NX Drafting Commands II

We will examine, using the views shown above, how to modify views to show hidden
lines, how to control the visibility of the “smooth edges” produced by adding fillets and
rounds to the model, how to insert centerlines, how to create an auxiliary view and how
to create and modify the display of various section views.

How to Show Hidden Lines

Select the view for which you wish to “show hidden

lines”. Move the mouse to highlight the View
Boundary (it may be turned off) and pick. Multiple
views may be selected by using the CTRL key.

With the mouse pointer still

located on the view boundary,
press the RMB to open the
screen menu.

Select Style…
Select the “Hidden Lines” tab and make sure
the box adjacent to the Hidden Line selection
is checked (it should be by default).

Use the drop-down menu to change the

display option for Hidden Line from Invisible
to Dashed.

NOTE: The dynamic display of the dashed

lines will change depending upon you
Display Zoom setting. This DOES NOT
affect the line format at output (e.g. printing)

Removing Smooth Edges Using the Style Command

Select the boundary of the desired view.

With the mouse pointer located on the view
boundary, press the RMB.

Select the Style… command

In Style, select the Tangent Curves tab

Toggle OFF the Smooth Edges display by removing
the check in the box adjacent to the term.

NOTE: The Style command

algorithm for smooth edge removal
will not work as desired in all cases
due to the complexity of some
models. In these cases lines you
wish to keep may be removed from
view and/or smooth edges may still
remain after using the command. In
these cases we will use a different
process to change the display of
individual lines.

Changing Line Display Using View Dependent Editing

View dependent editing will allow us to modify the display characteristics of individual
entities in our drawing views. We can only edit in one view at a time.

Erase versus Delete: Common terminology in modeling systems is to use Erase and
Delete for different operations. Erase means to change the entity such that it is no
longer displayed. It does however still exist in the database and can be restored if
desired. Delete means to remove an entity from the model database
To “erase” smooth edge curves from the view at
right using a View Dependent Edit

Edit > View > View Dependent Edit

Select the view to be edited

by selecting the view
boundary.
Once the view is select, the command dialogue box
becomes active.

Select the option to Add Edits > Erase Objects (upper

left hand selection)

Choose the edge that you want to change the display

of…note that you can also select all edges of a face by
moving within its area view…be careful of this…note
what is highlighted.

After selection, pick OK. The edge will

be erased and the command will remain
open allowing you to make more
changes.

You can select as many edges as you

wish before picking OK.
NOTE: To restore an edge which was unintentionally erased, select Delete Edits >
Delete Selected Erasures. Then move the mouse to where the line was shown. It will
highlight and is selectable. Finish with OK.

Adding Centerlines to Views

To add centerlines to views, use the

Insert > Centerline commands. The different
commands refer to different formats of
centerlines.

To insert a centerline for the line view the

surface axis, use Insert > Centerline > 3D
Centerline.

Go to the rectangular view of the

hole and pick the area view of
the cylindrical surface.

Pick here
When first created (and with the command still open), the
centerline will appear as shown.

With the command still open, you

can pick other locations for
centerlines as shown in the
example.

When finished with selections,

pick OK and the centerlines will
be placed.

If the incorrect surface is highlighted when trying to pick the rectangular view, simply
hover over the location without picking and the QuickPick dialogue will open. Simply
make the appropriate selection from the dialogue.
To create the centerline for the point view of
the axis (crossing centerlines), use Insert >
Centerline > Center Mark

Move to the edge of the circular view of the

surface. In the example below, we are placing
a centerline at the end of the slot.

Pick OK and the centerline is created.

Multiple edges can be selected before picking OK

Note that the orientation of the centerline is automatically

aligned with the orientation of the arc.
Adding an Auxiliary View

Insert > View > Projected

If required, select the “parent” view. This is the

view you are projecting from. It will include the
line view of the surface you wish to view “True
Size”.

To select a parent view, pick Select View

(where the green check mark is located) and
then pick the boundary of the view for
projection.

