Oftentimes, you may simply need to set up your work plane parallel to one of the three principal planes but at an offset distance. [[EM.Cube]] provides easy shortcuts for this purpose. Hover the mouse over any object in the project workspace and highlight one of the snap points of that object. Then, type {{key|X}}, {{key|Y}}, or {{key|Z}} on your keyboard. This will establish a new work plane centered at the snapped point and parallel to the YZ, ZX or XY planes, respectively. You can also set up an arbitrary work plane non parallel to any of the principal coordinate planes.
[[Image:Info_icon.png|40px30px]] Click here to learn how to set up an '''[[Glossary of EM.Cube's Basic File, Edit & View Operations#Arbitrary Work Plane| Arbitrary Work Plane]]'''.
Once a new work plane is established, the movement of your mouse will be bound to that plane. In other words, the cursor will move freely on the surface of the new work plane. The status bar now reports the "User Coordinates" of the cursor position as opposed to its "World Coordinates". The status bar also shows the word '''User''' in front of these coordinates. You can switch back to the world coordinates at any time by double-clicking on the word '''User''', which changes it to '''World'''. Double-clicking once again toggles the state back to the user coordinates. Any object that you draw on the new work plane will have its local X- and Y-axes on this plane, and its local Z-axis normal to the plane.