Define positioning planes for a sketched profile

When you sketch a profile, you can define positioning planes for it. With positioning planes you can determine the planes that Tekla Structures uses for positioning parts and components.

Before you begin

Before you begin, add dimensions to the sketched profile.

Part positioning planes

With part positioning planes you can determine how Tekla Structures positions parts that have a sketched profile.

These planes are used for the On plane and At depth settings for parts, and also when placing custom components that are bound to boundary planes.

The part positioning planes are shown in blue:

The On plane options Left and Right are set according to the vertical blue planes, and the Middle option is halfway between them.

For the At depth setting, the Front and Behind options are set according to the horizontal blue planes, and the Middle option is halfway between them.

Example

You can define part positioning planes so that an asymmetric profile is positioned according to its web only. In the following example, gray dotted lines illustrate the Middle option:

(1) Middle option

Connection positioning planes

With connection positioning planes, you can determine how Tekla Structures positions components in relation to the component main part that has a sketched profile.

The connection positioning planes are shown in green:

Example

This image shows the default connection positioning planes of a double tee slab that was created as a sketched profile. The green line illustrates the default connection positioning planes.

To place connections according to the location of the stems of the double tee, move the connection positioning planes as shown here.

Show and hide positioning planes

To show or hide the positioning planes, do one of the following:


To	Do this
Show or hide part positioning planes	Click .
Show or hide connection positioning planes	Click .

Move positioning planes

You can move the positioning planes by moving their handles.

If you move the handles away from the outermost corners of the sketched profile, you must bind them by adding a dimension to each handle. Otherwise, the positioning does not function correctly in the model.

Click the positioning plane to show the handles.

The handles are shown in pink. By default, the handles are at the outermost corners of the sketched profile.

For example:
Click a handle to select it.

Note:
The same handle controls both the vertical and horizontal plane. You can move them both at the same time.
Move the handle like any other object in Tekla Structures.

For example, right-click and select Move.
If the handle is not at the outermost corner of the profile, add a dimension between the handle and the corner.

Example

In this example, the left handle of the positioning plane has been bound by using a horizontal dimension (b1):

Revert to default positioning planes

You can revert to the default positioning planes of a sketched profile if you have moved the planes.

To revert to the default positioning planes, do one of the following:


To	Do this
Revert to the default part positioning planes	Click to show the part positioning planes. Select the part positioning planes. Right-click and select Delete. Click again to check that the planes have reverted back to the default.
Revert to the default connection positioning planes	Click to show the connection positioning planes. Select the connection positioning planes. Right-click and select Delete. Click again to check that the planes have reverted back to the default.

What to do next

Next, check the sketched profile to ensure that the constraints and dimensions in the sketched profile work correctly.