Product Documentation

Available in: FREE, Plus, Pro, Architectural

When creating and editing items Draft it has a variety of ways to select screen positions (points) or to input/select co-ordinates. The appearance of the buttons and input boxes that control this input are displayed to the right of the drawing tabs. The various options are described below.

Snap        

When this button is selected positions on the drawing will be found by snapping, (end-points, mid-points, centre points, grid-points, intersections etc.) The shortcut key is . For more information see the Snap topic.

X, Y        

When this button is selected positions on the drawing will be identified by X and Y co-ordinates. This allows X & Y co-ordinates to be specified relative to the current position.  The shortcut key is . For more information see the X, Y Input topic.

Polar        

When this button is selected positions on the drawing will be identified by polar co-ordinates (angle and distance). This allows a polar point to be specified relative to the current position. The shortcut key is .  For more information see the Polar Input topic.

It is possible to change to any of the above three selections when creating/editing items. For example when drawing a line you can select the snap button and pick an existing point then change to X, Y and define the other end of the line using the dynamic dimensions displayed.

In addition to the above two further input options are available when using certain commands.

Distance        

When this button is selected the system expects a distance to be input.  For more information see the Distance Input topic.

Scale Factor        

When this button is selected the system expects a scale to be input.  For more information see the Scale Factor Input topic.

Direct Entry

You can type co-ordinate data regardless of the input mode, i.e. whether Snap, X, Y, Polar, Distance or Scale Factor is the current method.  For more information see the Direct Input topic.