Welcome to LinceCAD

LinceCAD is a 2D technical drawing program that works directly with DWG and DXF files, the AutoCAD formats. It opens drawings as they arrive, edits them with the commands and aliases AutoCAD and progeCAD users already know, and saves them back to DWG or DXF, in whatever version the recipient needs.

Who it is for

• For people who draw architectural, building services, civil engineering or surveying plans and exchange DWG files with others.
• For AutoCAD users: commands have the same names (in the interface language, or their English name prefixed with _), the command line prompts come in the same order and the usual aliases work (L, C, PL, O...).
• For beginners: the tutorials in this manual go from an empty drawing to a dimensioned plan with blocks, plotted to PDF.

What it includes

• 2D drawing and editing: lines, polylines, arcs, circles, hatches, text, dimensions, leaders and tables.
• Layers, linetypes, lineweights, blocks with attributes, dynamic blocks and external references.
• Layouts with their viewports and plotting to PDF with plot style tables (CTB and STB).
• Raster images, georeferenced images, coordinate systems (EPSG) and import of SHP, KML and GeoJSON.
• Basic AutoLISP and scripts (SCRIPT) to automate tasks.
• Spanish and English interface.

How the help is organized

• F1 opens the help. With a command running, it opens that command's page directly. The HELP command does the same.
• Contents: the tree on the left, in three parts: this User manual (installation and step-by-step tutorials), the General help (concepts: interface, coordinates, layers, dimensions...) and the Reference (one page per command, the system variables and the AutoLISP functions).
• Index: terms in alphabetical order; type the first letters to jump to them.
• Search: looks for a word in every page.
• PDF manual: the Help > Manual (PDF) menu opens this same content as a single document, handy for printing or reading without the program.

Each command page starts with its name, its English global name, its aliases and where it is on the ribbon and in the menus. Prompts are shown exactly as they appear on the command line, for example:

Specify first point:

Where to start

1. Install LinceCAD.
2. First drawing: draw, save and open again.
3. The tutorials, in order: floor plan, dimensioning, blocks, plotting to PDF and georeferenced drawings.

If you already know AutoCAD, have a look at The interface, the alias table and What's new.

See also

The interface · File formats · Keyboard and shortcuts

Installing LinceCAD

LinceCAD is installed on Windows with a setup program and on Linux with a compressed package. In both cases it is installed for the current user, without administrator rights.

Requirements

• 64-bit Windows (x64) or 64-bit Linux (x86_64) with a graphical desktop.
• A graphics driver with OpenGL, as found on any computer from recent years.
• About 40 MB of disk space for the program and the symbol library.
• AutoCAD or any other program is not needed: LinceCAD reads and writes DWG and DXF files by itself.

Windows

The setup program is in Spanish for now; the steps below give the meaning of each option.

1. Run LinceCAD-<version>-setup.exe.
2. Choose whether to install for your user only (recommended, no administrator needed) or for all users of the computer. For your user, the program goes to %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\lince; for all users, to the program files folder.
3. Tick the optional tasks you want: - Create a desktop shortcut. - Add LinceCAD to "Open with" for .dwg and .dxf files: the program appears in the Explorer Open with menu when you right-click a DWG or DXF file. It does not change the default program: if AutoCAD opens those files on double-click, it still does.
4. Click Install. When it finishes you can start LinceCAD from the last page of the wizard or from the Start menu.

The bibliotecas folder is installed next to the program, with the 2D symbols used by the Blocks palette and DesignCenter (see Inserting blocks).

Updating

Run the setup program of the new version: it replaces the previous one in the same folder and keeps your preferences.

Uninstalling

Open Settings > Apps > Installed apps, find LinceCAD and click Uninstall. The program, its shortcuts and, if you chose it, the "Open with" entry are removed. User preferences (%APPDATA%\lince) are left in place in case you install it again; delete them by hand if you do not want them.

Microsoft Store

If you installed LinceCAD from Microsoft Store, the Store updates it and uninstalls it (Settings > Apps). Windows keeps the user data of that installation in its own folder, %LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\<LinceCAD package>\LocalCache\Roaming\lince, apart from %APPDATA%\lince: the license, trial and preferences are separate from those of a normal installation, and they are deleted when you uninstall it. The program shows that folder and opens it with the "Open folder" buttons.

Linux

The package is lince-<version>-linux-x86_64.tar.gz. It can be used without installing:

tar xzf lince-<version>-linux-x86_64.tar.gz
cd lince-<version>-linux-x86_64
./lince

To install it for your user, with a launcher in the applications menu, run from that folder:

install -Dm755 lince ~/.local/bin/lince
install -Dm644 lince.desktop ~/.local/share/applications/lince.desktop
install -Dm644 lince.png ~/.local/share/icons/hicolor/256x256/apps/lince.png
mkdir -p ~/.local/share/lince && cp -r bibliotecas ayuda ~/.local/share/lince/

The last line copies the symbol library and this help to ~/.local/share/lince, where the program looks for them when they are not next to the executable. To uninstall, delete those files and the ~/.config/lince folder (preferences).

