Datum axis name position

[NG_12013596]

Hi,

I have to create three Datum Axes with name D, E, F, based on a custom Coordinate System ("CS_DEF"), which is rotated relative to the original (XYZ) coordinate system.

My problem is that, if I create a Datum Axis based on the axis of the coordinate system, Creo puts the axis name on the opposite side of the direction of the coordinate system's axes.

How can I move the name of the axis to the opposite side?

thank you

[KenFarley]

Don't know of any way to alter this behavior, never really mattered to me.

If visibility of such entities is a concern, due to overlapping and such, I do a few things:

(1) I rename the "important" axes to something that makes sense to me, like instead of "A_1" I'll name it "AXIS-CTR-PIVOT" or some such.

(2) Hide things that you don't want to see, or implement a layering scheme to put the geometric entities that are not of interest "away" so I don't see them. This is very necessary when working with models that have a proliferation of hundreds of datum planes, points, etc. I've had to endure working with models that looked like a hairball if I had all the datums visible.

As you'll notice as you define or redefine a datum like an axis or plane, there are few things that can be changed with respect to the Display of the datum. The location of the label is not one of them.

[NG_12013596]

Yes, I understand you, the question arose because the axes of coordinate systems cannot be renamed.

I have to use ABC, DEF, etc coordinate systems in the model and also I have to see names and the (positive) directions of the axes. I tought the simplest solution to this would be to have the axis letter visible in the positive direction

[StephenW]

I think that an axis does not have a positive or negative direction. 

[NG_12013596]

Yes, axis doesn't have positive directions.

The coordinate sytem's axis have positive directions (where the arrows points), but I have to "replace" the coordinate systems with Datum axes, because I have to see the name of the axes and cannot change the name of the coordinate system axes.

I'd like to see something like on the image.. I have to set 3-4 coordinate systems, but 3-4 times XYZ doesn't helps me to identify the right axes.

[tbraxton]

You can name the CSYS features to "A, B, C, ...." If they all have a unique feature name would this not resolve the issue of naming convention? I assume you need distinct orthonormal bases to support your workflow/design intent. By naming the Csys to the designated label this should support this, no? If not, what are you needing to do with an axis name in the context of modeling?

..."I have to see names and the (positive) directions of the axes."

CSYS A and the positive direction of the axes shown below.

[NG_12013596]

Unfortunatelly only renaming the CSYS feature doesn't help me, because as I mentioned I have to see the (other than XYZ) name of the CSYS axes names and directions in the modelling space. I get the optic design plans in PDF, and there are multiple light path branches where the angles and relations are defined with it's own coordinate systems. For example Pattern laser is defined in ABC csys, pattern rec is defined in DEF csys so on.. 

Based on the plans received from the opticians, I sketch the individual light paths in 3D, and this creates a skeleton model on which the real 3D geometry is based.

To compare the directions given in the received documentation with as few errors as possible, I need to see the same axis names in the model as in the documentation. See an example on the image below

[KenFarley]

If I had to do something like this and wanted to make it clear what the different axes were, maybe I'd try defining sketches to draw the different "axes". If I sketch, for example, the "a" and "c" axes in the X-Z plane, I will be able to draw them with arrow heads wherever I want, add whatever labels I want, etc. It's going to be tedious, and you'd still have to define planes to do the sketching, but at least ambiguity will be reduced or eliminated.

If you have a line in a sketch, the resulting curve can be used as if it was an axis, so you can use the "a" line to make the plane where you will sketch the "h" and "g" lines, etc.

[tbraxton]

I think we are clear on what you want but Creo does not support it, so then it becomes a search for a good alternative. You are right to try and set it up so that it is easy to understand based on the inputs you are working from to capture the design intent.

I design optical components and work with ray tracing for lenses, light pipes etc. so I have some experience dealing with this type of thing. If you need to design around a collimated beam as an input, then I would create in your skeleton models 3D curves that represent the input vectors provided by the optical team. You can define the direction graphically by adding the tip of the vector in the sketch. I would still create the csys features and name them A, B, ... you can then use each of these reference frames (Csys) to create 3D curves (sketches if possible) to define the unit vectors for radiation directions within a sketch you can add text to label these vectors with any character required.

[tbraxton]

A quick and dirty example of how to do this. If you are clever about the sketch constraints, you can make a sketch for reuse and make quick work out of setting up the inputs in a skeleton start part that you can use for all future inputs from the optical team to create a new design. Depending on flexibility needed, a UDF to define these vectors might also be useful. You can show the annotations with this approach to support quickly cross checking these vectors against the PDF files used for reference.

[kdirth]

Here is an option:

Coordinate system

Offset points and named them as needed.

Curves by point and changed the colors.

Could make into a UDF to make creation easy

[StephenW]

@NG_12013596 

Axis creation is amazingly consistent though. Using my default coordinate system, I recreated the same thing you did. 

So I created another coordinate system, with the directions different from the default. I created a new axis for the coordinate system and the axis labels are on the other side.

So, if you can stand to have another coordinate system oriented differently, you can get your axis labels on the other side.

[NG_12013596]

It's unfortunate that it can only be solved with workarounds, I like solutions that are as clean as possible, but thanks for the idea.

[NG_12013596 · Accepted solution]

I got a lot of useful ideas, and in the end, one plus one idea became the most useful for me 🙂

1. Creating CSYS based on the default or previous CSYS (easy to set the origin and orientation)
2. Define 3 planes based on the new CSYS's axes
3. Define 3 datum axes based on the three new planes, setting their size
   The selecting order of planes affects where the label is positioned on the resulting datum axis.

The positive sides of this method:

• Sketch references and mates refer with the correct name of axes 
• I realized afterwards that I should have used the created planes for sketch anyway

Created objects: CSYS, Planes, Axes

After hiding CSYS and planes, clear and nice:

Thank you everyone for help.

[StephenW]

@NG_12013596 Nice solution...don't forget to mark your response as the solution.

Out of curiosity, I tested the axis creation based on datum selection order...it's a nice trick to get the label where you want it. I don't know where I can use it but it might come in handy one day!

[NG_12013596]

Thank you, I hope it will be useful to you or someone else someday 😉