Sketching

The Sketching toolset allows you to draw 2D profiles, which can be extruded or revolved to create 3D solids and surfaces, or to add/subtract volume to/from existing entities. The sketching tools are available on the Sketch tab of the Mechanical workspace ribbon:

Figure 1. Mechanical workspace ribbon
Sketches are created in the XY plane of the current User Coordinate System (UCS). Since the dynamic UCS is enabled by default, you can create 2D entities on the 3D solid face under the cursor. Use the Align UCS tool to position the UCS according to your needs.

The drawing tools include familiar 2D primitives, such as a rectangle/polygon, a circle/arc/ellipse, a polyline, and a spline.

Use the Move, Copy, 2D Rotate, 2D Mirror and Array tools to manipulate the sketches.

Use commands OFFSET, STRETCH, TRIM, EXTEND, FILLET/CHAMFER, and BREAK to edit the sketches.

Use 2D constraints to make the sketches parametric.

Note: The value of the DELOBJ (Delete Entity) system variable controls whether sketching entities are deleted when used by DMEXTRUDE or DMREVOLVE to create 3D solids or surfaces.