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Before you try unwrapping points, or a line to form an envelope, you should understand the relationship between rotary and Cartesian axes. This is simply that each Cartesian axis (X, Y, Z) has an associated rotary axis (A, B, C):
Once you have unwrapped about a given axis, any angular co-ordinate input must use the associated rotary axis.
For example, if you unwrap around the X axis, you would now use X co-ordinates to position geometry along the cylinder and A co-ordinates (in degrees) to position geometry around the cylinder. You can use Y instead of A when you need to enter a distance around the circumference rather than an angle.
Use the Unwrap (Rotary menu)
command to create a rectangular envelope representing
a developed cylinder. Here are two examples
of creating an unwrapped cylinder envelope:
Before you start, you should have already created a line that is parallel to the axis you wish to unwrap about, and is at a height from the axis that corresponds to the radius of the cylinder.
These parameters help you to define the unwrapped envelope:
Unwrap Views – Select the views in which the unwrapped envelope is to be displayed. We recommend that you do not display the unwrapped envelope in any of the standard views, as you will later wish to display the wrapped geometry in those ports. You may find it convenient to set up some additional views for displaying unwrapped geometry, before using this command. See Viewing the Part and related topics for details.
View on Unwrap (Milling Environment only) – Select the name of the view that looks directly down onto the unwrapped envelope. The Turning environment does not use this parameter as it already has a defined view called Unwrap.
The default view name is Unwrap but can be changed or set to <None>.
Axis – Specify which axis the unwrapping will be performed around (with respect to the current CPL). This can be the X , Y or Z axis, or an Entity. Lines and Points are the only entity types that can be unwrapped:
When you want to select a line, you can set the axis to X, Y, Z (as long as the line is parallel to the axis) or Entity, in which case the line position determines the axis of unwrap and the radius. See Unwrapping Lines.
When you want to select a point(s), you must select either X, Y or Z from the list, as a single point does not provide enough information to specify an axis. See Unwrapping Points.
Colour – Select the colour for the unwrapped envelope. The default is the parent entity's colour.
Style – Select the style or line font for the unwrapped envelope. The default is the parent entity's style.
Ensure that your Drawing is configured to have a port showing the Unwrap view, as you need to use this port to create the geometry.
The envelope is now created in the selected views and the CPL/Level indicator is updated. The default CPL name is Axis Wrap. The level is the same value as the height of the line above the CPL (radius).
If you digitised more than one line, the level will be the same as the last line you selected.
See Also
Justifying the Unwrapped Envelope
Showing the Unwrapped Envelope Ruler