Reference planes, axes and points — PartCraft help

Reference geometry is the scaffolding you build features on: a plane to sketch on where no face is, an axis to revolve or pattern about, a point to stop an extrude at. It has no material of its own. Planes show in the view as pale squares, axes as dashed lines, points as small crosses; all three join the history and follow what they were made from when you change a size upstream.

They are in the Features group's More menu: Plane, Axis, Point.

Make a plane

Click a flat face, or a base plane in the history, to start from it (optional).
Choose More, then Plane. It starts as an offset plane 20 % of the part's size away from what you picked (or from the top plane).
In the right panel choose the Type and its references:

Type	References	Numbers
Offset from a plane or face	From plane	Distance (mm), negative for the other side
At an angle, through an edge or axis	From plane, Turn about (a world axis, an axis feature, or a picked straight edge)	Angle (°)
Through three points	Point 1, Point 2, Point 3	—
Midplane between two	First plane, Second plane (parallel: half way; meeting: the plane that halves the angle)	—
Tangent to a cylinder	Cylinder (a cylindrical face), Near point (which side)	—
Square to an edge, at a point	Edge, At point (the plane goes through the edge's point nearest it, and through the point too)	—
Through an edge and a point	Straight edge (or an axis), Through point	—
Square to an edge at its middle	Edge (half way along it, square to it there), or with no edge Point 1 and Point 2 (the plane half way between them)	—

Every reference has a Pick button: choose it, then click in the view. A plane slot takes a base plane, a reference plane or a flat face; a point slot takes the end of an edge (click near that end), a point feature, or a spot on a face; an edge slot takes an edge. EscEsc cancels a pick. Flip the normal turns the plane over (which way a sketch on it faces).

Sketch on a plane

Select the plane (in the history or by clicking its square in the view) and choose Sketch, or Sketch on it in its panel. The sketch follows the plane: change the plane's distance and the sketch, and every feature on it, moves too.

Axes and points

Axis: through two points, the axis of a cylinder or cone, where two planes meet, along a straight edge (or the axis of a circular edge), or square to a face through a point.
Point: at coordinates, at a vertex or sketch point, or at the centre of a circular edge, plus the points "between objects":

Point type	References
Middle of an edge (or between two points)	Edge (half way along its length, also for arcs and curves), or with no edge Point 1 and Point 2
Where an edge or axis meets a face or plane	Edge (straight or curved) or an axis, and Meets plane (a plane or flat face) or Or a face (a flat face or a cylinder). A circle crosses a plane twice and a line goes through a cylinder twice: The other crossing takes the second
Where three planes meet	First, Second and Third plane (planes or flat faces)

Each one fails with a plain message when its references do not fit: a line parallel to the plane, a line that misses the cylinder, an edge that does not reach the plane, three planes that do not meet in one point, a point on the line it should fix a plane with.

Use them in other features:

Where	How
Revolve	Axis: pick the axis feature from the list (it must lie in the sketch's plane)
Circular pattern	Axis: the axis feature
Linear pattern	Direction: an axis feature, or a plane (its normal)
Mirror	Mirror plane: a reference plane
Extrude	End: Up to face or plane, Up to vertex (a point feature)
Draft	Neutral plane

When a reference is gone

A plane made from a face that no longer exists fails with a message naming it, such as "The face it sits on is gone from Extrude1." It is never moved to another face. The sketches and features on it are marked "not built" until you pick a new reference; the rest of the part stays as it was.