System Control Overview | Statement List

WCS Control

This section covers the CSYS statements used to create coordinate systems which define the work coordinate system. Coordinate systems can be used for many other functions such as Transformation and Display Control.

The GRIP statements define coordinate systems in the same manner as NX except that the origin point of the coordinate system is independent of the geometry used to define the work plane. For example, you can define a coordinate system using three points, and add the optional ORIGIN parameter to define the origin using a fourth point.

The WCS is controlled using the &WCS GPA. You control the WCS in the same manner as NX, by defining a CSYS to be assigned to the WCS.

For example:

CSYS1=CSYS/P1,P2,P3
&WCS=CSYS1

The &WCS GPA is a read and write symbol, meaning that it can be set to a value by writing data to it. As illustrated above, you can do this by "saying" the WCS is equal to CSYS1. You can define a new coordinate system by reading the values of the WCS. In this manner, you can "rotate" the WCS as shown below:

CSYS(1)=&WCS
MX1=MATRIX/YZROT,90
CSYS(2)=TRANSF/MX1,CSYS(1)
&WCS=CSYS(2)

The first statement creates a coordinate system (CSYS(1)) using the values of the current WCS. The second statement defines a rotation matrix from the Y axis to the Z axis about the X axis. The third statement transforms CSYS(1) using the matrix creating CSYS(2). The fourth statement makes the new, rotated coordinate system equal to the new WCS.

The CSYS statements below perform many of the same functions as the NX Coordinate System Subfunction. The statements are grouped to mimic NX to help you find the specific statement you want as quickly as possible.