Precision modes

nanoCAD, as with other CAD systems, allows precise geometric creations (up to 14 decimals). Using precision tools allows:

• quick implementations during the project,
• elimination of errors and inaccuracies in the dimensioning,
• elimination of errors in the measurements of angles, length and distances, which were not dimensioned in the drawing,
• avoiding problems occurring with hatch, due to open contour,
• reducing time spent on the control programs for NC machines (because it is not necessary to edit inaccurate geometry of the parts) etc.

nanoCAD provides precise geometric creations in two ways:

• precise coordinates of object points and
• using precision modes.

Precision modes allow:

• place points on the rectangular grid (SNAP, GRID modes);
• use object snaps to snap to characteristic points on the vector and raster objects, for example to the endpoints of a line or to circle center (OSNAP mode);
• the use of tracking lines to place a created object in relation to other objects (OTRACK mode);
• snap to specified angles and define distances using polar tracking (POLAR mode);
• create and replace objects parallel or perpendicular to coordinate axes (ORTHO mode).

Precise tools are controlled in the context menu by the buttons and in the Drafting Settings dialog box (Tools> Drafting settings).

Buttons to switch between precise modes are in the status bar.

The orange color of a button shows that the mode is switched on.

All or several modes can be switched on at once.

Three ways to switch on/off the modes:

• Click on the button.
• From the context menu of the button select On or Off.
• In the Drafting Settings dialog box (Tools> Drafting settings) select or deselect the check boxes: Snap on (F9), Grid on (F7), Polar Tracking on (F10), Object Snap on (F3), Object Snap Tracking on (F11), Object Snap 3D On (F4).

To open the context menu with the commands to control modes:

1. Place the cursor in the status bar,

• 2. Press the right button,
• 3. Select/deselect the required mode.

Context menus are closed after selecting an option or after clicking the mouse button outside the menu. To exit the context menu of the SNAP and O3D SNAP buttons, you can use the Exit menu item.

The Drafting Settings dialog box consists of three tabs:

• Snap and Grid,
• Polar Tracking,
• Object Snap
• Object snap 3D

Snap and Grid Mode

Hotkeys: F9 and F7

Command line: DDRMODES, DSETTINGS, SE

Grid is an ordered sequence of points, which with SNAP mode allows specifying restrictions of the cursor movement to define accurate coordinates. You can switch the grid on/off at any time when you are working with a drawing. Changing grid spacing does not affect any drawing objects.

When the grid is on, the positive directions of the abscissa and ordinate axes are displayed in color, which additionally helps navigate the editing plane. The colored rays are directed from the origin of coordinates. Red is assigned to the X-axis, green is assigned to the Y-axis.

Grid is not printable.

If SNAP mode is switched on, the cursor jumps from node to node with the specified snap spacing. Snap spacing and grid spacing can be different but very often their values are the same. Grid can have high spacing and snap spacing can be small to give a user the capability to specify points of high precision. For example, you can set grid spacing to 10 units, and snap spacing to 1 unit. Grid and snap spacing can be different along the X and Y axes.

Major line – additional lines are also highlighted:

Adaptive grid – grid display depends on the drawing scale. When zooming in, additional grid lines appear; when zooming out, they disappear. The frequency of these lines is determined by the frequency of the main grid lines.

A grid showing drawing limits, allows visualization of the drawing dimensions to place base elements on the initial stages.

The parameters of the SNAP and GRID modes are specified in the Snap and Grid tab of the Drafting settings dialog box or in the context menus.

Snap:

Snap On (F9) Switches snap mode on/off.

Grid snap mode can also be turned on/off by the button in the

status bar, F9 key or SNAPMODE system variable..

Snap spacing

Snap X spacing: Specifies the X spacing.

The value should be a positive real number. (SNAPUNIT system variable).

Snap Y spacing: Specifies the Y spacing.

The value should be a positive real number. (SNAPUNIT system variable).

Equal X and Y

Sets equal spacing between X and Y.

spacing Snap spacing may differ from grid spacing.

Polar snap

spacing: Specifies a snap when setting the polar snap mode (POLARDIST system

variable). When set to zero, a polar snap spacing is equal to snap spacing

by X.

