About Using Constraints

Sketcher > Constraining Geometry > About Using Constraints

Sketches are automatically constrained and dimensioned at every stage of sketch creation to keep the section solved. As you sketch, you can constrain the geometry by accepting the constraints offered as you move the sketch cursor. You can also constrain existing sketched entities.

Dynamically Creating Constraints While Sketching

When you move the sketch cursor within the tolerance of a constraint, the cursor snaps to that constraint and shows its graphical symbol next to that entity. The relevant geometry is highlighted. You can use the following commands to control the offering of constraints:

Action	Command
Accept the constraint to finish sketching the entity	Click
Lock the constraint and continue sketching	Right-click
Disable the offered constraint and continue sketching	Two right-clicks
Enable the offered constraint and continue sketching	Three right-clicks
Disable constraint offering	Press and hold down SHIFT
Toggle between multiple active constraints so you can lock or disable them	Press TAB

You can also press and hold down SHIFT to enable constraint snapping while you drag a sketched entity to a new location.

Adding Constraints to Sketched Entities

You can use the following to constrain sketched entities:

• The shortcut menu

• The commands in the Constrain group

Interior spline points become visible and available for selection when you select a constraint option that allows point selection, for example, Alignment.

To add an equal curvature constraint to a spline and an arc, make sure that the end points are tangent.