About the Toolboxes

When you are defining a feature, the dialog provides you with a variety of ways to define the feature.  Features are defined geometrically using different kinds of data.
The toolboxes used to define each kind of data are:

General principles governing tool use
The toolboxes provide a way to use the geometrical data to define the features.  For instance, if you are defining a line, and, on the Define Line dialog box, you press either the Origin or Point 2 button, you will get the Origin Toolbox.  (When a toolbox appears on the screen, the dialog box from which you accessed it disappears.) Similarly, if you are defining a cylinder, you can use the Length Toolbox whenever you push the Length or Thickness buttons on the dialog box. 
When a toolbox appears, you must select the button associated with the tool you want to use (e.g., if you want to use the intersection of two lines to define a point, you press the button: ).  
Once you select a tool button, the toolbox disappears.  Instructions about what to do next appear in the frame on the lower left (e.g., the system asks to you select one of the intersecting lines and once you have selected the first line, the system asks you to select the second intersecting line).
After you have followed the directions for tool use, the original dialog box (e.g., the Define Point dialog box) reappears.  You can redo any of your definitions by pressing the button on the dialog box that corresponds to the incorrect entry, and redefining the entry (e.g., to redo the origin point, reselect the Origin button, which enables you to use the Origin Toolbox again). 
In some cases, you can use a single toolbox to define an entire feature.  For instance, if you select the Define Circle command, press the Origin button on the Define Circle dialog box, and select the 3-Points-to-Form-a-Circle tool, the circle defining the origin becomes the circle you have defined.  If you first define a circle, and then use the Origin button to alter the definition, you will not necessarily define the entire circle while defining the origin.
Some of the tools seem to define geometric features (e.g., ).  
However, tools are used to delimit specific parts of a feature's definition (e.g., the purpose of selecting four points is to ultimately calculate an origin point, which will be used to create a defined feature).  The geometric creation used to define a point, direction, or length is not the same as the defined feature.
When you first define the feature using the geometrical data, and then you use the toolboxes, you may see the following message:
This message warns you that the feature's definition has altered from the original definition.  You can choose to ignore this message if that is your intended result. 
You can associate tolerances with a feature defined using the toolbox.

Origin Toolbox
The origin toolbox provides a variety of ways to define the location of a point.  The table below describes each tool in the toolbox.
Tool Icon Tool Name Tool Use
Point to Set Origin Move the mouse over the geometry until you have selected the desired point.  The cursor shows a white box that rests on the plane on which the point is located, the x marks the point, and the line protruding from the plane shows the direction of normal.
Intersection of 2 Lines On the geometry, first select one line, and then one that intersects it.
3 Points to Form Circle Select three points on the geometry.  The system computes a circle from those three points.  The center point of the circle is the origin of the feature.
Middle of Line Select a line on the geometry.  The system computes the center point of the line, which becomes the origin point of the feature.
Middle of 2 Points Select a point on the geometry and then another point.  The system computes the midpoint of the shortest distance between the two points, which then becomes the origin of the feature.
Middle of 2 Circles Select 6 points on the geometry.  The system uses the first three to create a circle and the second three to create a different circle.  The midpoint between the two circle becomes the origin point.
Rectangular Slot by 5 Points Select 5 points on the geometry to create a rectangular slot.  The midpoint of the slot becomes the origin point.

Cylinder by 4 Points Select 4 points on the geometry to create a cylinder.  The midpoint of the cylinder is the center of the circle that is on the plane in the middle of the cylinder.

 

Direction Toolbox
The direction toolbox provides a variety of ways to select the direction of a feature.  The table below describes each tool in the toolbox.
Tool Icon Tool Name Tool Use
Surface Normal Select a point on a surface feature, and direction will be determined as normal to that surface.
Line Direction Select a line on the geometry, and the direction will be determined based on that line.
2 Points to Define Direction Select two points, to create a line.  The direction will be determined based on that line.
3 Points to Define Plane Select three points, to create a plane.  The direction will be determined based on that plane.
Line Perpendicular to Normal Select a line, two points, or curve geometry.  The direction will be determined based on what you have selected.
Feature Normal Select a previously defined feature, and the direction will be determined as normal to that feature.

Length Toolbox
The direction toolbox provides a variety of ways to the direction of a feature.  The table below describes each tool in the toolbox.
Tool Icon Tool Name Tool Use
Line Length Select a line and the length will determined based on the line selected.
2 Points to Define Length Select two points and the length will determined based on the line selected.
2 Points Projected along Normal to Define a Length If you select this button and the two lines you select are not on a straight line (e.g., on a curve) the length will be set as the projection of the points onto a line running along normal.