Language

On first start, LinceCAD uses the system language if it has it (Spanish or English) and Spanish otherwise. To change it, open OPTIONS, Interface tab, and choose the Language; the change applies at once. The number format (decimal comma or point) is chosen on the same tab.

On the command line you always type as in AutoCAD, whatever the language: decimal point and a comma between coordinates (10.5,20). Global command names (_LINE, _CIRCLE...) work in any language.

Languages can be added without reinstalling: a <code>.ftl catalog in the idiomas folder next to the executable or in the user configuration folder is enough.

See also

First drawing · Options · OPTIONS

First drawing

In this tutorial you create a drawing, draw a rectangle with lines and a circle, save it as DWG, close it and open it again. It takes about five minutes.

1. A new drawing

On start, LinceCAD shows an empty drawing. To start another one at any time, enter NEW, click New on the Quick Access toolbar or press Ctrl+N. Each open drawing has its own tab above the drawing area.

New drawings are metric: one drawing unit is one millimetre. Coordinates are typed on the command line, at the bottom, where Command: appears.

2. Drawing some lines

1. Enter LINE (or L) and press Enter.

Specify first point:

2. Type 0,0 and press Enter: this is the coordinate origin.

Specify next point or [Undo]:

3. Type 100,0 and Enter: the first segment is drawn, 100 mm to the right.
4. Type @0,60 and Enter. The @ means a relative coordinate: 60 mm up from the last point.

Specify next point or [Close/Undo]:

5. Type @-100,0 and Enter: 100 mm to the left.
6. Type C (Close) and Enter: the line goes back to the first point and the command ends.

If you get a point wrong, type U (Undo) without leaving the command. After the command has finished, Ctrl+Z undoes the whole command.

3. Drawing a circle

1. Enter CIRCLE (or C) and Enter.

Specify center point for circle or [3P/2P/Ttr (tan tan radius)]:

2. Type 50,30 and Enter: the centre of the rectangle.

Specify radius of circle or [Diameter]:

3. Type 20 and Enter.

To see the whole drawing on screen, double-click the mouse wheel or type Z, Enter, E (Extents) and Enter. The wheel zooms in and out; pressed and dragged, it pans the view.

4. Saving as DWG

1. Enter SAVEAS or press Ctrl+Shift+S.
2. In the dialog box, choose the folder, type the name primero and click Save.

The status bar confirms the file and the version. SAVEAS typed on the command line saves in the DWG 2018 format, the one used by AutoCAD 2018 to 2027. For another version, open the LinceCAD menu (top left), hover over Save As and choose from the list: DWG 2018, 2013, 2010, 2007, 2004 or 2000, or DXF 2018 or 2000. Choose an older version when the recipient has an old program.

From then on, QSAVE (Ctrl+S) saves to the same file and in the same version, without asking.

5. Closing and opening again

1. Enter CLOSE (or use Close in the LinceCAD menu). If there are unsaved changes, the program asks whether to save them.
2. Enter OPEN or press Ctrl+O, find primero.dwg and click Open. You can also drag the file from Explorer onto the program window.

The drawing opens in its own tab, as it was saved. LinceCAD opens DWG files from release R14 up to the current one and DXF files from R12 on; large drawings are read in the background, with a progress bar.

Notes

• Press Esc to cancel a command halfway, and Enter (or Space) on the empty command line to repeat the last one.
• The program saves an automatic copy of the drawing every so often; if it closes unexpectedly, opening the file again warns that there is a more recent copy.

See also

Coordinates and input · File formats · Floor plan with layers · LINE · CIRCLE · SAVEAS

Tutorial: floor plan with layers

In this tutorial you draw the plan of a simple 8 × 6 m dwelling: 25 cm outer walls, a 10 cm partition with a doorway, an entrance door and two windows, each on its own layer. The following tutorials dimension this plan, add furniture and plot it.

The drawing is in millimetres (the unit of new drawings). All coordinates are typed on the command line; press Enter after each value. A coordinate with @ is relative to the last point: @8000,0 is 8 m to the right.

1. Creating the layers

1. Start a new drawing with NEW.
2. Enter LAYER (or LA). The Layer Properties Manager opens.
3. Click New Layer. A layer appears with its name ready to type: type Walls and Enter.
4. Repeat step 3 for Doors, Windows, Furniture, Dims and Text.
5. In the Color column of each layer, drop down the colour and choose the one in the table. On the Walls layer, also change the Lineweight to 0.50 mm: walls will plot thicker.
6. Double-click the Status column of the Walls layer to make it current (the ✔ mark appears) and close the dialog.

The same, from the command line with -LAYER (useful in scripts): each line is one answer and the empty one at the end is the Enter that ends the command.

