Working with an Arc Object on a Draftsman Document in Altium Designer

Parent page: Draftsman Objects

Two placed Arcs; the one on the left is in edit mode.

Summary

An Arc is a graphic object that can be placed on a Draftsman document sheet and set to the desired arc angle, radius and line style. A Draftsman Arc can be placed using a center or three-point method.

Availability

The two approaches to placing an Arc are available in the Draftsman Editor as follows:

• Choose the Place » Arc (By Center) or Place » Arc (3 Points) command from the main menus (Place Arc by Center or Place Arc in Three Points).
• Click the  or  button in the graphic objects drop-down on the Active Bar located at the top of the design space. Click and hold an Active Bar button to access other related commands. Once a command has been used, it will become the topmost item on that section of the Active Bar.
  
• Right-click in the drawing design space then select Place » Arc (By Center) or Place » Arc (3 Points) from the context menu.
• Click the the  or  entry in the graphic objects drop-down menu () on the Drawing Annotations toolbar (View » Toolbars » Drawing Annotations to enable).

Placement

After launching either command, the cursor changes to a cross-hair indicating Arc placement mode.

Arc by Center placement steps:

1. Click to set the center point of the arc.
2. Move the cursor to adjust the radius and starting point of the arc then click to confirm.
3. Move the cursor to set the end point (and total angle) of the arc then click to confirm.
4. Continue placing further arcs or right-click or press Esc to exit arc placement mode.

Arc in Three Points placement steps:

1. Click to set the starting point of the arc (point #1).
2. Move the cursor to set the end point of the arc then click to confirm (point #2).
3. Move the cursor to set the radius of the arc then click to confirm (point #3).
4. Continue placing further arcs or right-click or press Esc to exit arc placement mode.

Graphical Editing

This method of editing allows a placed Arc object to be selected in the design space; its location, radius and start/end points can then be changed graphically.

Select an Arc by clicking on its outline. Once selected, editing handles/nodes are available at its center, perimeter and start/end points.

Three ways in which Arc nodes may be manipulated.

• Click and drag the arc's center node to reposition it on the drawing document.
• Click and drag a start or end point node to alter the arc angle.
• Click and drag the perimeter node to change the radius of the arc.

Advanced manipulation of an Arc is available by pressing the Ctrl key while moving an editing node:

• Click and drag a start or end point node to alter its location while retaining the arc angle.
• Click and drag the perimeter node to alter the size of the arc while retaining its start and end points.

► Editing demonstration.

Non-Graphical Editing

Properties page: Arc Properties

The non-graphical method of editing an Arc is available in the Draftsman Properties panel, which provides editable property fields for the item that is currently selected in the design space.

The Properties panel when an Arc object is selected.

To open the Properties panel and access the properties of a placed Arc:

• Double-click on the Arc's perimeter.
• Right-click on the Arc perimeter then select Item Properties from the context menu.

If the Properties panel is already active:

• Click on the Arc's perimeter to access its properties in the panel.

To manually open the Properties panel, select View » Panels » Properties from the main menus or click the button at the bottom right of the design space then select Properties from the pop-up menu.