Drawing in Cursor Increment Mode and Keyboard Location Input



Flash Example

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2D drawing in the cursor increment mode, keyboard location input, creating corners and mirroring



Drawing in the cursor increment mode


The cursor increment mode is a very convenient method of 2D drawing. Located positions are rounded to the defined values. The cursor increment mode can be set, turn on or off whenever you click the corresponding icon. If used, the increment mode is signaled in the status bar as highlighted “DX DY”. You can check the exact cursor position in the status bar when drawing a line or defining a 2D location. Consider, whether you need to display the distance from the last 2D enter or relative to the user defined coordinates origin. In this particular example, the cursor increments are set to 1 mm and displayed coordinates are x and y distance from the previous enter.


Keyboard location input


If you need to define a 2D location as x-y distance from the last enter, in the absolute coordinates, or at the distance and angle from the last enter (like in this example), select the corresponding mode from the toolbar or press an accelerating key (D, K or R) – see Selecting 2D Locations. It is necessary to finish the keyboard input before line drawing itself is finished.



2D Mirroring, Creating Corners


Mirroring


To create the right side of the profile, the left side is mirrored. Still in the cursor increment mode, you can easily define the vertical mirror axis.


Creating a corner


Exceeding segments are cut off by creating a corner. Automatic detection of the corner is similar as in the fillet or chamfer functions ( Creating Corners, Chamfers and Fillets ).




Flash Example

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2D drawing - single segment offsets, creating corners



Offset of a single segment at the defined distance


Creating a corner


The inner part of the profile is created as a line offset to the outline. Again, the exceeding segments are cut off by the Corner function. Another method how to cut off such segments is, for instance, trimming by a line or arc segment. After trimming the segments, the exceeding segments are cleared from display. If any other objects are lying under them, they are temporarily blanked. To fix this, redraw the display by pressing “F6” or, very easily, by turning the mouse wheel one notch forward and backward.