topic Re: Creo Parametric 5.0 5.0.3.0 release (New version upload has coordinate system oriented Z AXIS u in 3D Part & Assembly Design

Is it possible to redefine default coordinate system and change orientation in Creo Parametric

dg-2 — Wed, 12 Dec 2018 15:09:11 GMT

Is it possible to redefine default coordinate system
Inability to redefine default coordinate system and change orientation

Re: Is it possible to redefine default coordinate system and change orientation in Creo Parametric

sully7 — Thu, 15 Feb 2018 08:06:17 GMT

There are two types of coordinate system features in Creo - the normal "Coordinate System", and the "Default Coordinate System". Creo reserves this internal "Default Coordinate System" - that always set the same orientation.

Basically, Creo always needs something to use as a reference. So, the first feature in your tree can either be:

a "default" csys
three datum planes

If the first feature in your model (or your "start part") is a coordinate system - it will actually create a "Default Coordinate System", because there is nothing else in the part to use as a reference.

If you want your start part to use a coordinate system with a different orientation, you can define your datum planes first, then create a regular coordinate system to orient it differently.

aka - if you create your "coordinate system" (and then three datum planes), you will get this:

If you create your datum planes first, and THEN your coordinate system, you can create something like this as you desire.

Note how the blue-green-red are matched to different axes than in the first example, and I've simply renamed the datum planes.

However, a VERY important thing to note: even if you create your "first" coordinate system as I showed in the second example.... if you create a "Default Coordinate System" now, it will ALWAYS create it with the same orientation as in example 1, and you will not be able to edit it's definition.

If you ever want to "change" the orientation of the part... one thing you can do is to create a NEW coordinate system rotated from the "Default". Then you can use "Replace Reference" to change all of your features to use the new coordinate system/orientation instead of the old default one (then maybe hide or delete the default... of course, depending on your company standards, etc).

Hope this helps!

James Sullivan

Re: Is it possible to redefine default coordinate system and change orientation in Creo Parametric

dg-2 — Thu, 01 Mar 2018 04:35:08 GMT

thank you.

i have to match Assembly default position for my vehicle coredinate system which is i have.

its xyz orentation is different from the default.

Re: Is it possible to redefine default coordinate system and change orientation in Creo Parametric

dschenken — Thu, 01 Mar 2018 06:53:11 GMT

See http://support.ptc.com/help/creo/creo_pma/usascii/#page/fundamentals%2Ffundamentals%2Ffund_four_sub%2Fto_orientate_by_preference.html%23

Note steps 6 and 7.

Re: Is it possible to redefine default coordinate system and change orientation in Creo Parametric

dg-2 — Thu, 01 Mar 2018 08:49:47 GMT

Re: Is it possible to redefine default coordinate system and change orientation in Creo Parametric

Bogdan — Tue, 11 Sep 2018 19:07:01 GMT

This will change/replace the views not how the model is built it up from the main/default coordinate system ... this will not assemble the model in the new default orientation ... will keep the same orientation related to the mail/default coordinate system ...

Creo Parametric 5.0 5.0.3.0 release (New version upload has coordinate system oriented Z AXIS up

lglamit — Tue, 15 Jan 2019 19:57:42 GMT

Creo Parametric 5.0 5.0.3.0 release (New version upload has coordinate system oriented with Z AXIS up).

Has anyone else encountered this?

Since we started teaching and writing books on PTC products (1994), the Z axis always projected out from the FRONT datum plane.

Now it goes up from the TOP datum plane.

Re: Creo Parametric 5.0 5.0.3.0 release (New version upload has coordinate system oriented Z AXIS u

BenLoosli — Tue, 15 Jan 2019 21:34:20 GMT

PTC has finally got it right!

We have always changed our start parts so the +Z is up from the X-Y (top) plane.

Re: Creo Parametric 5.0 5.0.3.0 release (New version upload has coordinate system oriented Z AXIS u

TomU — Tue, 15 Jan 2019 22:52:20 GMT

The major problem with that picture is that the positive side of the front plane is pointing opposite the positive direction of the Y axis. Based on the coordinate system orientation the gray (negative side) of the front plane should be visible, not the brown (positive) side.

Re: Creo Parametric 5.0 5.0.3.0 release (New version upload has coordinate system oriented Z AXIS u

TomU — Thu, 17 Jan 2019 15:25:37 GMT

@lglamit,

I just installed Creo Parametric 5.0.3.0 and I cannot reproduce this. Here's what I'm seeing:

Re: Is it possible to redefine default coordinate system and change orientation in Creo Parametric

Kevin — Thu, 17 Jan 2019 15:46:53 GMT

Unless it has changed you should be able to flip the direction of the the positive side of the planes and reorient the spin center to the new coordinate systems orientation.

Re: Creo Parametric 5.0 5.0.3.0 release (New version upload has coordinate system oriented Z AXIS u

sully7 — Thu, 17 Jan 2019 15:56:53 GMT

This is based entirely on the start-part template that you use. Technically speaking, you could rename all of the datum planes to X, Y, and Z, or change any of the names from TOP, RIGHT and LEFT to whatever you want.

