.. index:: single: Drawing Tools Drawing Tools ============= Activate a tool from the **Draw menu**, the **Draw ribbon tab**, or by typing its command alias in the command line. Press **Escape** at any time to abandon the current operation and return to Select mode. .. index:: single: Object Snapping (Osnap) Object Snapping (Osnap) ----------------------- While drawing, IQcad snaps the cursor to geometric points on nearby objects. A coloured marker and label appear near the cursor when a snap point is active. .. list-table:: :header-rows: 1 :widths: 22 78 * - Snap type - Description * - **Endpoint** - Start or end of a line, arc, or polyline vertex. * - **Midpoint** - Midpoint of any segment. * - **Centre** - Centre of a circle, arc, or ellipse. * - **Intersection** - Where two objects cross. * - **Nearest** - Closest point on any object. * - **Perpendicular** - Perpendicular foot from the cursor onto a line. .. index:: single: Lines and Curves single: Lines single: Curves Lines and Curves ---------------- .. list-table:: :header-rows: 1 :widths: 18 82 * - Tool - How to use * - **Line** (L) - Click start point, click end point. Continue clicking to chain segments. Right-click or **Escape** to finish. * - **Polyline** (PL) - Click successive vertices. Right-click or **Escape** to finish. Vertex *bulge* (arc segment) can be set afterwards in the Object Inspector. * - **Multiline** (ML) - Click successive vertices like a polyline. Each stroke produces two or more parallel strands as defined by the current Multiline Style (see :doc:`11_format`). Right-click or **Escape** to finish. * - **Spline** (SP) - Click control points. The curve passes through each point using Catmull–Rom interpolation. Right-click or **Escape** to finish. * - **Arc** (A) - Click three points: start, a point on the arc, end. All arc methods show a live phantom arc preview. Additional methods are available from the *Draw › Arc* submenu or the Arc dropdown button on the ribbon: | **Start, Center, End** (ARC_SCE) — click start, center, endpoint. | **Start, Center, Angle** (ARC_SCA) — click start, center; mouse sets endpoint. | **Start, Center, Length** (ARC_SCL) — click start, center; mouse sets endpoint. | **Start, End, Angle** (ARC_SEA) — click start, end; mouse sets arc shape. | **Start, End, Direction** (ARC_SED) — click start, end; mouse sets arc shape. | **Start, End, Radius** (ARC_SER) — click start, end; mouse sets arc shape. | **Center, Start, End** (ARC_CSE) — click center, start, endpoint. | **Center, Start, Angle** (ARC_CSA) — click center, start; mouse sets endpoint. | **Center, Start, Length** (ARC_CSL) — click center, start; mouse sets endpoint. | **Continue** (ARC_CONT) — continues from the last entity's endpoint. * - **Circle** (C) - Click the centre, then click a second point or type the radius. Additional methods are available from the *Draw › Circle* submenu or the Circle dropdown button on the ribbon: | **Center, Diameter** (CIRCLE_CD) — click center; mouse distance = diameter. | **2 Points** (CIRCLE_2P) — click two diameter endpoints. | **3 Points** (CIRCLE_3P) — click three points for a circumscribed circle. * - **Ellipse** - Click the centre, drag to set the semi-major axis, then drag to set the semi-minor axis. * - **3D Polyline** (3DP) - Click successive vertices in 3-D space (each vertex stores X, Y, Z). Right-click or **Escape** to finish. Enable **SplineFit** in the Object Inspector to render the polyline as a smooth Catmull–Rom spline through all vertices. Exports as ``3DPOLYLINE`` in DXF. * - **Bézier** (BEZ) - Click control points to define a Bézier curve. Right-click or **Escape** to finish. * - **XLine** - Click a point and drag to set the direction. Creates an infinite construction line. .. index:: single: Shapes and Fills single: Shapes single: Fills single: Wipeout single: WIPEOUTFRAME Shapes and Fills ---------------- .. list-table:: :header-rows: 1 :widths: 18 82 * - Tool - How to use * - **Rectangle** (REC) - Click two opposite corners. * - **Polygon** (POL) - Enter the number of sides, click the centre, then click a vertex to set the circumradius. Creates a regular polygon. * - **Hatch** (H) - Click inside a closed area to flood-fill it. Pattern, angle, and scale are set in the Object Inspector after placement. * - **3D Face** - Click four corner points. Renders as a filled flat face. * - **Wipeout** (WO) - Masks an area of the drawing: a closed polygon filled with the drawing background colour, so everything beneath it is hidden. Use it to clear space for a label or a detail callout without erasing the geometry underneath. Type ``WIPEOUT`` (or ``WO``), or use *Draw › Wipeout* on the menu, or the **Wipeout** button on the *Draw* ribbon tab under **Shapes**. The prompt offers ``[Polyline/Frames]``: - **(default)** — click the polygon corners, then **right-click** to close and create the wipeout. At least three points are needed; press **Esc** to cancel. - **Polyline** (P) — converts an existing polyline into a wipeout over the same area. If a polyline is **already selected** it is used straight away; otherwise you are prompted to select one and press **Enter**. Selecting more than one polyline is refused — a wipeout has a single boundary. The polyline does **not** have to be closed: a mask is a closed polygon by definition, so an open one is closed automatically (the command says so when it does). A polyline with arc (bulged) segments **is** refused, because a wipeout boundary