Copyright Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc. 106 AutoCAD and Its Applications—Advanced Setting an Automatic Plan Display After changing the UCS, a plan view is often needed to give you a better feel for the XYZ directions. While you should try to draw in a pictorial view when possible as you construct a 3D object, some constructions may be much easier in a plan view. AutoCAD can be set to automatically make your view of the drawing plan to the current UCS. This is especially useful if you will be changing the UCS often, but want to work in a plan view. The UCSFOLLOW system variable is used to automatically display a plan view of the current UCS. When it is set to 1, a plan view is automatically created in the current viewport when the UCS is changed. Viewports are discussed in Chapter 5. The default setting of UCSFOLLOW is 0 (off). After setting the variable to 1, a plan view will be automatically generated the next time the UCS is changed. The UCSFOLLOW variable generates the plan view only after the UCS is changed, not immediately after the vari- able is changed. However, if you select a different viewport, the previous viewport is set plan to the UCS if UCSFOLLOW has been set to 1 in that viewport. The UCSFOLLOW variable can be individually set for each viewport. PROFESSIONAL TIP PROFESSIONAL TIP To get the plan view displayed without changing the UCS, use the PLAN command, which is discussed in Chapter 3. UCS Settings and Variables As discussed in the previous section, the UCSFOLLOW system variable allows you to change how an object is displayed in relation to the UCS. There are also system variables that display information about the current UCS and other system variables that control UCS functions. These variables include: • UCSAXISANG. (stored value) The default rotation angle for the X, Y, or Z option of the UCS command. • UCSBASE. The name of the UCS used to defi ne the origin and orientation of the orthographic UCS settings. It can be any named UCS. • UCSDETECT. (on or off) Turns the dynamic UCS function on and off. The Dynamic UCS button on the status bar controls this variable, as does the [Ctrl]+[D] key combination. • UCSNAME. (read only) Displays the name of the current UCS. • UCSORG. (read only) Displays the XYZ origin value of the current UCS. • UCSORTHO. (on or off) If set to 1 (on), the related orthographic UCS setting is automatically restored when an orthographic view is restored. If turned off, the current UCS is retained when an orthographic view is restored. Depending on your modeling preferences, you may wish to set this variable to 0. • UCSSELECTMODE. (on or off) Enables the selection and manipulation of the UCS icon with grips. The default setting is 1 (on). • UCSVIEW. (on or off) If this variable is set to 1 (on), the current UCS is saved with the view when a view is saved. Otherwise, the UCS is not saved with the view. • UCSVP. Controls which UCS is displayed in viewports. The default value is 1, which means that the UCS confi guration in the viewport is independent from all other UCS confi gurations. If the setting is 0, the UCS confi guration in the current viewport is displayed. Each viewport can be set to either 0 or 1. • UCSXDIR. (read only) Displays the XYZ value of the X axis direction of the current UCS. • UCSYDIR. (read only) Displays the XYZ value of the Y axis direction of the current UCS.