A polar snap only works when polar and/or object tracking is enabled..

Snap type

Grid snap Specifies a grid snap for the cursor movement to horizontal

and vertical grid points (SNAPTYPE system variable).

Rectangular Specifies the standard mode for rectangular snap. In case of

grid and rectangular snap type, the cursor moves along the

rectangular structure nodes.

(SNAPSTYL system variable).

Isometric Specifies the mode of isometric snap and activates the

isometric drafting mode. In case of grid and isometric snap type, the cursor moves along the isometric grid nodes.

(SNAPSTYL system variable).

Polar Specifies the polar snap. With polar snap and enabled polar

tracking, the cursor can move along imaginary lines drawn from the tracking base point at the angles specified on the

Tracking tab. (SNAPTYPE system variable).

To use the polar snap in the isometric drafting mode, you should first set the isometric snap, and then switch to polar

snap:

Grid:

Grid on (F7) Enables/Disables the display of grid on the screen.

The grid mode can also be turned on/off using button in the status bar, F7 key or GRIDMODE system variable.

Grid spacing

Snap X spacing: Specifies the distance between grip nodes by X axis.

When set to zero, a grip spacing is equal to a grip snap

(GRIDUNIT system variable).

Snap Y spacing: Specifies the distance between grip nodes by Y axis.

When set to zero, a grip spacing is equal to a grip snap

(GRIDUNIT system variable).

Major line every: Specifies the number of grip nodes through which the main

(thickened) grip lines are displayed (GRIDMAJOR system

variable).

Grid behavior

Adaptive grid Switches adaptive grid mode on/off.

Allow subdivision below grid

spacing

Switches division of the grid spacing on/off.

When zooming in, additional grid lines are generated with a reduced spacing. The frequency of displaying additional grid lines is determined

depending on the frequency of displaying the main grid lines

(GRIDDISPLAY and GRIDMAJOR system variables).

Display grid beyond limits

Switches on/off display of the grid beyond specified limits, specified by the Drawing Limits (LIMITS) command (GRIDDISPLAY system variable).

Follow Sets the grid plane in accordance with XY plane of dynamic UCS

Dynamic UCS (GRIDDISPLAY system variable).

Grid style. Dotted grid display area:

2D model space Enables/disables display of the grid as dots in 2D model

space (system variable GRIDSTYLE = 1).

Block editor Enables/disables display of the grid as dots in the block

editor (system variable GRIDSTYLE = 2).

Sheet/layout Enables/disables display of the grid as dots in layouts and

paper space layouts (system variable GRIDSTYLE = 4).

Default system variable GRIDSTYLE = 0 - Grid is displayed as lines in model space, block editor, layouts and paper space sheet sets.

The context menu of the SNAP button:

Parameters:

Set snap steps Specifies the X and Y spacings in the command line (SNAPUNIT variable).

Polar snap Setting the polar snap type (the SNAPTYPE variable value = 1).

Grid snap Setting the grid snap type (the SNAPTYPE variable value = 0).

Setup… Opens the Drafting settings dialog box.

On Switches snap mode on/off.

The context menu of the GRID button:

Parameters:

Set grid steps Specifies the X and Y spacing in the command line.

Set grid limits Specifies the limits of the grid display.

Infinite grid Switches off restrictions for the grid display.

Adaptive grid Switches adaptive grid mode on/off.

Setup… Opens the Drafting settings dialog box.

On Switches display of the grid on/off.

Controlling Grid Options from the Command Line

Command line: TGRID

The command specifies the grid options.

Command prompts:

Specify grid spacing(X) or [ON/OFF/Snap/Major/ aDaptive/Limits/Follow/Aspect] <10.0000>

Specifies the grid spacing.

When the spacing value is given with adding x symbol (Latin), the grid spacing will have the value equal to grid interval multiplied by the entered grid spacing.

Command options:

ON Turns on display of the grid with preset spacing value.

OFF Turns of the grid display.

Snap Turns on the cursor snap to the grid.

Major Sets the number of cells in the grid.

aDaptive Turns on/off the gird adaptive mode. Impacts on the grid density when an image

of the screen is zoomed in/out.

