Working Axis

This document explains how to align the reference axis of orthogonal snapping and angle guides with a building that is not aligned to the world axes.

What is the Working Axis?

The working axis is a single yaw angle stored with the project.

When a building captured as a point cloud is not aligned to the world X/Z axes, angle guides are drawn against the world axes, which makes it hard to draw edges parallel to the building. Setting the working axis to the building's orientation switches the reference axis of the angle guide to the building's axis.

Orthogonal snapping and the grid repeat every 90 degrees, so the stored value is normalized to the range from 0 up to (but not including) 90 degrees.

Setting It from a Shape

The simplest approach is to draw one rectangle parallel to the building and adopt its orientation.

1. In Rectangle Drawing Mode (M), draw a rectangle parallel to the building's wall.
2. Select that GeometryItem in Navigation Mode (A).
3. and choose Set Working Axis from Shape from the context menu, or press Alt+A.
4. The angle of the shape's minimum bounding rectangle becomes the working axis.

• Set Working Axis from Shape is enabled only when exactly one polygon with four vertices is selected.
• Alt+A resets the working axis to 0 degrees when an axis cannot be derived from the selection. With nothing selected, it works as the reset shortcut.

Adjusting It Directly

In the perspective and top orthographic screens you can drag the angle directly.

1. Hold Ctrl or ⌘+Alt. A rotatable grid and the current angle readout appear.
2. While holding it, + left or right. Dragging left increases the angle, dragging right decreases it.
3. Hold Shift as well for fine adjustment.
4. Releasing Ctrl or ⌘+Alt ends the adjustment.

info

The adjust mode engages only when Ctrl or ⌘+Alt is pressed with no mouse button held. Pressing the modifier in the middle of a camera manipulation will not switch into it.

Checking and Resetting the Value

Once a working axis is set, an orange Axis indicator appears on the left side of the status bar and shows the current angle.

• the X button on the indicator to reset the working axis.
• At 0 degrees (the reset state) the indicator is hidden.
• When the axis changes by any means other than dragging, the grid flashes briefly to signal the change.

Effect on Angle Guides

The Shift angle guide is drawn against the previous edge when there is one. For the first edge, where no such reference segment exists, the working axis becomes the reference axis.

• When the working axis is 0 degrees, the world X-axis is the reference, exactly as before.
• This lets you draw parallel to the building from the very first edge of a shape or graph.

tip

The working axis is stored with the project, so it persists across later sessions once set.