Snaps

Snaps are used to assist in the drawing and placement of objects. When a snap setting is active, the cursor will be drawn to the applicable snap point. You can have multiple snaps active at the same time. Snap selections can be made on the CAD Options toolbar or from the Tools menu.

All snap tools function as follows: If no command is currently active, you can adjust the running snap tool. This means that the snap type is always active. If you are in mid-command and you select a snap tool, it becomes a “one time only” snap type. After the next click, the snap returns to the running snap. At any time you can toggle all snaps on or off by using F9 or double-clicking on the SNAP text in the Status bar.

inset_10.jpg Grid snap

Aligns the placement of objects to grid points. You can set the grid interval and angle in the Draw Options page of the View Options window.

inset_11.jpg Mid-grid snap

Aligns the placement of objects between grid points.

inset_12.jpg Point snap

Aligns the placement of objects to a point in the drawing. Fixture insertion points are considered points. It is therefore possible, using the Point snap, to align the placement of objects to fixtures (snap to fixtures). This is useful for dimensioning.

inset_13.jpg Midpoint snap

Aligns the placement of objects to the mid-point of a line, arc, or any other object.

inset_14.jpg Endpoint snap

Aligns the placement of objects to the end-points of a line, arc, pipe, or any other object.

inset_49.jpg Intersection snap

Aligns the placement of objects to the intersection of lines, circles, or arcs on the same plane.

inset_15.jpg Center snap

Aligns the placement of objects to the center-point of circles, arcs, rectangles, or cylinders.

Aligns the placement of objects to the volumetric center-point of risers and spheres.

Note: When Center Snap is enabled, green snap points will appear at the centers of 2D and 3D primitives drawn in WYSIWYG or imported from .DWG/.DXF files and converted (by the import process) to WYSIWYG-native primitives.

LibrarySnap-icon.png Library snap

Library Snap displays snap points at the bounding box corners of the library item, and one corner is displayed in red or green to indicate the library item’s insertion point, which aligns the placement of the item in the drawing. The snap point is displayed in red if the object is not selected or green if the object is selected. Refer to Library snap for more details.

TrussSnap.png Truss snap

Truss Snap displays snap points at the extents of the truss objects (incorporating truss thickness if enabled) to help draw dimensions to measure the truss. Refer to Truss snap for more details.

inset_16.jpg Truss Assembly snap

Use assembly snap to group multiple truss objects together as you insert them. This ensures proper structural assembly. Refer to Using assembly snap with truss for more details about truss assembly.

inset_17.jpg Pipe snap

Constrains fixtures to placement on a pipe at a specific interval. Refer to Pipe snap for more details.

inset_18.jpg Focus snap

Orients one or more fixtures to a focus position. When you choose this value, you can also lock beam dragging to the incremental values of your choice, as specified in the Pan and Tilt boxes of the Draw Options tab (the defaults are increments of 45 degrees for pan and increments of 10 degrees for tilt). These are the values to which you want the fixture's beam to “snap” while manually dragging and focusing it. For example, if you set a value of 30 degrees, when you drag the fixture's beam, it will snap at 30 degrees, 60 degrees, 90 degrees, and so on. Note that any focus positions that you have set take precedence over the pan and tilt values (if you drag the beam over the focus position, it will automatically snap to the focus position instead).