Limits When the option is disabled, the grid is displayed throughout the entire drawing

space. If the option is enabled, the grid is displayed on the drawing area limited

by the Drawing limits command (LIMITS).

Follow Turns on/off the dynamic UCS.

Aspect Sets the grid spacing for X and Y axes.

In the Isometric mode this option is disabled.

Drawing Limits

Menu: Format – Drawing limits

Status bar: Context menu of – Set grid limits

Command line: LIMITS

The command sets the limits for the current drawing in Model Space and in Paper Space.

Drawing limits are specified by the coordinates of two opposite corners of the rectangular area – bottom left corner and top right corner.

Command prompts:

Specify lower left corner <0.0000,0.0000>:

Specify upper right corner <841.0000,594.0000>:

Specify coordinates of lower left corner or pick a point on the screen.

Specify coordinates of upper right corner or pick a point on the screen.

Polar Tracking Mode ОТС-POLAR

Menu: Tools – Drafting settings… > Polar tracking tab

Status bar: the button

Context menu of the button: On/Off

Hotkeys: F10

Command line: DDRMODES, DSETTINGS, SE

Polar tracking mode helps to specify a point, set at a specified distance and angle from the last selected point. The dotted tracking line with a tooltip shows the distance from the last specified point and current angle value.

Specify the increment of the polar angle in the Polar tracking tab of the Drafting Setting dialog box or from the context menu of the POLAR button.

Parameters of Polar Tracking tab:

Polar tracking on (F10)

Switches polar tracking mode on/off (AUTOSNAP system variable).

Polar Angle Settings

Increment angle: Sets the angle step (increment) used to generate polar tracking lines (POLARANG system variable). For example, if an angle step of 30° is selected, then tracking lines will be displayed at 30°, 60°, 90°, 120°, and so on.

The drop-down list shows commonly used angles: 90°, 45°, 30°, 22.5°, 18°, 15°, 10°, 5°.

The step can also be set by anyone using the keyboard. The entered custom angle step when closing the dialog is automatically set to current. When you set the current step from the list, the custom angle is automatically deleted.

Additional angles Enables/Disables the use of additional angles that do not obey pitch rules (system variable POLARMODE = 4).

Additional angles are specified as an absolute value, not as an increment (system variable POLARADDANG).

Using the Add and Delete buttons you can edit the number of additional corners (maximum 10)

Object Snap Tracking Settings

Track orthogonal In OSNAP mode tracking lines are only drawn horizontally and

only vertically.

Track using all Switches on the mode for applying the parameters of polar tracking

polar angle settings to object tracking.

Do not track Polar Switches off the polar angles tracking mode.

Object snap modes

Track to alignment point Enables/Disables the mode of displaying tracking lines to

feature points of the object.

Clear track points on Shift+mouse wheel Enables/Disables the mode of erasing the snap point marker on

the tracking line using the SHIFT key and the mouse wheel. When the mode is enabled, markers can only be erased using the “shift + mouse wheel” combination. When the mode is disabled, the markers are also erased when zooming/panning.

Object tracking control is discussed in the Object tracking mode section.

Format, accuracy, base angle and reference direction for angles are set in the Drawing Units dialog box:

To set the angles of polar snap lines:

• 1. On the Snap tab of the Drafting Settings dialog, enable the polar snap mode by checking the Polar Snap On box (F10).
• 2. In the Increment Angle field: select a standard value from the drop-down list or enter a custom increment value from the keyboard. When entering multiple angles, the last one entered is saved.
• 3. If you need to specify additional angles of the polar snap lines, check the Additional angles box. Enter the angle value in the field. Click the Add button. Enter up to 10 values. To delete an additional corner, select the corner in the section window and click the Delete button.
• 4. Click ОК.

You can also set the angles of polar snap lines and view the current increment angles in the context menu of the button:

Options of the POLAR button context menu:

90, 45, 30, 22.5, 18, 15, 10, List of standard, commonly used polar snap angles.

5

The current increment of the polar snap mode has the icon.

35, 70 (Sample values) List of values of additional angles (if available).

Set custom angle Sets a new angle increment using the command line.

