Elliptical Arc

Parent page: Schematic Objects

A placed Elliptical Arc

Summary

An elliptical arc is a non-electrical drawing primitive. It is essentially an open circular or elliptical curve that can be placed on a schematic sheet.

Availability

Elliptical arcs are available for placement in both Schematic and Schematic Library Editors:

• Schematic Editor - click Home | Graphical Elements |  from the main menus.
• Schematic Library Editor - click Home | Place |  from the main menus.

Placement

After launching the command, the cursor will change to a cross-hair and you will enter elliptical arc placement mode. Placement is made by performing the following sequence of actions:

1. Click or press Enter to anchor the center point of the arc.
2. Move the cursor to adjust the X radius of the arc, then click or press Enter to set it.
3. Move the cursor to adjust the Y radius of the arc, then click or press Enter to set it.
4. Move the cursor to adjust the first end point of the arc, then click or press Enter to anchor it.
5. Move the cursor to change the position of the arc's other end point, then click or press Enter to anchor it and complete placement of the arc.
6. Continue placing further elliptical arcs, or right-click or press Esc to exit placement mode.

Additional actions that can be performed during placement – while the arc is still floating on the cursor, and before the center point is anchored – are:

• Press the Tab key to access an associated properties dialog, from where properties for the arc 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 arc counterclockwise or Shift+Spacebar for clockwise rotation. Rotation is in increments of 90°.
• Press the X or Y keys to mirror the arc along the X-axis or Y-axis respectively.

Graphical Editing

This method of editing allows you to select a placed elliptical arc object directly in the workspace and change its size, shape or location graphically.

When an elliptical arc object is selected, the following editing handles are available:

A selected Elliptical Arc

• Click and drag A to change the vertical radius.
• Click and drag B to change the horizontal radius.
• Click and drag C to adjust the end points.
• Click anywhere on the elliptical arc – away from editing handles – and drag to reposition it. While dragging, the elliptical arc 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: Elliptical Arc

This method of editing uses the Elliptical Arc dialog to modify the properties of an elliptical arc object.

The Elliptical Arc dialog

The dialog can be accessed during placement by pressing the Tab key.

After placement, the dialog can be accessed in one of the following ways:

• Double-click on the placed elliptical arc object.
• Place the cursor over the elliptical arc object, right-click then choose Properties from the context menu.

Via an Inspector Panel

Panel pages: SCH Inspector, SCHLIB Inspector

An Inspector panel enables you to interrogate and edit the properties of one or more design objects in the active document.