Creo Simulate > Reference Links > To Create an Orientation for Surfaces
  
To Create an Orientation for Surfaces
Follow the steps below to complete defining a material orientation for a surface. In creating material orientations for a surface, you may, in effect, be creating the material orientation for a shell, 2D plate, or 2D solid, depending on how you have idealized your model.
1. Enter a name for the material orientation, or use the default name provided.
2. Optionally, enter a description.
3. Specify what the material orientation is to be relative to:
Coordinate System—Use the selector arrow to specify a coordinate system to which the principal material directions are relative.
Creo Simulate displays the Material Direction 1 menu, which lets you select either Projected x axis or Projected Closest Axis. Projected X Axis is the default value.
In the FEM mode, to specify what the material orientation is relative to, you can select Coordinate System and Projected x axis only. The other options are unavailable.
First Parametric Direction—Specifies that the orientation is relative to the first parametric direction.
Second Parametric Direction—Specifies that the orientation is relative to the second parametric direction.
Projected Vector—Select either Vector Components or Two Points. If you select Vector Components, you need to specify the WCS components of the projected vector. If you select Two Points, you need to select two points on the model that determine the vector.
4. If you want to apply an additional rotation about one or more material directions, select Rotate about.... Additional rotations are not available in the FEM mode.
5. If you want to see what your model looks like with this material orientation even though it is not yet assigned, perform the following steps:
Click Preview.
Creo Simulate prompts you to select an entity of the type you selected above.
Select one or more entities. The software highlights the selected entity.
 
* The new orientation is not assigned to your model until you explicitly assign it to a geometric entity.
6. Click OK. The new material orientation appears on the Material Orientations list.