is straight-sided and the mask would not cover the same area. You are then asked whether to erase the source polyline (default **No**). - **Frames** (F) — turns the boundary outline of **every** wipeout in the drawing on or off. This is a drawing-wide setting, not a property of the individual entity; it is stored in the ``WIPEOUTFRAME`` system variable (``0`` = off, the default; ``1`` = on) and can also be set with ``SETVAR``. With frames off a wipeout is invisible against the background, which is usually what you want in a plot but makes the mask hard to find on screen — turn frames on to see and select it. Wipeouts read and write through both **DXF** and **DWG**. On import the clip boundary is transformed out of image space into world coordinates, so a wipeout authored in AutoCAD lands in the right place and at the right size. * - **Polyface Mesh** - A collection of 3D faces grouped into a single mesh entity. Polyface meshes are typically created by importing DXF files that contain ``POLYLINE``-based polyface meshes, or by using the ``SURFACE2MESH`` command to convert a TIN surface. Each face in the mesh stores three or four vertex indices. Select the mesh and use the Object Inspector to view vertex and face counts. Use ``EXPLODE`` to break the mesh into individual 3D Face entities, or ``MESH2SURFACE`` to convert it to a TIN surface. * - **Extrude** (EXT) - Extrudes a closed 2D profile along the Z-axis to create a 3D polyface mesh. Select or pre-select a closed polyline, circle, ellipse, or rectangle, then specify the extrusion height. Positive height extrudes upward, negative downward. Optionally close the top and bottom with triangulated cap faces. The source profile is removed and replaced by the resulting mesh. The mesh is placed on the current layer with ByLayer color. Exports as a standard DXF polyface mesh (``POLYLINE`` flag 64). * - **Sweep** (SW) - Sweeps a closed 2D profile along a path curve to create a 3D polyface mesh. Select a profile (closed polyline, circle, ellipse, or rectangle), then select a path (open polyline, 3D polyline, arc, spline, or civil alignment). Before selecting the path, you can set options: - **Twist** (T): rotate the profile linearly from 0° to a specified angle along the path length. - **Scale** (S): taper the profile from 1.0 at the start to a specified factor at the end. - **Range** (R): for alignment paths, specify start and end chainage to sweep only a section of the alignment. - **Interval** (I): set a fixed path sampling distance (default: adaptive based on curvature). - **Segments** (N): control profile vertex count — sets the segment count for circles/ellipses, or applies Douglas-Peucker simplification for dense polyline profiles. The profile is oriented perpendicular to the path at each sample point using Frenet frames. The source profile is removed; the path is kept. Output is a DXF-compatible polyface mesh on the current layer. .. index:: single: Annotation Annotation ---------- .. list-table:: :header-rows: 1 :widths: 18 82 * - Tool - How to use * - **Text** (T) - Click an insertion point, type the text, press **Enter**. Font and size come from the current Text Style (see :doc:`11_format`). * - **Multileader** (MLD) - Type the label text in the prompt, then click the **arrowhead tip**, then click the **text anchor**. A horizontal dogleg connects the anchor to the label automatically. * - **Arrow** - Click the arrowhead tip, then click the tail. Simple single-segment leader line. * - **Point** (PO) - Click to place a marker. Appearance is controlled by the active Point Style (see :doc:`11_format`). * - **Table** (TBL) - Type ``TABLE`` (or ``TBL``) in the command line, or use *Draw › Table* on the menu / ribbon. Click a single point to place the table; a default 3 × 3 table is created at the insertion point. The table entity supports named styles — **Standard**, **Schedule**, and **Legend** — which control title/header/data row formatting (see :doc:`11_format`). After placement, select the table and use the Object Inspector to change style, row/column counts, and the title text. Double-click a cell to edit its content; cells support formulas and clipboard paste from Excel or LibreOffice Calc. .. index:: single: Insert Insert ------ .. list-table:: :header-rows: 1 :widths: 18 82 * - Tool - How to use * - **Image** (IA) - Type ``IMAGEATTACH`` or ``IA`` in the command line. Enter the file path (or press **Enter** with an empty path to open a file dialog). Supported formats: **PNG**, **JPG/JPEG**, **BMP**, **TIFF**. After selecting the file, specify the **width** in world units (or press **Enter** to accept the pixel-based default) and the **rotation** angle (default 0). Click to place the image — the insertion point is the **bottom-left** corner. If an ESRI world file (``.jgw``, ``.pgw``, ``.bpw``, ``.tfw``) exists alongside the image, the command reports the georeferencing parameters and asks: **"Use georeferenced placement? [Yes/No]"**. Press **Enter** or type **Yes** to place the image at the world-file origin automatically (no clicks needed). Type **No** to proceed with interactive placement using the world-file width and rotation as defaults. .. index:: single: Image Properties Image Properties ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ After placing an image, select it and open the **Object Inspector** to adjust: .. list-table:: :header-rows: 1 :widths: 25 75 * - Property - Description * - **ImagePath** - File path