Basic Drawing
November 2020
Introduction to basic drawing of shapes, object selection, resizing, moving and colouring of entities.
Note: There are currently no Undo/Redo features, or the ability to Zoom into/out of a Sheet!
As mentioned, Circuit has a simple drawing interface, and simple methods to match.
Once a basic shape has been placed onto a sheet, the following methods can be used to adjust both it, and it's position.
The basic shapes can be selected from the toolbar below... Line, Rectangle, Ellipse, Arc...
Note: From v56 - The Insert Menu is now also available to pre-select drawing tools, image, text and node objects for insertion...
Select the required object, then left-click down on the sheet where you would like the insertion to be placed.
The Drawing aids toolbar has these features... Grid Show, Insertion Point Show, Ortho and Overlaps...
To Cancel Drawing Tools
Once any drawing tool has been selected, every time you left-click onto the Sheet you will continue to add another entity of the selected type (graphical, Image or Text).
To cancel this continuation, either select the Pointer tool button, press [ESC] or right-click anywhere on the Sheet.
Draw A Line
Enter into any sheet by double-clicking the drawing area, or hit F10 to go into Edit Mode.
To draw a straight line, select the Line tool, and leave Ortho engaged... again, once you have drawn the line be sure to select the Pointer tool button (or press ESC), otherwise you'll just keep drawing lines...
Now hit F3 to show insertion points (or click the toolbar button to toggle them off or on), left click on the line to select it... and you'll see a Red and Green marker denoting the X1, Y1 and X2, Y2 co-ordinates of the line...
To move the line entirely, use the arrow keys.
To move the red marker, press CTRL (control key) and use the arrow keys.
To move the green marker, press ALT (alternate key) and use the arrow keys.
(Note: Even if Ortho was active when you first drew the line, using the above methods will allow you to move in any direction.)
Using the above principles we can draw other basic shapes and move and adjust them likewise...
Multiple Selection
If you drag the mouse over a group of objects (from top left to bottom right of insertion points) they can be selected as a group and moved together using the arrow keys...
(Note: The CTRL and ALT methods have no effect of a group of selected objects, you can only move them as a whole in the X and Y.)
Creating A Group
Sometimes you might prefer to keep a group of objects glued together, such that selecting any single entity in a group selects all the other entities too.
To do this, select all the objects of interest, note to add or remove any object on the canvas you can use the CTRL and Select method...
To add an item press CTRL and left click it, to remove an item press CTRL and left click it also...
Finally, select Symbol > Make Group from the main menu (or use keys ALT + M)...
(Note: Creating a group can often be a pre-cursor to creating a Symbol, in any event when you create a symbol from a group of objects they will be automatically grouped prior to saving the symbol to file.)
Breaking A Group
To break any group simply select it, then choose Symbol > Break Group (or use keys ALT + B).
If you select more than one group you will be prompted to confirm that you want all those groups broken.
Arc Direction
Before we leave basic drawing, let's look at the Arc object in more detail, as it has another method.
Certain objects can have their direction changed, the Arc is one of them. Select an arc drawn on the sheet...
Now you can select from the main menu Layout > Format > Up, Down, Left or Right...
Or use the key strokes SHFT (shift) and the arrow keys for Up, Down, Left or Right...
Object Colour and Fill
Objects can be coloured and, where appropriate, fill with either a colour, transparency or even a hatch.
As an example, select a square on the sheet...
If no previous colour has been pre-selected, then from the menu choose Line > Color Picker...
The standard colour picker dialog will be popped to allow selection of a colour...
For subsequent application of your pre-selected colour, select the object (or group of objects) and press the Line button on it's own...
To fill an object, the method for a colour is similar to that described above...
To remove a filled colour from an object (or group of objects) choose Fill > Transparent.
Hatching Fill
To apply a hatch to a selected object (or group of objects) select and then choose Fill > Hatch > Select Style...
From the dialog use the pull down list to choose a style, then press the [Apply] button to finish...
Once a hatch style has been pre-selected you can apply it readily by just pressing Fill > Hatch (# of style)...
To remove a hatch from an object (or group of objects), select and choose Fill > Hatch > None.
Line Thickness
The outline of an object may have it's line thickness adjusted through a range of values.
Select an object (or group of objects) and choose the Line Thickness pull down list...
Again, once a thickness has been pre-selected you only need press the button on the toolbar itself to apply that thickness to an object...
Object Drawing Order
Single objects can be selected then brought to front, or sent to back, of the drawing order... for example...
Select the line...
Press the Bring To Front toolbar button...
The line is brought to the front of the stack...
Similarly, select an object and press Send To Back toolbar button to achieve the opposite...
Object Delete
To delete an object (or group of objects) select, then choose either Edit > Delete (or press DEL)...
Or, hit the Delete button on the toolbar...
CAUTION: Circuit currently has no UNDO/REDO or any form of command history, so you will be prompted...
That's all for basic drawing of shapes for now.