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How can I translate a sketch?

ts_2ts_2 Member Posts: 22
I just can't find a simple way to move a sketch I already made, and align it, or move it into position, and then extrude it.  I feel like it should be stupid simple to do, but its not there, or its not obvious.  help. Constraints feel like they dont help at all.  I've already made my rectangle sketch and have to Center it above something.  Also a tutorial on how to do this might help.  I can't find basic theories on moving and interacting with sketches.  Moving them around, aligning things etc..

Answers

  • brucebartlettbrucebartlett Member, OS Professional, Mentor, User Group Leader Posts: 2,137 PRO
    edited April 2015
    Sounds like you've got it locked up with too many constraints.
    You can use the show constraints tick box too see all constraints on the sketcher dialogue.
    You then have to find the constraint or dimension locking your segment of sketch down and delete so it's free to move then add your new constraint as required. 

    Construction Lines can help too. Magic thing in Onshape is you don't have switch to a construct lines to get your extrudes to work just leave it as a normal line. 

    No way to copy elements of sketches in the sketcher in Onshape yet.  My ticket for this is 1646. add yours with the ? (feedback) top right.




    Engineer ı Product Designer ı Onshape Consulting Partner
    Twitter: @onshapetricks  & @babart1977   
  • ts_2ts_2 Member Posts: 22
    edited April 2015
    Here is the answer to my own question as just playing around I figured it out.   If you want to move a sketch around.  Click on the Edge or line or center point.  (for a circle, I had to use the center point once), Hold mouse down,  then drag.   Once you drag it around freely, you can snap it to centerlines, center point etc..  Once you do, its Kinda stuck there.    If you want to move it again.  Hover over the Part or edge you used to move it.  Youll see a Constraint icon nearby pop up.  Click the constraint icon once, then hit Delete.   Now you can move your sketch again.
  • ts_2ts_2 Member Posts: 22
    edited April 2015
    Ughh. ok.. This how to translate a sketch on a 2d workplane youve chosen.  I still dont know how to get it to Go in an up and down direction along a Z axis for example.  Not that you need to (thats what translating a solid shape is for)  but I still like to know I have that control.  I tend to like my sketches in places that intuitively make sense to me where they go in the end of the design.
  • david_sohlstromdavid_sohlstrom Member, Mentor Posts: 159 ✭✭✭
    I think that because your sketch is drawn on a plane it is locked to that plane. If you want a sketch say 1" or 25mm up or z+ you would need to create a new plane to draw on.
    I think you can use a face of a part as a plane to draw the next part on so it is in the correct relationship to the first part. 

    Dave
    David Sohlstrom

    Ariel, WA
  • andrew_troupandrew_troup Member, Mentor Posts: 1,584 ✭✭✭✭✭
    To move sketch geometry in "z" you can also 

    1) edit the location of the plane you are sketching on (provided it is not a construction plane, ie Front etc)

    2) edit the sketch and choose a different sketch plane, which will relocate the existing sketch to that plane (Note that this can be used to reposition in z only, but can also turn the sketch to a new aspect if the planes are not parallel)
  • christopher_owenschristopher_owens Member Posts: 235 ✭✭
    edited June 2015

    Hello! Here is what I did after I sketched two splines to form an open S-shape (highlighted). I liked the shape but found that it didn't intersect the part correctly and needed to be rotated and moved a bit. (There are no dimensions on the splines, just 'free handed'). So what I did was create an 'Extrude - New' which created a new part with the S-shape. Now I can transform that part to where I want the S-shape! I wanted to cut the S-shape into the existing part, so I could do a 'Boolean-Subtract' or I could create a new sketch and do a 'Use (Project/Convert)' and pick the face of the transformed part! See the sketch entities "hanging in space". This recreates the S-shape on the new sketch plane! (FYI, the green part is a sweep and not a flat surface)
  • ramon_hammramon_hamm Member Posts: 9
    I'm a newbie but I guess you could extrude something an inch, then draw on that new z elevation. I'm so used to Autocad where I type M for move, pull in the z direction (type in distance) or read coordinates, I hope Onshape moves in this direction of a true 3D space, rather than "infinite levels of 2D".
  • james_dalessandro195james_dalessandro195 Member, Onshape Employees Posts: 7
    Just because no one has mentioned it yet, there is a tool called "Sketch Transform" and it lives in the context menu when you're in a sketch, or in the drop down for linear and circular sketch pattern. While in a sketch, you can highlight your entities, then right click and choose Sketch Transform to move your sketch entities in XY space, and rotate them as well. For moving a sketch in Z space, you can edit the plane it was drawn on.
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