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more introduction to Workplanes in the docs (#386)
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marcus7070 authored Jun 23, 2020
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Expand Up @@ -39,16 +39,23 @@ See :ref:`apireference` to learn more.
Workplanes
---------------------------

Workplanes represent a plane in space, from which other features can be located. They have a center point and a local
coordinate system.
Most CAD programs use the concept of Workplanes. If you have experience with other CAD programs you will probably
feel comfortable with CadQuery's Workplanes, but if you don't have experience then they are an essential concept to
understand.

The most common way to create a workplane is to locate one on the face of a solid. You can also create new workplanes
in space, or relative to other planes using offsets or rotations.
Workplanes represent a plane in space, from which other features can be located. They have a center point and a local
coordinate system. Most methods that create an object do so relative to the current workplane.

Usually the first workplane created is the "XY" plane, also known as the "front" plane. Once a solid is defined the most
common way to create a workplane is to select a face on the solid that you intend to modify and create a new workplane
relative to it. You can also create new workplanes in anywhere in world coordinate system, or relative to other planes
using offsets or rotations.

The most powerful feature of workplanes is that they allow you to work in 2D space in the coordinate system of the
workplane, and then build 3D features based on local coordinates. This makes scripts much easier to create and maintain.
workplane, and then CadQuery will transform these points from the workplane coordinate system to the world coordinate
system so your 3D features are located where you intended. This makes scripts much easier to create and maintain.

See :py:class:`cadquery.Workplane` to learn more
See :py:class:`cadquery.Workplane` to learn more.


2D Construction
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