Command prompt:

Enter angle: – enter the angle step (POLARANG system variable).

Setup… Opens the Drafting Settings dialog on the Snap tab.

On/Off Enables/Disables polar snap mode (AUTOSNAP system variable).

To create a point at a specified distance and at a specified angle:

• 1. On the Snap and Grid tab of the Drafting Settings dialog, enable the Snap mode by checking the Snap On box (F9). Set snap type – Polar snap. Enter the polar spacing.
• 2. On the Polar Tracking tab of the Drafting Settings dialog, enable the polar tracking mode by checking the Polar Tracking On box (F10). Set Angle Increment: and Additional Angles. Click ОК.
• 3. Set the first construction point. Specify a point located at a specified distance and at a specified angle.

Object Snap Mode OSNAP

Menu: Tools – Drafting settings… Object snap tab

Status bar: the button

Hotkeys: F3

Command line: DDRMODES, DSETTINGS, SE

Object snap is the main and the quickest way to specify an object’s characteristic points without knowing their coordinates.

Characteristic points include:

• End points and the middle of a line,
• Center of a circle and its intersection points with center lines (quadrant),
• Endpoints, center and middle of an arc,
• Insertion point of block or text
• and others.

•

The mechanism of object snap allows one of the characteristic points of the existing object to be specified as the coordinates for the point of a new object.

Object snap can be used when you need to set a point in the command line.

To use object snap:

1. Switch on permanent object snap in the Drafting Settings dialog box, select the Object Snap On check box and select the required mode:

2. Switch on permanent object snap, open the context menu of the OSNAP button in the status bar and select the required mode:

You can also enable or disable object snap modes in the Object toolbar:

It is possible to simultaneously turn on all or several object snap modes at once (except for the context menu of a single object snap – you can select only one mode in it).

The Select All and Deselect All options are applied to all snap modes at once.

3. Switch on one-time object snap during one of the creation or modifying commands, open the context menu of one-time object snap with CTRL (or SHIFT) button pressed and select the required mode:

You can switch on one or several modes of object snap (except the context menu of one-time object snap, only one mode can be selected there).

The Select All and Deselect All are applied to all parameters of the snap.

One-time object snap is used to replace permanent object snap and stays active until the current snapping is finished. When a snap point is selected, one-time object snap switches off. For example, when creating geometric objects consisting of lines, as a temporary snap you can specify Endpoint, Midpoint, Perpendicular and Intersection. If you want to snap one of the lines to a circle, specify onetime object snap, Center, Quadrant or Tangent.

It is convenient to enable one-time object snap modes from the Snap by request toolbar:

You can also use keywords to invoke a one-time object snap. To do this, when requesting a point, enter the keyword of the corresponding snap and press ENTER.

The list of keywords to activate a one-time object snap is given in the table below.

You can cancel the snap by request by pressing the button again, and you will return to the current (working) set of object snaps.

The context menu of one-time object snap has an additional option – None, which switches off all modes of object snap before finishing the point selection operation. None is used for one-time application (during one operation), that is why it is absent in the Object Snap tab in the Drafting Setting and in the context menu of OSNAP button.

None is used when you cannot select a point in the drawing due to temporary snap modes being used. After the point is specified, the temporary snap mode starts again.

You can switch the object snap mode on/off in the Snap toolbar:

To open the Snap toolbar select the Snap option in the context menu of the OSNAP button:

If an object snap mode is switched on, the marker and a tooltip about the available object snap types for the object are shown when moving the cursor over the object. The marker size, color, and presence of a tooltip can be changed in the Snap Settings section of the OPTIONS dialog.

If several or all types of object snap are switched on as a permanent snap, and if a snap to some characteristic point is available in the cursor’s current position (for example, if some objects are placed close to each other), the highest priority snap is used.

The priority of snaps is specified in the Object Snap tab in the Drafting Setting, the highest priority has Endpoint, the lowest – Parallel. Any one-time snap has a higher priority than any permanent snap has.

Object Snap types:

354

Raster objects mode ensures object snap to characteristic points of inserted raster image objects.

PDF object mode allows the object snap to PDF underlay objects as to vector objects.

