Drawing a Line in Relation to an Entity. Autodesk AUTOSKETCH 8

Drawing a Line in Relation to an Entity

There are three ways to draw lines in relation to another entity:

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■ tangent to existing arcs or circles perpendicular to an existing line, polyline segment, polygon segment, arc or circle.

at a specific angle to the end of an existing line

The Draw menu’s tangent line command allows you to draw a tangent line to the side of the arc or circle that is closest to where you select the entity.

This is true even when you select an arc that does not extend to the point of tangency.

To draw a line tangent to a pair of arcs and/or circles

1 On the Draw menu, click Line, Tangent, or click the Tangent Line button on the All-In-One toolbar.

2 Click a point on an arc or circle.

3 Click a point on a second arc or circle.

The Draw menu’s perpendicular line command allows you to draw a line that is perpendicular to a reference entity and ends at a selected point. Note that the new line does not have to touch the reference entity.

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Chapter 11 Lines

To draw a line perpendicular to an existing entity

1 On the Draw menu, click Line, Perpendicular, or click the Perpendicular

Line button on the All-In-One toolbar.

2 Click a line, arc, circle, polyline segment, or polygon segment in the drawing. A perpendicular rubber-band line appears, following the pointer.

3 Click an endpoint.

AutoSketch also allows you to draw a line at a specific angle from the endpoint of an existing line. The new line starts at the endpoint nearest the point you clicked and extends in one of four directions at the angle you specify on the edit bar. The second point defines the direction and length of the line.

To draw a line at a specific angle to an existing line

1 On the Draw menu, click Line, Angle, or click the Angle Line button on the All-In-One toolbar.

2 Enter the offset angle in the Line Angle text box on the edit bar and press

ENTER. This angle should be positive and less than 90 degrees.

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3 Click near the end of the line where you want the new line to start. A rubber-band line appears from the endpoint of the line, locked to the specified angle.

4 Click the point that defines the length of the new line.

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Chapter 11 Lines