By default the “Hinge Line” vector option, is set

to “inferred’. The Hinge Line determines the
direction for projection (think back to the hinges
of the glass box when we learned projection).

Option “inferred” means the software will help to set the line of projection. First check to
see if the inferred option gives the projection you desire, as in the example below.
If the inferred hinge line does not produce the desired
view, you must set the hinge line manually. To do this,
go to the Vector Option dropdown and change the
option to Defined. Chose a line to define the projection
direction, e.g. perpendicular to the desired direction.

If the view does not look correct (for example,

backwards), try checking the box to Reverse Projected
Direction and note the direction of the arrow on parent
view.

Finally, dynamically move the projected view to the

desired location and select with the LMB.
Adding a Full Section View

Insert > View > Section > Simple/Stepped

Select the parent view for the construction by picking the view boundary.

A cutting plane line will appear at the crosshairs (do not worry about orientation yet).

Select a feature to define the location of the section (typically the center of a hole or
slot) as shown in the figure above.

Move the mouse to define the projection

direction for the section view and use the
LMB to select the location for the view.
The final view will include the cutting plane
line with labels, the hatched view and the
label for the section view.

NOTE: Items such as the orientation of

and spacing of the hatching, the size and
length of the arrowheads on the cutting
plane line, etc. can be set globally (as we
did in our drawing setting given in an
earlier handout) and also can be set locally
(for one view) by using the Style
command.

For example, pick the crosshatching to

highlight, then press the RMB and then
select Style.

Insert a Removed Section View

Insert > Section > Section > Simple/Stepped

By the parent view for the section.

Pick a location for the cutting plane by picking

a point on the parent view.

Place the section view in a temporary

location.
End the view insertion command (close the
dialogue box)

Pick the boundary of the section view and wait

for the Move Arrow crosshair to appear.

Move the view to the desired location on the

drawing. Place with the LMB.

Creating an Half Section

Insert > Section > Half

Select boundary of parent view.

Pick feature to locate section cutting plane

(center of hole in example, pick hole edge)

Align the segment of the cutting plane without

the arrowhead by picking the centerpoint of
the view. This will ensure that you get a half
section.
Move the mouse to locate the section and use the
MMB to locate.

To remove the hidden lines from the section view

either;

Use the Style command (pick view, RMB, then

Style) and use the Hidden Line tab to set hidden
line format to Invisible for the view.

Or, use the View > View Dependent Edit (see previous) command to change the display
of just the hidden lines in the sectioned half of the view.

Creating an Offset Section

Insert > View > Section > Simple/Stepped

Select the parent view.

Starting from one side of the object, select

the first feature that the cutting plane will
pass through.

Go to the Section View Dialogue and select Add

Segment.
Pick the next feature that the cutting plane passes through.

Repeat the process until all cut features have been selected.
Note: You do not have to reselect Add Segment. As long as the
command is highlighted in red, you can continue to pick cut
features.

When all features have been

selected, select the dialogue box
option, Place View.

Move to the desired location and use the LMB to place

the view.
You may (as seen in this example) have
to do some cleanup of the view. The
problem is caused by where the offset
(vertical in this case) portions of the
cutting plane through the object. To
rectify the problem, we will move where
this cuts occur by moving the vertical
segments of the line.

Move the pointer over the cutting plane line and press the RMB
to open the menu. Select the command Edit.

In the dialogue box that opens, select option, Move Segment.

Pick the segment you want to

relocate.
Pick the point you want the segment to pass
through (YOU CANNOT DYNAMICALLY DRAG
IT). Be careful to not place the crosshair target
ball over another entity or you may get a selection
you don’t want.

For example, pick here

Repeat the process for each required line (one

more in our example).

When finished, select Apply in the dialogue box.

Finally, move the mouse pointer over the boundary

of the section view, press RMB to open the menu
and select the command Update. This will apply
the change of moving the cutting plane segments.

Final view…