Object Snap Settings

Snap to Dimensions

Enables/Disables snapping to intersections of dimension and extension lines.

Snap for Layouts

Enables/Disables snapping to the borders and center of the layout.

Replace the Z value with the current level value

Manages the Z coordinate value for object snap.

When the option is disabled, the Z coordinate value of the specified point is used.

When the option is enabled, the value of the Z coordinate is replaced by the value of its projection onto the XY plane of the current UCS or, if the ELEVATION variable is set to a non-zero value, to a plane parallel to the XY plane at the specified level. The option is synchronized with the OSNAPZ variable.

Below there are two 3D polylines constructed with snap to the vertices of the mesh. Red – in normal snapping mode, blue – when the Z-coordinate replacement option is enabled:

Snap to Raster Objects

There is a snap to characteristic points of object of monochrome raster image.

To perform a snap:

• Insert raster image into a document.
• Specify settings of a raster snap.
• Switch on the Raster object snap in the Object Snap tab of the Drafting Settings dialog or from the context menu of the OSNAP button in the status bar.

359

• Select required types of object snap in the Object Snap tab of the Drafting Settings dialog.

The program recognizes a type of raster object, highlights it and snaps to its characteristic points according to selected modes of object snap:

Settings of Raster Snap

Command line: R2VSNAPSETUP

Raster snap have to be setup to help program to recognize types of raster objects (lines, arcs, circles) correctly.

Snap operations are based on recognizing algorithms for raster objects. The program calculates a vector object, ideally approximating raster lines, which are close to mouse pickbox and offers to snap to characteristic points of the object. The efficiency of raster snap highly depends on parameters, specified in the Raster Snap Settings.

To specify settings for a raster snap:

• 1. Open Raster Snap dialog from context menu or by button near Raster on Object Snap tab from Drafting Settings dialog.
• 2. Set raster snap settings in accordance with your raster image characteristics:

Settings:

Min Length: This parameter defines the minimum size of a raster object that can be recognized.

To set Min Length:

• Click button and specify distance (2 points on raster line) that should be recognized as line.

or

• Enter value to the field.

Max Width: This parameter defines the maximum width of raster lines that can be approximated by lines, arcs, circles, and polylines.

If the width of a raster line exceeds Max Width value, then the only possible recognition mode is Auto tracing and approximating with an outline object.

To set Max Width:

• Click button and specify by 2 points maximum width of raster.

or

• Enter value to the field.

It’s better to set this value a little more than maximum width of the thickest line in the image.

Max Break: Sets the length of the maximum ignored breaking raster lines.

If a raster line is broken into parts it should be traced as an entire object, then the value of Max Break should be set to the largest gap between the raster line parts. The program will ignore the breaks and create single vector object, approximating the whole raster line. By setting a comparatively large value of the parameter, users can, for example, trace dash-dotted raster lines, and arcs as single entities.

To set Max Break:

• Click button and specify by 2 points the largest gap between the raster line parts.

or

• Enter value to the field.

Accuracy This parameter determines the accuracy of approximation of the original raster object with a vector one. If the original image is distorted (for example, circles have the form of ellipses), then reduce the value of the Approximation Accuracy parameter. However, this leads to inaccuracies in recognition, for example the program might take a short arc for a line. When the quality of a raster image is high, increase the value of the Approximation Accuracy parameter.

Sometimes before tracing the quality of the raster image can be improved by application of a smoothing filter.

To set Approximation Accuracy:

• Move slider.

If the original raster entities are distorted (for example, raster circles have an elliptical shape), recognition accuracy will increase when moving the slider to the left, to the Min value. If the original raster image is of good quality, the slider should be moved to the right, to the Max value.

3. When ready – click OK button.

Object 3D Snap

Menu: Tools – Drafting settings > Tab Object 3D snap

Status bar:

Hotkey: F4

Command line: DDRMODES, DSETTINGS, SE

Allows you to make a snap to location points of 3D Solids and shapes recognized in the point cloud by shaoe recognition commands.

Modes of object 3D snap:

3D Object Snap modes can be cycled through using the TAB key when Dynamic Input F12 is disabled.

