The work area (user interface) > Viewports > Clipping planes > Working with clipping features
  
Working with clipping features
Explore the following sections about clipping features and clipping planes:
Basics
Clipping features possess the following characteristics:
They may contain up to six clipping planes.
You can activate and deactivate clipping features by double-clicking them in the Structure Browser.
You may or may not assign them an owner. You must assign an owner if you wish to store the clipping feature with the model. The owner must not be read-only. Although a clipping feature can correspond to a given owner, it acts globally and sections all parts, unless you assign clipping targets or set clip flags.
Each viewport can have one active clipping feature.
You can define as many clipping features as you wish.
Clipping planes possess the following characteristics:
Like workplanes, they can be oriented in any position.
They are positioned relative to the model, not relative to the camera.
Multiple clipping planes can be active at the same time. This means that they can intersect.
They can be enabled or disabled on a per-viewport basis and on a per-part basis.
They can be dragged interactively for fast and easy positioning.
You can use Show settings to hide clipping planes in the viewport.
You can customize the appearance of clipping planes in the Clipping settings menu.
Modify, copy, and delete clipping features
The Define Clipping Planes command is used for both creating and modifying clipping features.
To modify a clipping feature,
1. Click View and then, in the Clipping group, click the arrow next to New.
2. Click General, On Face, or On Axis. The Define Clipping Planes dialog box opens.
3. Click Clip Feature and select a clipping feature from the Structure Browser.
4. Click and to navigate to the clipping plane to modify.
5. Modify the clipping plane:
Select a position method and modify the clipping plane.
Select a different option under Clipping combinations.
Click Flip Normal to reverse the normal direction of the current clipping plane.
Click Flip All Clipping Planes to reverse the normal direction of every clipping plane in the clipping feature.
6. Click to complete the operation.
You can copy an existing clipping feature.
To copy or move a clipping feature,
1. Click View and then, in the Clipping group, click More.
2. Click Copy. The Copy Clipping Feature dialog box opens.
3. Click Source and select a clipping feature to copy.
4. (Optional) Check Remove source to move the feature.
5. Name the clipping feature.
6. (Optional) Check the Owner box and select the clipping feature's owner. Select whether the clipping feature should be attached to the owner by instance or contents data.
7. Click to complete the operation.
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You can rename clipping features in the Structure Browser.
You can delete a clipping feature.
To delete a clipping feature,
1. Click View and then, in the Clipping group, click Delete.
2. Select a clipping feature in the Structure Browser.
3. Click to complete the operation.
Set clipping targets
You can select which parts clipping planes cut using the Target command. Assigned clipping targets affect every clipping feature of your model.
In picture A below, part 4 has been included in the clipping list. Parts 1, 2, and 3 are excluded from clipping. Picture B shows all parts included in the clipping list. You can also achieve this by switching on All Parts in the Clipping Targets command.
To select clipping targets,
1. Click View and then, in the Clipping group, click More.
2. Click Targets. The Clipping Targets dialog box opens.
3. Define clipping targets:
Select All Parts to exclude nothing from clipping planes.
Select Sel Parts and Include or Exclude parts in the viewport or Structure Browser.
4. Click to complete the operation.
Intersections, clip lines, and Z-sections
Toggle the clipping combinations between and to modify the portion of the model cut by intersecting clipping planes:
Clip lines display at the intersection of model faces and defined clipping planes.
Clip lines' appearance can be adjusted via the Clipping pane in Viewport Settings. Dynamic viewing of clip lines can be fine tuned in the Graphics Settings dialog box. Clip lines can be turned off via the Show pane of the Viewport Settings dialog box.
You can also create Z-sections clipping features using the clipping combination. To get an idea of how Z-section clippings work, look at the images below. You can see each clipping combination applied to the same part:
Export clipping features to Creo Paramatric
You can export clipping features from Creo Elements/Direct Modeling to Creo Parametric or Creo Direct.
You can export only those clipping features that are owned by parts or assemblies.
You can export the following types of clipping features (clipping combinations) to a cross section in Creo Parametric:
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When you open the exported clipping features in Creo Parametric,
A cross section of type ‘zone’ is created. For example, if you export an assembly which owns a clipping feature named Clipping1, a cross section named Clipping1.Zone_Sec is created in Creo Parametric.
A combined state with a view orientation and a cross section is also created in Creo Parametric. To apply the cross section to the exported assembly, change the orientation of the cross section in Creo Parametric.
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You can export Z-section clipping features to Creo Parametric, but the exported clipping features are differently displayed in Creo Parametric as shown in the following images:
Creo Elements/Direct Modeling Z-section and Creo Parametric Z-section
The section on Plane 1 is not horizontal and is overridden by the section on Plane 4 in Creo Parametric.
You cannot include or exclude components for a cross section of type ‘zone’ in Creo Parametric. For example, as shown in the following images, if you exclude a part p1 from Clipping1 in Creo Elements/Direct Modeling, and export Clipping1 to Creo Parametric, the part p1 is included in the Clipping1.Zone_Sec cross section in Creo Parametric.