Opening the Sketcher

The Cimatron Sketcher is the graphic environment used to create 2D parametric geometry. This geometry is sketched on a 2D plane which can either be defined before or after opening the Sketcher. This 2D plane is called the Sketcher Plane and after it has been defined, the Sketcher Toolbar is displayed and you can start sketching on the selected plane.

Open the Sketcher in one of the following ways:

Click the Sketcher button from the toolbar.

Right-click in the graphics area and select Sketcher from the popup menu.

Select Curves > Sketcher from the menu bar.

Select Edit Reference Feature from a part popup menu.

When the Sketcher is opened the Sketcher Feature Guide is displayed.

General Interaction

The Sketcher Feature Guide is shown here:

Step 1 : Pick entities to define the sketcher plane (this step is skipped if a plane is selected before opening the Sketcher).

Step 2 : After the sketcher plane has been defined, the Sketcher Toolbar is displayed, enabling you to start sketching on the plane.

Note: The default of the Auto/Manual Preview is set in the Sketcher Preferences.

Required Step 1

Pick entities to define sketcher plane; (this step is skipped if a plane is selected before opening the Sketcher).

Geometry is sketched on this 2D plane which can either be defined before or after entering the Sketcher (see Sketcher Plane).

After an entity is selected, the 2D plane is displayed and the next step in the Feature Guide is invoked.

Required Step 2

After the 2D Sketcher Plane has been defined, the Sketcher Toolbar is displayed (to the right of the graphics display area) and you can start sketching on the selected plane.

Notes:

You can go back to the first stage and define a different plane. If you change the plane of the sketch and the new plane is parallel to the old one, the system maintains all the reference entities and their connections to the original entities (if they exist) and all the dimensions. Dimensions linked to the origin point will be linked to the new origin point, that is a projection of the old origin point, and referenced to its origin.
See Sketcher Plane for additional information on defining sketch planes.

When finished, click OK or Apply in the Feature Guide or on the Popup Submenu to complete the function. The Sketcher feature will appear in the Feature Tree:

Important: After you complete your sketch, you must exit from the Sketcher before continuing to other application commands.