Snap to point clouds

For the possibility to snap to location points of geometric shapes recognized in a cloud, the snap to features mode should be enabled:

Ribbon: Point Clouds > Settings > Snap to edges and nodes

Menu: Point Clouds – Settings > Snap to Edges and Nodes

Command line: SWITCHPCSNAPFEATURES

Object Snap Tracking Mode

Menu: Tools – Drafting settings… Object snap tab

Status bar: the button

Hotkeys: F11

Command line: DDRMODES, DSETTINGS, SE

The object snap tracking mode allows the placing of created objects in specific relation to other created objects. When object snap tracking mode is switched on, nanoCAD temporarily displays dotted trajectories of different types (tracking lines) for accurate positioning of objects.

Object tracking modes are used together with object snap and works when the cursor’s pickbox is near a probable point of object snap (the pickbox size determines the zone of tracking lines activation). Object tracking expands and adds to the capabilities of object snap.

The parameters of object tracking are specified in the Tracking and Object Snap tabs in the Drafting Setting dialog box and in the context menu of the OTRACK button.

Parameters:

Object Snap Tracking On (F11)

Switches object snap tracking mode on/off.

The context menu of the OTRACK button:

Object Snap Tracking modes

Track to alignment

point

Switches on/off the display of tracking lines to an object’s

characteristic points.

Clear track points on “shift + mouse wheel”

Switches on/off the erasing mode of the snap point marker on a tracking line using SHIFT and the mouse wheel. When the mode is enabled, markers can only be erased using the “shift + mouse wheel” combination. When the mode is disabled, the markers are

also erased when zooming/panning.

Object snap

Track using polar

angles

Switches using object tracking together with polar tracking mode on/off. In this case, the tracking lines for all angles specified in the Polar Tracking tab

in the Drafting Settings dialog box are displayed.

Track ortho only Switches the display of tracking lines only in ortho directions on/off.

Don’t track polar Switches off polar tracking mode.

By default, object snap markers and tracking rays are displayed in green, and object tracking markers are displayed in blue. You can change the color in the Snap Settings section of the OPTIONS dialog.

To use object tracking mode:

• 1. Switch on the OTRACK and OSNAP modes in the status bar.
• 2. Use the cursor to capture the required characteristic objects’ points to set tracking lines. Place the cursor near a point to capture it. A captured point is marked with + symbol. To deactivate a point already captured, move the cursor over it again. You can clear all markers using zoom/pan operations or using the SHIFT key and mouse wheel if the Clear track points on Shift+mouse wheel box is checked.
• 3. Dotted tracking lines, going through one or several captured points and the cursor’s pick box, will appear when you move the cursor within the drawing. You can snap to points on those lines or to the intersection points. The more types of object snap that are switched on, the more points will be available for capture.

Example: Circle in the center of a rectangle.

1. Defining the center of rectangle:

Specifying the circle center:

2. Specifying the circle radius:

Display of Snap Elements

Menu: Tools – Options…

The cursor’s pick box is enlarged automatically in nanoCAD snap modes, when you need to snap to characteristic points of objects (creation and editing of primitives, dimensioning etc):

Common cursor’s pickbox size Enlarged cursor’s pickbox size

The common cursor’s pick box size is specified in the Cursor – PickBox – PickBox size section of the Options dialog box (Tools menu – Options):

Parameters:

Crosshair size Sets the size of the crosshair as a percentage of the display size.

PickBox size Pick box size in pixels.

The enlarged cursor’s pick box is specified in the Options dialog in the Snap settings – Hold Aperture Size:

Parameters:

Hold Aperture Size

<10>

The size of the cursor frame in snap mode.

Show Aperture Box Switches the aperture box on/off in the snap mode.

Snap Marker size

<5>

Snap marker size.

Show Tooltips Turns on the display of the snap name.

Vector Marker Color The color of the snap marker when snapping to a vector object.

Otrack Marker Color Sets the color of the object tracking marker when snapping to a vector

object.

Rays Color Specifies the color of rays when snapping to a vector object.

ORTHO Mode

Status bar: the button

Hot key: F8

Command line: ORTO

With orthogonalisation mode set on, vector lines and rubber lines for editing can only be drawn in directions parallel to the coordinate axis.

