Planes Off

Overview

Planes Off is a utility command that turns off (makes invisible) the coordinate system planes for the selected component in your Inventor assembly. This command is useful for decluttering your workspace and focusing on the geometry of your design without distraction from reference planes. In addition to hiding the standard coordinate planes, Planes Off also sets a document parameter named ShowPlanes, which can be used in custom rules to control the visibility of additional work planes within the component.

If your component includes a rule that responds to the ShowPlanes parameter, running Planes Off will also toggle the visibility of any custom-named work planes according to your rule logic. This allows for advanced automation and customization, ensuring that only the planes you want visible remain on.

How It Works

1. Turns off the visibility of the standard coordinate system planes for the selected component.
2. Sets the ShowPlanes document parameter to False (if present).
3. If a rule is set up to respond to ShowPlanes, custom work planes will also be toggled off.

Usage Instructions

1. Select the component in your assembly for which you want to hide coordinate system planes.
2. Activate the Planes Off command from the toolbar or menu.
3. The command will turn off the standard coordinate system planes for the selected component.
4. If you have custom rules set up for the ShowPlanes parameter, those work planes will also be hidden.
5. Review your component to confirm that only the desired geometry is visible.

Trouble Shooting

1. If some planes remain visible, check for custom rules in your component that may override the default behavior.
2. Ensure the ShowPlanes parameter exists if you want to use it for additional logic.
3. Review your component rules for any logic that may affect plane visibility.

Examples

1. Hide all planes in a component: Select the component and run Planes Off to hide all coordinate system planes.
2. Toggle custom work planes: Add a rule to your component to toggle visibility for specific named planes using the ShowPlanes parameter.
3. Example rule to toggle work plane visibility. Each time you run Planes On/Planes Off, these work planes along with the standard coordinate system planes will be toggled according to your rules.
• ThisDoc.Document.ComponentDefinition.WorkPlanes(1).Visible = ShowPlanes
• ThisDoc.Document.ComponentDefinition.WorkPlanes("Top of Fitting").Visible = ShowPlanes
• ThisDoc.Document.ComponentDefinition.WorkPlanes("Bottom of Fitting").Visible = ShowPlanes
• ThisDoc.Document.ComponentDefinition.WorkPlanes("Middle of Fitting").Visible = ShowPlanes

Related Commands

1. Planes On
2. Planes Off All
3. Planes Off All Nested
4. Configure Component
5. Parameters

Assembly Tool Suites

• Configure Suite
• Construct Suite
• Create Suite
• Parametric Suite
• Part Numbering Suite
• Placement Suite
• Replace Suite
• Utility Suite