh

FYI,

Most CAD systems are or were based on the drawing board, which lays the current view from the monitor flat on the drafting table.

When you look down at the paper Z is in and out of the paper. X is left to right edges of the paper. Y is back edge of the paper to the front edge of the paper. Take the drawing to the shop and lay it on the machine table and it matches.

So the problem is not the orientation of the X,Y,Z in the design tool.

Changing the default component/assemble coordinate of the design model to match the machine that may be used to manufacture the design assumes you know how the design will be manufacture when you start the design process.

It is extremely easy to add the relevant coordinate system after the design work is done. While manufacturing should always be considered during the design process, at this point in the workflow focusing on design is far more important. Many designs may be done before even deciding which one will be made or prototyped (the prototype will more then likely be made on a different machine then the finished product).