How to Use Work Planes in BricsCAD

Quick answer: Work Plane is an experimental feature, not yet guaranteed stable and possibly subject to removal, enabled via MANAGEEXPERIMENTALFEATURES. Experimental mode is off by default, and toggling it requires restarting BricsCAD. This first version lets you create axis-aligned, face-based, or offset work planes, and link sketches to them.

About Work Planes

WORKPLANECREATE can create XY, YZ, and XZ work planes, planes coinciding with a face, or planes offset from a face or another work plane. Sketches (2D entities) link or unlink to a work plane via WORKPLANELINK and WORKPLANEUNLINK, and WORKPLANESHOW/WORKPLANEHIDE control their visibility in Model Space. All work planes appear in the Mechanical Browser panel, and with CREATESKETCHFEATURE on, linked solids and work planes update together whenever a parameter changes.

Creating a Work Plane

1. Launch WORKPLANECREATE.
2. Choose an option: All, XY, YZ, XZ, Face, or Offset.
3. The work plane(s) appear in Model Space and get listed in the Mechanical Browser panel.

Activating and Deactivating a Work Plane

To activate one, so you can draw a sketch on it, either run WORKPLANEACTIVATE, or right-click it in the Mechanical Browser and choose Create sketch. You need to deactivate whichever work plane is currently active before activating a different one.

To deactivate one, either run WORKPLANEACTIVATE and choose Deactivate, or right-click the activated work plane in the Mechanical Browser and choose Exit sketch.

Controlling Work Plane Visibility

To show one, run WORKPLANESHOW, or right-click it in the Mechanical Browser and choose Show.

To hide one, run WORKPLANEHIDE, or right-click it in the Mechanical Browser and choose Hide.

Linking and Unlinking Sketches

Run WORKPLANELINK or WORKPLANEUNLINK to link or unlink sketches and solids with a work plane.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I have more than one Work Plane active at the same time? No, you need to deactivate the currently active one before activating a different one.

Do I need to restart BricsCAD to use Work Planes? Only if Experimental mode isn’t already on. Enabling or disabling it always requires a restart.

How does CREATESKETCHFEATURE affect Work Planes specifically? With it on, solids linked to a work plane update together with the work plane itself whenever a parameter changes.

Where can I see all the Work Planes in my drawing at once? The Mechanical Browser panel lists all of them, and its context menu is also where you can create sketches, show or hide, and activate or deactivate each one.