So PTC may have updated the "out-of-the-box" start part to fix the naming convention (I haven't double checked it).. but there are a lot of template start parts you can pick from scattered across the installation (for example, there are some in "Common Files\templates" and others in "Common Files\creo_standards"). As for Z pointing "up" (on your screen), this may actually have to do with the "Default" rotation/view/orientation as well.

Personally, I typically like to create my own start parts anyway by first creating an "EMPTY" part (File->New->Part - uncheck "Use default template", select "Empty) and then creating an empty model with whatever datums I'd like. In this case, as I mentioned earlier, CS0 is considered a "default" csys (aka, no possible way to redefine it), white DTM1, DTM2, and DTM3 represent your X, Y, and Z planes respectively. From there, you'd also need to create your default views (FRONT, RIGHT, LEFT, BOTTOM, etc), so it can be sort of painful the first time around... but once you have it put together, it's a beautiful thing - (we even have some code that helps us build them automatically from scratch )

Taking it one step further, I personally like to group those features, and make them "read only" so they don't contribute to the model regeneration, and so that they are out of the way from any new users who may want to try to modify them.... but that's a little outside of the scope of what we're talking about in this thread

Thanks,

James Sullivan

Re: Is it possible to redefine default coordinate system and change orientation in Creo Parametric

pollyhillsus — Thu, 10 Oct 2019 13:20:14 GMT

So this is what you need to do:

1) save your part as a step file.

2) open the original part file ( with the old co-ord sys) , create a new coordinate system with reference to the first co-ordinate system, just click on the old one when you create it and it will be created in the same place.

3) under MODEL>> GET DATA>> IMPORT ITEM , now you import that step file we made earlier and in placement select the co - ordinate system you created in the 2nd instruction.

4) now edit that co-ordinate system to whichever orientation , you can displace and rotate .

5) delete your old part which must be still sadly lingering there. purge it . hit that hangman hammer on it.

Re: Creo Parametric 5.0 5.0.3.0 release (New version upload has coordinate system oriented Z AXIS u

doneill — Mon, 20 Apr 2020 12:26:41 GMT

Yeah... we ended up creating new Start Part Templates. I don't know why PTC puts out Y-Up as the default. Who uses that? It only creates a mess when you have people just trust that it is correct... including Admin...

Re: Is it possible to redefine default coordinate system and change orientation in Creo Parametric

VeqTor — Tue, 11 May 2021 11:32:14 GMT

Hi @all,

is it possible to change the CSYS in Creo View as well somehow? (pls. see here)

Thank you

Re: Is it possible to redefine default coordinate system and change orientation in Creo Parametric

kdirth — Tue, 11 May 2021 13:23:15 GMT

Many years ago, using WF2 we had a program or map key that we used on a part or sub assembly in an assembly to move the part relative to its def csys so that it defaulted to the correct placement in the assembly. I don't have that anymore but something may be available somewhere.

Currently, when I want a part to match the default csys, I create a csys offset from the default and redefine the default planes to the new csys.

Activate the model in the assembly.
Select the part Default csys and select the csys tool.
Select the assy default csys to create the offset values and complete the csys.
Edit reference on the new csys and select the part csys.
Move the new csys above the default planes.
Edit reference for the default planes using the new csys.
Edit reference for any other feature that uses the default csys replacing it with the new csys.
Now you can redefine the assembly of the part to default.

Re: Is it possible to redefine default coordinate system and change orientation in Creo Parametric

VeqTor — Tue, 11 May 2021 14:08:30 GMT

I'm not sure if you are referring to Creo or Creo View, but regarding Creo View (MCAD, that is), the matter has since been resolved in the other thread:

Change the Dragger's position

Re: Creo Parametric 5.0 5.0.3.0 release (New version upload has coordinate system oriented Z AXIS u

Patriot_1776 — Tue, 03 Oct 2023 21:07:10 GMT

EVERYBODY uses that. It's called the "Right Hand Rule": Positive X to the right, Positive Y up, Positive Z towards you. Simple.

Re: Is it possible to redefine default coordinate system and change orientation in Creo Parametric

gtwalker — Tue, 28 Oct 2025 21:53:50 GMT

It is critical to understand that however you create or alter the start part, there is always an "origin" in the model that cannot be changed.
The Default Coordinate System is simply a feature representation of the origin.
Because 3D CAD evolved from 2D CAD which evolved from a paper world where X was always to the right and Y was always up, the Z direction always "comes out of the page" toward you. You cannot change this "under the hood".
Any coordinate system created in a part that is oriented differently from the origin is a secondary feature and will not change the origin of the model.
This is critical if you perform mass properties (center of gravity and moments of inertia), export any file including PVZ, measure between CSYS, and perform other analysis (simulation). If you do not specifically select the newly created CSYS in the process of performing of any of these tasks, the default will always be the origin and may create confusion throughout your digital thread.

Re: Is it possible to redefine default coordinate system and change orientation in Creo Parametric

_Marc_ — Wed, 19 Nov 2025 17:09:09 GMT

@gtwalker wrote:
.. If you do not specifically select the newly created CSYS in the process of performing of any of these tasks, the default will always be the origin and may create confusion throughout your digital thread.

Unfortunately, this selection isn't possible in many cases.