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The Drawing Elements group, Insert tab, contains a number of 2D and 3D objects which can be inserted into designs. There all also some tools for dimensioning, which are described in a Free-standing article.
The objects dealt with on this page are rectangle, polygon, line, circle, ellipse, arc, dot, arrow, cuboid, cone, and sphere. As the differences in the creation and editing of these elements lie only in the detail, only the procedures for drawing and editing the polylines are given here. The polyline drawing and editing procedure is particularly useful for highlighting the properties which also belong to other objects.
Sections on this page
•Creating a polyline •Editing a polyline Creating a polyline
The following is a description of how to create a polyline:
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1.In the Drawing Elements group, Insert tab, click on the button showing a line ( ). 2.Go into the viewport and click to establish the start point for the polyline. 3.Using either keyboard or mouse, the length of the line can now be set. 4.A second click will fix the end of the first line. The end of one line is at the same time the start of the succeeding line. Clicking on the endpoint, using the Finish item in the context menu, or pressing Esc will finish the drawing at that point. |
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If the drawing procedure is not actively finished, it will continue until the mouse coincides with the end of a line.
This principle is shown in the left-hand screenshot. Here, line 3 hits the end of line 1 (see also Tool tip). The drawing procedure would be ended with a click. The outcome would be a finished triangle.
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If polylines are to be closed or other closed objects such as a circle or cuboid are to be drawn, it is possible to set a filling for them before they are created. To do this, click on the button highlighted in the left-hand screenshot with a red circle and then (in the menu which opens) enable Draw with filling. The Color item is where the color of the filling can be set.
A polyline created without filling can later be converted to an area using the Region tool.
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Editing a polyline
When a drawing element has been created it can always be edited later. The possibilities are here shown for a polyline.
In the triangle drawn above, clicking on one of the sides will first highlight the whole object, as shown in the lower screenshot on the left. Now, to change the shape of the triangle there are two possible ways of proceeding. Either click on the hammer symbol ( ) or double-click on the object. The representation will then change to look like that in the right-hand screenshot.
Clicking on the blue interactor and then dragging will enable you to alter the shape of the triangle. If you move the mouse onto one of the sides of the triangle, further interactors will become visible (see left-hand screenshot below).
The triangular interactor ( ) enables you to introduce curvature into the lines. Using the rectangular interactor ( ) means that an extra point can be inserted between two line ends. The lower screenshot on the right shows two modifications of the original triangle. Both curvature and an additional point have been introduced.
The extrusion function enables two-dimensional shapes to be changed into 3D objects. The procedure is given here.
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