How does the Create Zero Plane tool work in VCarve Pro and Aspire and when do I need it?

Applies to: VCarve Pro and Aspire 12.5. Create Zero Plane (Add Zero Plane) is in both products.

Create Zero Plane creates a component that is the size of your job setup with a height of zero. Unlike an empty background (transparent), a zero plane gives those areas a defined surface at zero height.

When You Need a Zero Plane

1. Machining the background flat

Want the background area machined flat while relief elements stay raised? Place a zero plane as the base, then add raised components on top. Without it, areas with no component are transparent, and a 3D finishing toolpath that uses the Model Boundary only machines the areas that have components on them.

2. Giving other components a defined base

When components exist over an area with no other component to combine with, a zero plane gives the empty background a defined surface at zero.

3. Creating a uniform base for subtraction

Zero plane, then add positive shapes, then subtract to create recesses. This ensures the base is uniform throughout.

How to Create One

1. Model menu, Create Component, then Add Zero Plane. You can also hold Shift while clicking the Create Flat Plane tool to make a zero plane the size of the material
2. A flat component the size of the job is added to the Component Tree
3. It appears as a flat gray surface in the 3D view
4. Keep it at the bottom of the Component Tree so everything else combines on top of it. The first component's combine mode only decides how it combines with the modeling plane, and every later component is combined with the result of everything below it

Caution with combine modes: A zero-height component set to Merge Low (Low) above other components keeps the lowest surface, which would flatten everything beneath it. Leave the zero plane at the bottom and put the relief components above it.

Zero Plane vs Empty Background

• Empty background: transparent areas are not part of the Model Boundary, so a 3D finishing toolpath limited to the Model Boundary skips them
• Zero plane: the transparent areas become a zero-height surface, so the 3D finishing toolpath machines over them

For decorative reliefs where the background should be machined flat, a zero plane is typically needed.