DraftSight Tutorial: The EditPolyLine Command
A very handy command when creating floor plans or any object in DraftSight, that has an outline is the EditPolyLine Command. If you created your floor plan using Lines (and / or Arcs), convert these entities to PolyLines before you offset them. This will save you from having to trim your entities after the fact, which will in turn make you more efficient with your time.
To use the EditPolyLine command, you can choose the icon from the Modify toolbar, select Modify>Entity>PolyLine from the pull down menu, or type EditPolyLine at the command prompt. Once the command is activated, you will be asked to select a PolyLilne to edit. Here’s the tricky part. You haven’t created a PolyLine yet, you’ve only created Lines (and / or Arcs). So, DraftSight will let you know that the entity you’ve chosen isn’t a PolyLine. New users get confused when they see this response, and think they must have done something wrong. Nothing is wrong! You know you didn’t create a PloyLine, that’s why you’re using this command. The default to this question is yes. Simply press the <Enter> key to accept the default, or type Y for yes.
If you are simply taking the geometry and making a single PolyLine out of it, you’ll need to choose the Join option that you’ll see. Just type J and press <Enter>. Upon typing J for the Join option, DraftSight will need to know which entities to include into the PolyLine. You can use any selection method that you’re comfortable with (If you type a ‘?’ at the ‘Specify entities>>’ prompt, you will get a list of acceptable selection methods). When choosing the entities, it is permissible to select the original entity that was selected to create the PolyLine. Once all of the entities have been selected, press <Enter>.
You’ll get feedback from DraftSight indicating that ‘X’ number of segments have been added to the PolyLine. At this point YOU ARE NOT DONE! DraftSight brings you back to the options menu. You can choose another option, or if you are complete press the <Enter> key to exit, or type X.
Once complete, select the newly created PolyLine with an empty command prompt to verify that it is indeed one single entity.
Now, you can use the Offset Command to offset your object. This will give you a copy of your object at a specific distance from the original object. The corners will be trimmed and or extended depending on the direction of the offset.
Download DraftSight for FREE at DraftSight.com
Popularity: unranked [?]
