Work at an angle in Alias

00:00

So, I'll do a query edit to go back into the Control window for the revolve.

00:04

But we also have this blue manipulator here,

00:08

and we can click and drag that in the window.

00:11

And this one on the right you can see is changing that sweep angle.

00:14

The one on the left is changing the beginning angle.

00:18

And this isn't something that we've got access to in the Control window.

00:21

So, if for example, I wanted this to be 6° but centered on the grid, I need to type in the value of -30 there,

00:31

and then I can either adjust this to 30 here in the prompt, or I can also adjust that in the window.

00:42

We can also use the manipulator when we're not sure where the center of revolution needs to be.

00:48

So, if I'm trying to do this side glass, for example, I'm more interested in how this is fitting to, in this case, my mesh.

00:57

And I can check that out with the cross-section editor, so let's just apply some cross sections onto there.

01:03

And I can just pick this axis here and then just move it with my mouse buttons and just iterate it up or down, et cetera.

01:12

And I can also control the sweep, obviously, and I can explore where that needs to be to get me the kind of result that I want on my window.

01:23

And if I need to put some twist in there, I can pick just one of those and give that some twist.

01:29

And if I get in a mess and I need to restore that, then I can just come over here and click the X axis

01:35

and it goes back to where I can start to manipulate it again.

01:40

Here, we've got a steering column; and if we want to revolve this steering wheel, we're going to be working at an angle.

01:48

And one of the easiest ways to do that is to create a vector for the axis.

01:53

So, on my construction palette, I have a new vector.

01:56

I've created a couple of construction curves that I'm just point snapping to, to create that vector there.

02:02

And then when I go into the Revolve tool, then what I can say is use the Picked manipulator so I can select my curves.

02:11

And then if I select the vector, it will take that as the axis,

02:17

and that axis is now controlled by the position and orientation of the vector.

02:21

So, if that changes, that revolution will change accordingly.

02:26

But it's probably more common to be using a construction plane when working at an angle.

02:31

And if you set the construction plane, then your XYZ axis will become the default when you use the Revolve tool.

02:39

So, if I now switch this to Z, you can see that I'm now working in that construction plane, and I can use the normal XYZ directions.