World coordinate system - rotating it

This has bugged me for ages: as an architect, I work with a WCS that has the
y-axis pointing straight up and square on the screen in model space
(basically, the AutoCAD default). Civil engineering consultants I deal
with, however, often work with a WCS that often has the y-axis skewed to the
regular default up-down/left-right WCS orientation in AutoCAD (also in model
space). In reading ancient posts to the Autodesk boards, I figured out how
to reset the WCS so that the "world" is back to the AutoCAD default
configuration (by changing the UCSFOLLOW variable to 1, and THEN invoking
the PLAN command).

Now I know how to create new UCSs rotated from the WCS, but HOW IN BLAZES
does one rotate the actual WCS to begin with? Another guy in our office
found articles that state that rotating the WCS should not be possible, but
as I'm typing this I've got an AutoCAD file from one of our civil engineers
open in the background, with the bloody WCS skewed as all kingdom come to
the screen.

Any enlightenment would be greatly appreciated.

 

You don't rotate the WCS, you rotate your view. There are several tools that will accomplish that; DVIEW->TWIST being the most common. Rotating your UCS, the executing PLAN <enter><enter> will accomplish the same.

 

I think you are mistaken. The World Coordinat System is not rotated. Your
just not looking at it from the same direction. In the drawing where the
WCS appears off, type plan and hit enter 2x and voila, now you're looking at
it from the top down with the Y axis going up and the X axis goint to the
right.

Casey

 

So that's how it works...thanks.

that will accomplish that; DVIEW->TWIST being the most common. Rotating
your UCS, the executing PLAN <enter><enter> will accomplish the same.

 

Unless of course UCSFOLLOW is set to 1, then the 'PLAN <enter><enter>'
step is not required...

 

Very true, but we never set ucsfollow to 1. Working in 3D makes it unhelpful.

 

Just as a little background. Us civil types use a rotated (twisted) view
specifically because it can change the orientation of the model on the
screen and in a plot without affecting the coordinate system.

Allen

 

I had always assumed that civil drawings had their UCS set so that the positive Y direction aligns with north, regardless of the orientation of the building... is that not correct?

 

Yes, that is normally the case (at least it is for us), though there are tools available within most civil software that will allow other North orientations. We still prefer North pointing in the positive Y direction, nearly always.

But if the particular design would fit better with North to the left (or some other odd angle), that's where DVIEW twist comes in real handy, or set a UCS to match the desired layout and use PLAN.