hi Stef -
 
i'm trying to set up my own working plane, since the points i'm trying to use to draw are just a bit off from one of the axes. I followed the directions in the manual, but when i click 'define' no red handles are visible so i can't set the plane. any advice? thanks

Hello,
 
  Try to unlock from camera viewpoint. The red handle (circle) should be in the middle of the grid.  
 
Stef

still no luck - even with the viewpoint unlocked, there is no visible handle. I manged to grab *something* (actually, it's really faint, but it looks somewhat red) and can move the plane around, but to then get it to meaningfully and controllably align to the plane i wish is next to impossible. I can get this red point to snap to one of my modeling points, but then i can't re-orient the plane to snap to another point, which would define the plane. any suggestions? At some point, in my dragging, i managed to make the plane completely dissappear and now i can't get it back...except by abandoning changes and reloading the file. Unclicking and reclicking 'define' didn't help, nor did selecting one of the other axis constraints.

Hello,
 
  Once you have placed the first red handle, normally your just need to click 2 other positions (locators... not sure about vertices).
 
Another solution (trick) could be:
- create 3 locators on the desired plane
- create a face or a plane passing through the locators
- While over this face or plane, press shift to lock the 3D mouse position onto the plane defined by this face/plane.
 
Hope it helps,
 
Stef

hey stef -
 
i've been fighting with this plane for too long now and i've concluded that it doesn't work well. I hope you'll put this on your fix list. The red dot is too small; there should be a way to reset the plane if you have to start over; its default position should perhaps be aligned with one of the worldview axes, just for starting; the two "other" points should be given clearly identifiable handles; there should be some clear instruction in the user manual. There is also a small functionality change to be made: if you leave the 'define' button clicked, and then choose one of the standard 2 axis constraints, the plane is invisible. going back to user defined, unclicking define makes it work again.  
 
Using the pre-defined working planes is also not very workable. If I'm using the create face tool, ANY of the points in my space, given that they exist in three dimensions, and are only points, should be 'accepted' by the contrained working plane as a starting point. But only some points work.

This morning, a bit fresher   i did something pretty simple: just reset the worldview according to the axis i'd like to constrain to. Then I used axis snapping to place my primitives. I'd still love to know how this working plane is supposed to work...