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586 | ChaptEr 14 Designing with the Family eDitor

As illustrated in the plan view of the Desk.rfa family, the linear parameters of Depth and
Width are appropriately assigned to reference planes. All of these geometric constraints are
parallel to one another (Figure 14.12).

Figure 14.12
reference planes
controlling the
parameters of the
default Desk.rfa
family

Reference Lines By definition these datum objects have endpoints and are great for control-
ling angular and directional relationships. They can have four axes of reference, two along the
length of the line (which are perpendicular to each other) and one at each end that is perpen-
dicular to the line.
You can also create curved reference lines, but they have only planes that may be used for
hosting at each end. There are no references along the curved line, as shown in
Figure 14.13.
As an example, reference lines can be established in a family with length and angular
dimension parameters to control path geometry for sweeps such as the iterations shown in
Figure 14.14.
Reference Points This type of datum object is available only in certain family templates
including Mass, Generic Model Adaptive, Generic Model-Pattern Based, and Curtain Panel-
Pattern Based. Reference points have three planes that can be set to host sketch lines or geom-
etry. You can also use a series of points to control a line or even a spline. Other objects, such
as reference lines or other geometric surfaces, can also host reference points. You can select
reference points from the Draw panel in the ribbon as shown in Figure 14.15.

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