Elements

Show dimensions

is used for displaying dimensions during dragging or when changing the sizes of elements. It is based on the current system of units and the scale.

This setting can also be toggled in the window bar at the bottom.

With this setting, a small cross appears next to the cursor, along with information about the position of the cursor relative to the grid or an element.

The small blue cross close to the cursor indicates the exact position of the cursor.

Information appears to the right of the cursor. If the cursor is over an element, information corresponding to that element is displayed. Depending on the setting of Element Snap, the display shows whether the cursor is located exactly on an element point, on the center point or on a point where elements intersect.

If the cursor is outside the magnetic radius of element lines and points, the information shows that the cursor is on a grid point.

Cursor info is only active when Draw elements in background has been selected on the Redraw preferences panel. Grid snap and Element Snap must also be enabled. To ensure that all information is displayed, all three element point types must be selected under Element Snap.

The magnetic effect of element points, intersection points and all points on the element path is controlled by Element Snap

. If you select these options, points of other elements will be attracted when they are set or moved if they fall within the magnetic radius.

This setting can also be toggled in the window bar at the bottom.

If you have decided for both a Grid Snap and Element Snap, this has the following effect on the drawing sheet. When redrawing, you must move the cursor or an element point within the magnetic range of an existing element, i.e. in the radius defined by you around an element point. The element point you wish to approach will then exert its magnetic effect. Otherwise, the new point will be attracted by the nearest grid point.

This is used to enter the magnetic radius for element points in pixels (screen points).

When this option is selected, a filled element can be selected by clicking with the arrow cursor or the arrow (+) cursor in the filled area.

The 1st color is used by the screen display to identify selected element points.

It can be set by clicking the color field in the Colors dialog box.

The Standard button selects the standard program color (red).

The 2nd color is used by the screen display to identify special points. These are thread points, selected Bézier points and deletion points. Elements without a visible contour are also displayed in this color in drawing mode.