User coordinate system UCS

3. Enter or change a pen number.
For example, to get line weight of 2.5 mm, enter 25. The preview shows the changed line
thickness.
4. Click Close.
5. In a color drawing, click Tools --> Options and select Use Printer Linewidths, otherwise
you cannot see the changes on the screen.
See also Changing drawing color on page 262
Colors in drawings on page 261
Pen numbers in Color Table on page 265
XS_BASE_LINE_WIDTH
4.19 User coordinate system (UCS)
The UCS is a local user coordinate system you can use in a drawing view. It is easier to
position drawing objects in view, when you place objects relative to a user-defined point of
origin, or base point in the drawing view.
Tekla Structures shows the UCS symbol in the current drawing view, when you create, copy,
move, or modify graphical objects.
You can define a different point of origin for the UCS for each drawing view, and change the
UCS point of origin as often as you like.
The following example shows several views, each with their own UCS.
Editing drawings
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User coordinate system (UCS)
To position an object using the global coordinate system, you need to calculate the
coordinates of the object from the point of origin of the drawing.
See also Adding manual dimensions using User Coordinate System on page 148
Setting a new UCS on page 267
Toggling between two user coordinate systems on page 268
Resetting UCS on page 268
Keyboard shortcuts for UCS on page 268
Setting a new UCS
You can set a new UCS using one point or two points.
To set a new UCS:
1. Open a drawing.
2. Click Tools --> User Coordinate System (UCS) and select one of the following
commands:
•
Select Set Origin to set the new UCS using one point.
•
Select Set by Two Points to set the new UCS using two points.
Tekla Structures displays the UCS symbol with a crosshair marking the center point.
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267
User coordinate system (UCS)
3. Click the view where you want to place the origin.
4. If you are using two points, pick a point to define the direction of the x axis.
See also User coordinate system (UCS) on page 266
Adding manual dimensions using User Coordinate System on page 148
Toggling between two user coordinate systems
You can toggle between two user coordinate systems that have the same point of origin: the
UCS following the axes of the drawing view and the oriented UCS you have created.
•
To toggle between the coordinate systems, select Tools --> User Coordinate System
(UCS) --> Toggle Orientation (Ctrl + T).
See also User coordinate system (UCS) on page 266
Resetting UCS
You can reset the UCS to its original position in the current view or in all views.
Do one of the following:
To
Do this
Reset the UCS in the current view
Click Tools --> User Coordinate System (UCS) --> Reset
Current (Ctrl + 1).
Reset the UCS in all drawing views
Click Tools --> User Coordinate System (UCS) --> Reset
All (Ctrl + 0).
See also User coordinate system (UCS) on page 266
Keyboard shortcuts for UCS
Command
Keyboard shortcut
Set UCS origin
U
Set UCS by two points
Shift+U
Toggle orientation
Ctrl+T
Reset current
Ctrl+1
Reset all
Ctrl+0
See also User coordinate system (UCS) on page 266
Editing drawings
268
User coordinate system (UCS)