If an angle of a coordinate system is changed, the corresponding ortho mode angle is also changed. The ORTHO mode has higher priority than the polar tracking mode.

Note

You can temporarily switch off the ORTHO mode by pressing and holding the SHIFT button when the command of creation or object editing is running.

Dynamic Input

Status bar: Button

Hot key: F12

Dynamic input displays the command interface near the cursor in the drawing area. At the right time, current prompts, command requests, input fields, lists of selectable keywords, dimensions of edited geometry are displayed next to the cursor.

Dynamic input consists of three functional parts:

• Pointer Input;
• Dimension Input;
• Dynamic Prompts.

You can adjust them or switch them off in the Dynamic Input section of the Options dialog.

Dimension Input

Dynamic dimensions are displayed when creating and editing lines, arcs and circles. The values of dynamically displayed dimensions can be edited, which makes it more convenient to draw and edit, when the exact distances, dimensions and angles of segments are known.

When constructing a linear segment, an arc segment or a circle, their linear and angular dimensions are displayed on the screen relative to the previous point. Dimensions are displayed with a thin dashed line. With the moving of cursor in the drawing, the values of dynamically displayed dimensions continuously change reflecting the current dimensions. By pressing TAB key it is possible to pass to the desired dimension value to edit it from the keyboard. Upon the input completion, press ENTER.

When moving the cursor to the grip of preselected objects, the dimension values associated with it are dynamically displayed on the screen. When moving the cursor to the grip belonging to several selected objects, the dimensions of each object associated with this grip will be displayed.

When selecting the object grip, the values of dynamically displayed dimensions become available for editing. By pressing TAB key, move to the desired value. Enter a new value from the keyboard.

To move to the next dimension value, press TAB. The edited dimension will fix its value, and the lock icon will be displayed in its right part.

To complete the editing, press ENTER.

Not all dynamic dimensions can be seen on the screen simultaneously. The number of simultaneously displayed dimensions is controlled by the DYNDIVIS variable. Depending on its value, the following can be displayed simultaneously:

• only one dimension (DYNDIVIS = 0):

• only two dimensions (= 1):

• or all dimensions (= 2):

If only one or two dimensions are displayed simultaneously, and you need to display others, this can be done by cyclically pressing the TAB key. Press TAB until the desired dimensions are visible. On subsequent cursor movement, the selected dimensions will continue to be displayed.

Dynamic Input Using Mouse

When a point is requested by a command, you can enter its coordinates in the tooltip box near the crosshair, where the current cursor coordinates are shown. By toggling the TAB key, switch to necessary value to edit it from the keyboard. Press ENTER when done.

Entering coordinates with dynamic dimensions mode on

If, in addition to the mouse dynamic input, the dynamic dimensions mode is enabled, then while entering the second and subsequent points of the object being created, the coordinate field is not displayed explicitly.

In this case, do not be embarrassed, just start entering the point coordinates using the keyboard: enter the coordinate along the X axis, enter a comma and continue entering coordinates along the remaining axes, separated by commas. For example: 12045,-430.07,0.005 Or -45,28

The value being entered will first display in the field of one of the dynamic dimensions.

After entering the first comma, the coordinate fields begin to be displayed explicitly near the cursor.

By pressing the TAB key, you can move to the desired value to edit it from the keyboard. When finished entering, press ENTER.

When switching between fields using TAB, the direction of the base (zero) angle is assumed to be East, Counterclockwise, regardless of what is specified in the Drawing Units (UNITS) dialog.

For example, when entering like: 300TAB30, where 300 is the length, 30 is the angle, the base angle will always be East, counting Counterclockwise.

The direction of the base angle specified in the Drawing Units dialog will be taken into account for the following input options:

@300TAB30 @300<30 300<30

Dynamic Prompts

Dynamic prompts provide an alternative way to enter command parameter values. In the tooltip field near the cursor, requests and prompts of the active command appear, necessary to complete the command. Data can be entered in the dynamic prompt fields instead of the command line. You can enter command keywords and requested numeric values.

The list of available values and options can be expanded by pressing the DOWN ARROW key on the keyboard. Then choose the desired value with an ARROW keys and press ENTER.