Zones are regions within models that make large assemblies more manageable. You can use zones to help organize your assembly, as follows:

Use the Sections tab in the View Manager dialog box to create zones. Each zone is named and stored with the top-level assembly or part.

You can create an assembly zone based on offset distances from a coordinate system, datum plane references, closed assembly feature surfaces, 2-D elements (such as curves) or by specifying a distance from an entity. Zone references can come from any level of the assembly. You can define the coordinate systems, datum planes or surfaces while you create a zone, or you can use preexisting coordinate systems, datum planes, or surfaces.

You can use coordinate systems, flat datum planes, or extruded or revolved surfaces to define what is inside the zone or outside the zone. For example, if you define a zone to include everything on one side of a datum plane, that side is a half-space of the datum plane. You can combine any number of half-spaces. However, if you use more than 6 half-spaces, view clipping is not available.

You can manage a collection of components or assembly areas by using closed surfaces to define the assembly zone boundaries. Sketch a closed section and extrude it to get a surface with capped ends. This closed section, which defines the zone’s boundaries, specifies which components are included in the zone. Components are included in zones as follows:

Define zones as follows: