Create Section Cuts

  1. From the View Controls toolbar, click .
    A section cut dialog is opened with a default section cut added. If the section cut is selected, a microdialog to modify the section cut properties is displayed in the modeling window.
    The section cut dialog has a few additional options:
    • To create additional sections, click to create a new section cut in the dialog.
    • To delete any section, select it from the list and click .
    • To set feature lines or transparency on the clipped elements, click .
      Note: This is a global option for all sections cuts.
    Right-click on a section cut in the dialog to display a context menu with the following options:
    Figure 1.
    • Create (Planar or Spherical)
    • Edit
    • Delete
    • Rename
    • Show
    • Hide
    • Isolate
    • Show Manipulator
    • Hide Manipulator
    • Align View *Available only for planar section cuts. Clicking this option makes the model view orientation normal to the selected section cut.
  2. Click of the left side of the microdialog to update it to either a planar or spherical section cut.
  3. Change the display and position of the section cut using the other microdialog options.
    • Change the type to deformable by clicking .
    • Display only the section cut by clicking .
    • Reverse the part of the model that is hidden by clicking .
    • Trim elements along the plane/sphere to create a smooth section cut by clicking .
    • Translate or rotate the section cut using graphical manipulators by clicking . For spherical section cuts, the yellow manipulator can be used to adjust the radius of the sphere.
      Tip: You can also click and drag the frame directly. For planar section cuts, click and drag the center of the frame to translate. Click and drag a corner or an edge to rotate.
    • Align the section plane to the x, y, or z-axis by clicking .
      Note: Only available for planar section cuts.
    • Align the section plane using advanced options such as N1/N2/N3, Normal to Screen by clicking .
      Note: Only available for planar section cuts.


    Figure 2. Planar Section Cut


    Figure 3. Spherical Section Cut
After creating a section cut, it is added to the Results Browser as a Section Cut entity. Its basic parameters can then be changed in the Entity Editor.
Figure 4.
To edit and adjust a section cut in the tool, right-click on it in the Section Cuts dialog and select Edit.
Note: Section cuts can also be created using the Results Browser right-click context menu option Create > Section Cut. However, it is recommended to use the Section Cut tool instead and not switch between the two methods.

The display of the section cut frame can be changed at any time using standard Show/Hide operations. Note that this does not make the section cut inactive.