Creating a Polyline
Polylines can be created with the POLYELEM command.
Polylines are useful during the modification phase (for example, moving furniture around room).
The following example shows some of the differences of working with polyline elements and non-polyline elements. Drawing A is a standard polygon created with Polygon in CREATE. To modify the pensizes of drawing A to produce drawing A1, you need to pick points 1, 2, and 3 (for the purpose of this example, it is assumed that only individual elements can be picked).
Drawing B is similar to drawing A but has been converted into a polyline. Because drawing B is a polyline, it acts like a single element and you need only pick point 4 to modify the complete shape (drawing B1).
Modifying Polyline and Non-Polyline Elements
The following procedure describes how to create a polyline from a polygon and then modify the polyline by changing its pensize and shape.
To create a polyline:
1. Create a polygon
2. Pick Create in POLYELEM
3. Identify a vertex point
4. Identify an element (one that ends at the vertex)
5. Pick adjacent elements (or pick the last element)
6. Pick END when the desired shape is defined.
The polygon is now a polyline. To test it, change the pensize:
1. Pick Chg PS
2. Enter a value (for example, 0.5)
3. Select one element of the polyline.
Notice how the complete shape changes--not just the selected element.
Similarly, you can modify the shape of the polyline:
1. Pick No Keep in STRETCH
2. Pick a vertex point (or enclose it in a box)
3. Indicate the new position of the point