Draft Snap

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Previous: Constraining

Draft

Description

The Draft Workbench tools allow you to pick points and distances by clicking on the 3D view with the pointer, or by entering Draft Coordinates in the task panel of the tool.

Another way of selecting points is by snapping. Snapping means "gluing" your next point onto an existing point or feature of another object.

Snapping is available with most Draft and Arch Workbench tools, and can be enabled and disabled globally with the Toggle snap button, located in the snap toolbar: View → Toolbars → Draft Snap.

Note: using many snapping methods at the same time can be problematic; in this case, try activating only one snapping method.

Line snapping perpendicularly to another line

Draft Snap toolbar

Toggle snap: toggles object snapping globally on or off.
Endpoint: snaps to the endpoints of line, arc and spline segments.
Midpoint: snaps to the middle point of line and arc segments.
Center: snaps to the center point of arcs and circles.
Angle: snaps to the special cardinal points of circles and arcs, at 45° and 90°.
Intersection: snaps to the intersection of two line or arc segments. Hover the mouse over the two desired objects to activate their intersection snaps.
Perpendicular: on line and arc segments, snaps perpendicularly to the latest point.
Extension: snaps on an imaginary line that extends beyond the endpoints of line segments. Hover the mouse over the desired object to activate its extension snap.
Parallel: snaps on an imaginary line parallel to a line segment. Hover the mouse over the desired object to activate its parallel snap.
Special: snaps on special points defined by the object. introduced in version 0.17
Near: snaps to the closest point or edge on the nearest object.
Ortho: snaps on imaginary lines that cross the last point, and extend at 0°, 45° and 90°.
Grid: snaps to the intersections of the grid lines, if the grid is visible.
Working plane: always places the snapped point on the current working plane, even if you snap to a point outside that working plane.
Dimensions: shows temporary X and Y dimensions while snapping.
Toggle grid: toggles the visibility of the grid on or off.

Advanced snapping

Additional snap locations can be obtained by combining two snapping methods, such as Draft Ortho and Draft Extension, that will give you a snap point at the intersection of their imaginary lines.
Other snap locations can be obtained by using Draft Constrains, that is, by holding Shift or pressing X, Y or Z while drawing.
Press Q while drawing to insert a "hold point" at the current location of the cursor. You will then be able to snap orthogonally to these hold points, and at the intersections of their orthogonal axes. If Draft Midpoint snapping is enabled, you will also be able to snap at the mid distance between any two hold points. introduced in version 0.17

Options

The maximum distance at which a point is considered a snapping point is specified in the Draft Preferences, and can also be changed on-the-fly by pressing [ (increase) or ] (decrease) keys.
Pressing A while drawing locks the current angle of the line segment being drawn. (Editor: maybe obsolete?)

Previous: Constraining

Draft