of the source image (referenced mode). * - **PixelSize** - Pixel dimensions of the source image (read-only, "W × H"). * - **Embedded** - When True, image bytes are stored inside the drawing file. Toggle to embed or unembed the image. * - **WorldWidth** - Width of the image in world units. Changing this automatically adjusts ``WorldHeight`` to preserve the pixel aspect ratio. * - **WorldHeight** - Height in world units (read-only, computed from width + aspect ratio). * - **Rotation** - Counter-clockwise rotation in degrees. * - **Opacity** - 0 (transparent) to 255 (fully opaque). Default 255. * - **ShowImage** - When False, a dashed placeholder frame with the filename is displayed instead of the raster data. * - **ClipEnabled** - Enable rectangular sub-region clipping. * - **ClipX**, **ClipY**, **ClipW**, **ClipH** - Pixel coordinates and size of the clipping rectangle. .. index:: single: Dimensions Dimensions ---------- Dimension tools annotate distances, angles, and radii on the drawing. All dimension tools share the same workflow: click the definition points, then click to place the dimension line. Appearance is controlled by the current **Dimension Style** (see :doc:`11_format`). .. list-table:: :header-rows: 1 :widths: 18 82 * - Tool - How to use * - **Aligned Dimension** (DAL) - Click the first definition point, click the second definition point, then click to place the dimension line. The measurement shows the true distance between the two points regardless of angle. * - **Linear Dimension** (DLI) - Click the first definition point, click the second, then click to place the dimension line. Measures the horizontal or vertical distance depending on cursor movement direction. For a rotated measurement, set ``RotationAngle`` in the Object Inspector. * - **Angular Dimension** (DAN) - Click the vertex point, click the first arm endpoint, click the second arm endpoint. An arc dimension line shows the included angle in degrees. * - **Radius Dimension** (DRA) - Click the centre of the arc or circle, then click a point on the curve. A leader line with "R" prefix annotates the radius. * - **Diameter Dimension** (DDI) - Click the centre, then click a point on the curve. A leader line with the diameter symbol (Ø) annotates the full diameter. * - **Ordinate Dimension** (DOR) - Click the feature point, then click the leader endpoint. Displays the absolute X or Y ordinate of the feature. Toggle X/Y with ``OrdIsX`` in the Object Inspector. * - **Arc Length Dimension** - Click the arc centre, click the start point on the arc, click the end point. The measurement shows the arc length along the curve. * - **Baseline Dimension** - Extends a series of dimensions from a shared baseline. Each measurement starts from the same first definition point. * - **Continue Dimension** - Chains dimensions end-to-end. Each new dimension starts where the previous one ended. .. index:: single: Dimension Properties Dimension Properties ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ After placing a dimension, select it and open the **Object Inspector** to adjust: .. list-table:: :header-rows: 1 :widths: 25 75 * - Property - Description * - **DimStyle** - Dropdown to select a named dimension style from the style library. Controls all visual properties (colours, arrows, text size, etc.). * - **TextOverride** - Custom text to display instead of the measured value. Use ``<>`` as a placeholder for the measurement (e.g. ``<> mm``). * - **Measurement** - The computed value (read-only). Updated automatically from the definition points. * - **Rotation** - Rotation angle for linear rotated dimensions. .. index:: single: Dimension Styles Dimension Styles ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dimension styles control the appearance of all dimension components. Open **Format › Units…** and switch to the **Dimensions** tab to edit the current style. The Dimensions tab groups settings into five areas: **Lines** — dimension line and extension line colours, weights, offsets, extension amounts, and suppression flags. **Arrows** — arrowhead type (Closed Filled, Open, Dot, Arch Tick, None, and others) and size for each end of the dimension line. **Text** — text colour, height, gap from the dimension line, vertical placement (centred or above), and font. **Fit** — controls what happens when text and arrows do not fit between extension lines. Options: move text outside first, move arrows outside first, move both outside, or best fit. **Primary Units** — number format (Decimal, Scientific, Engineering, Architectural, Fractional), decimal precision (0–8 places), angle format (Decimal Degrees, DMS, Gradians, Radians), leading/trailing zero suppression, prefix, suffix, scale factor, and rounding. Use the style dropdown at the top of the Dimensions tab to switch between named styles. Click **Reset** to revert the current style to its defaults. .. index:: single: Civil Drawing Tools Civil Drawing Tools ------------------- These tools are also on the **Civil ribbon tab** and the **Civil menu**. .. list-table:: :header-rows: 1 :widths: 20 80 * - Tool - How to use * - **Survey Point** - Click to place an AEC Survey Point. Fill in PointNumber, Northing, Easting, Elevation, and description in the Object Inspector. * - **Tunnel Section Line** - Click successive survey points along the measured profile. Right-click to finish. Link to a theoretical polyline via *SectionLine* in the Object Inspector to enable deviation analysis.