Expert: J. B. Borge - 2/6/2006

Question
I am drawing in the xy plane, and I want to draw in the xz or yz plane.  How do I change the crosshair so it is shifted to the xz or yz plane instead of the defaulted xy plane?  Thanks.

I am using Autocad 2002.

Answer
Jeffrey,

First, You need to have a good understanding of how the UCS works. This is what defines your working space. Flipping the crosshairs is a common misconception. What we're about to do is manipulate the current view so that you always work on the XY (when in reality, its actually XZ plane). Confused yet! Here's the process:

1. Turn on your UCS icon.
2. Ensure you're in the XY world coordinates. To do so, type following commands:
UCS
WORLD
PLAN
WORLD
3. To work on XZ plane:
UCS
x
90
(notice ucs icon)
PLAN
CURRENT

Notice your UCS icon says XY, but in reality, you're viewing the XZ plane. To revert back to original world coordinates, follow steps 2. Hope this helps, let me know!

Regards,
-JB