Drafting Aids
Drafting Aids
Ortho, grid, dynamic input, the work plane, and the aids that are present but not finished.
Ortho — F8
Toggle: F8, or the status-bar ORTHO button.
Constrains picks and rubber-band previews to horizontal or vertical from the current anchor. Which of the two you get follows the cursor: move mostly sideways and you get horizontal, mostly up or down and you get vertical.
Ortho affects:
- draw commands (LINE, POLYLINE, RECT and the rest),
- grip drags — the dragged point is constrained to the horizontal or vertical line through the grip start,
- the TRIM trim-line,
- typed distances: with Ortho on and no bearing lock, a bare number is a distance along the horizontal or vertical toward the cursor.
An object snap always beats Ortho. If the cursor snaps to something, the constraint is skipped — the same rule in draw commands and grip drags, so the two never disagree.
F8 works even while the command line has keyboard focus, because it is a mode key rather than a
character.
Grid
Toggle: the status-bar GRID button.
A minor grid follows the view and rescales as you zoom. It is a visual reference only — there is no snap-to-grid, and the grid spacing is not user-configurable.
Dynamic input
While a command expects a coordinate point, two live fields follow the crosshair showing the
current world X and Y at the display precision from UNITS. The active field is highlighted.
| Key | Effect |
|---|---|
| Type | Locks the active field to what you type |
Tab |
Moves between the X and Y fields |
Enter |
Commits the point |
| Click in the viewport | Also commits the point |
Prompts that expect a bearing, angle, distance, option, or command name show a single field.
Elevation and the work plane — ELEV / UCS
Command: ELEV, UCS
Sets the Z that new geometry is drawn at. The status bar always reports the current plane:
| Readout | Meaning |
|---|---|
UCS: World |
New geometry lands on the world XY plane, Z = 0 |
UCS: Elev 125.400 |
New geometry lands at Z = 125.400 |
Usage
| Input | Effect |
|---|---|
ELEV 125.4 |
Sets the elevation in one line |
ELEV then a value |
Prompted form |
ELEV then blank Enter |
Keeps the current value — Elevation unchanged (125.4000). |
ELEV W or UCS W |
Back to world — UCS = World — new geometry is drawn on the world XY plane. |
Non-numeric input answers ELEV — usage: ELEV <elevation>, or ELEV W for world.
Why the readout matters. With a raised work plane, geometry you draw is not at Z = 0 and nothing in a plan view says so. The status bar is the one place that tells you. If new linework refuses to snap to older linework, check this field first.
Bearing lock
Not a mode toggle but the main drafting aid for survey work: A <bearing> and 2P in LINE and
POLYLINE lock the direction so you can enter a distance. Full detail in Coordinate Input.
Object snap
F3 and the OSNAP button. See Object Snaps.
Aids that do not work yet
Be aware of these — the controls exist and respond, but nothing happens in the drawing.
| Aid | State |
|---|---|
| POLAR (status bar) | The button toggles and lights up, but polar tracking is not implemented. Its tooltip says "Polar tracking (UI only for now)" |
| Object snap tracking | Not present |
| Temporary tracking points | Not present |
| Snap-to-grid | Not present — the grid is display only |
| Parametric constraints | Not present |
| Construction geometry (XLINE / RAY) | Not present |
See Known Limitations.
Related
Coordinate Input · Object Snaps · Drawing Tools · Views and Navigation