Rotate a Crop Region

When a project has 2 axis lines that are not at 90 degrees to one another, it can cause alignment challenges. One of the axis lines is selected as the primary axis, leaving the minor axis at a skewed angle. Drawing aids can help to make elements parallel and perpendicular to the minor axis, but other work may be more difficult. For example, when you place a furniture component, the component aligns and rotates to the primary axis. To align it to the minor axis, you must first move the cursor near an element to align to, such as a wall, and press the space bar to “acquire” the axis of the object.

To work with the minor axis more easily, rotate the crop region of the view.  First, if the crop region is not visible, click Show Crop Region in the View Control Bar.  Then select the crop region and use the Rotate tool.

To simplify the rotation, click and drag the center point of the rotation to a snap point on an object placed at the desired angle for the rotation. To start the rotation, first establish the plane to which you want to rotate the view. In this example, the minor axis is going to be horizontal in the view, so a horizontal line is established as the beginning of the rotation. Click a 3^rd point to complete the rotation. This 3^rd point is along the minor axis or an element aligned with the minor axis. As a result, the crop region is rotated to match the model geometry. Then the crop region is automatically set to run parallel to the edges of the application window. After rotation, the extents of the crop region may need to be adjusted using the shape handles.

Now you can place elements (such as furniture) in the model without the need to first acquire the angle of contextual elements. By rotating the crop regions of plan views, you simplify the design process. Views with a rotated crop region can also be placed onto sheets in the project.