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Schematic Design Objects in Altium Designer
Working with an Ellipse Object on a Schematic Sheet in Altium Designer
Parent page: Schematic Objects
A placed Ellipse.
Summary
An ellipse is a non-electrical drawing primitive that can be placed on a schematic sheet. It can be filled or unfilled.
Availability
Ellipses are available for placement in both Schematic and Schematic Library Editors:
- Schematic Editor - the following commands are available:
- Choose Place » Drawing Tools » Ellipse from the main menus.
- Click the
button on the Utility Tools drop-down (
) of the Utilities toolbar.
- Schematic Library Editor - the following commands are available:
- Choose Place » Ellipse from the main menus.
- Click the button on the Utility Tools drop-down () of the Utilities toolbar.
Placement
After launching the command, the cursor will change to a cross-hair and you will enter ellipse placement mode. Placement is made by performing the following sequence of actions:
- Click or press Enter to anchor the center of the ellipse.
- Move the cursor to adjust the horizontal radius of the ellipse, then click or press Enter to set it.
- Move the cursor to adjust the vertical radius of the ellipse, then click or press Enter to set it and complete placement.
- Continue placing further ellipses or right-click or press Esc to exit placement mode.
Additional actions that can be performed during placement – while the ellipse is still floating on the cursor, and before the center point of the ellipse is anchored – are:
- Press the Tab key to access an associated properties dialog, from where properties for the ellipse can be changed on-the-fly.
- Press the Alt key to constrain the direction of movement to the horizontal or vertical axis, depending on the initial direction of movement.
- Press the Spacebar to rotate the ellipse anti-clockwise or Shift+Spacebar for clockwise rotation. Rotation is in steps of 90°.
Graphical Editing
This method of editing allows you to select a placed ellipse object directly in the workspace and change its size, shape or location, graphically.
When an ellipse object is selected, the following editing handles are available:
A selected Ellipse.
- Click and drag A to change the horizontal radius.
- Click and drag B to change the vertical radius.
- Click anywhere on the ellipse – away from editing handles – and drag to reposition it. While dragging, the ellipse can be rotated (Spacebar/Shift+Spacebar) or mirrored (X or Y keys to mirror along the X-axis or Y-axis respectively).
Non-Graphical Editing
The following methods of non-graphical editing are available:
Via an Associated Properties Dialog
Dialog page: Ellipse
This method of editing uses the Ellipse dialog to modify the properties of an ellipse object.
The Ellipse dialog.
The Ellipse dialog can be accessed prior to entering placement mode, from the Schematic – Default Primitives page of the Preferences dialog. This allows the default properties for the ellipse object to be changed, which will be applied when placing subsequent ellipses.
During placement, the dialog can be accessed by pressing the Tab key.
After placement, the dialog can be accessed in one of the following ways:
- Double-clicking on the placed ellipse object.
- Placing the cursor over the ellipse object, right-clicking and choosing Properties from the context menu.
- Using the Edit » Change command and clicking once over the placed ellipse object.
Via an Inspector Panel
Panel pages: SCH Inspector, SCHLIB Inspector, SCH Filter, SCHLIB Filter
An Inspector panel enables the designer to interrogate and edit the properties of one or more design objects in the active document. Used in conjunction with appropriate filtering - by using the applicable Filter panel, or the Find Similar Objects dialog - the panel can be used to make changes to multiple objects of the same kind, from one convenient location.
Via a List Panel
Panel pages: SCH List, SCHLIB List, SCH Filter, SCHLIB Filter
A List panel allows the designer to display design objects from one or more documents in tabular format, enabling quick inspection and modification of object attributes. Used in conjunction with appropriate filtering - by using the applicable Filter panel, or the Find Similar Objects dialog - it enables the display of just those objects falling under the scope of the active filter – allowing the designer to target and edit multiple design objects with greater accuracy and efficiency.