-LAYER
N
Walls,Doors,Windows,Furniture,Dims,Text
C
1
Walls
C
3
Doors
C
4
Windows
C
8
Furniture
C
2
Dims
LW
0.5
Walls
S
Walls

2. Outer walls with PLINE and OFFSET

1. Enter PLINE (or PL).

Specify first point:

2. Type 0,0.

Specify next point or [Arc/Halfwidth/Length/Undo/Width]:

3. Type @8000,0, then @0,6000 and then @-8000,0.
4. Type C (Close): the polyline closes. It is the outer face of the walls, a single object.
5. Double-click the mouse wheel to see the whole drawing.
6. Enter OFFSET (or O).

Specify offset distance or [Through/Erase/Layer] <…>:

7. Type 250, the wall thickness.

Select object to offset or [Exit/Undo] <Exit>:

8. Click the polyline.

Specify point on side to offset or [Exit/Multiple/Undo] <Exit>:

9. Type 4000,3000 (a point inside the dwelling) or click inside. The inner face appears. Press Enter to finish.

3. The partition

1. Enter LINE (or L), 5000,250, 5000,5750 and Enter: the line runs from wall to wall.
2. Enter OFFSET, 100, click the line you have just drawn, type 6000,3000 and press Enter. The partition lies between x = 5000 and x = 5100: the living room on the left, the bedroom on the right.

4. Opening the gaps

Each opening is marked with two jambs (short lines across the wall) and then the wall is trimmed between them.

1. Enter LINE, 1000,0, @0,250 and Enter: the first jamb of the entrance door.
2. Enter COPY (or CO) to repeat it at the other openings.

Select objects:

3. Click the jamb and press Enter.

Specify base point:

4. Type 1000,0.

Specify second point or <exit>:

5. Type, one after the other, 1900,0 (door), 2000,5750 and 3500,5750 (living room window), 5900,5750 and 7400,5750 (bedroom window). Press Enter to finish.
6. For the partition doorway: LINE, 5000,1000, @100,0 and Enter; then COPY that line with base point 5000,1000 and second point 5000,1800.
7. Enter TRIM (or TR).

Select object to trim or shift-select to extend or [cuTting edges/Crossing/mOde/Project/eRase]:

8. In Quick mode (the AutoCAD 2027 default) you do not select edges: every object acts as a cutting edge.
9. Click each piece of wall between two jambs: at the door, the outer and the inner line; at each window, both; at the partition, its two lines (zoom in with the wheel if they are close together). That is eight clicks. Press Enter to finish. If you trim the wrong piece, finish and press Ctrl+Z.

5. The entrance door

1. Drop down the layer control on the ribbon and choose Doors: it becomes the current layer.
2. Draw the open leaf: LINE, 1000,250, @0,900 and Enter.
3. Draw the swing with an arc by its centre. Enter ARC (or A).

Specify start point of arc or [Center]:

4. Type C (Center).

Specify center point of arc:

5. Type 1000,250 (the hinge).

Specify start point of arc:

6. Type 1900,250 (the other jamb).

Specify end point of arc:

7. Type 1000,1150 (the end of the leaf). The arc is drawn counterclockwise, from the jamb to the leaf.

6. The windows

1. Make the Windows layer current.
2. Draw the two lines on the wall faces: LINE, 2000,5750, @1500,0, Enter; and LINE, 2000,6000, @1500,0, Enter.
3. Draw the glass with RECTANG (or REC).

Specify first corner point or [Chamfer/Elevation/Fillet/Thickness/Width]:

4. Type 2000,5850.

Specify other corner point or [Area/Dimensions/Rotation]:

5. Type @1500,50.
6. Copy the window to the bedroom: COPY, click the three pieces of the window, Enter, base point 2000,5750 and second point 5900,5750, Enter.

7. Saving

Enter SAVEAS and save the drawing as plano.dwg. The next tutorial starts from it.

Notes

• Instead of typing, points can be specified with the mouse and object snaps (F3), such as Endpoint or Intersection, and with Ortho (F8) for horizontal and vertical lines. See Object snaps and precision.
• The partition doorway is left open: in the blocks tutorial a door from the library is placed in it.

See also

Layers · Coordinates and input · Editing · Dimensioning the plan · PLINE · OFFSET · TRIM · COPY

Tutorial: dimensioning the plan

In this tutorial you dimension the plan from the previous tutorial and label the rooms. You create a dimension style for plotting at 1:50, draw chains of dimensions with DIMLINEAR and DIMCONTINUE and write text with TEXT.

Open plano.dwg. As before, press Enter after each typed value.

1. A dimension style for 1:50

The drawing is in millimetres and will be plotted at 1:50. The Standard style has text and arrows of 2.5 units: at 1:50 they would come out 0.05 mm high. The overall scale of the style multiplies all those sizes.

1. Enter DIMSTYLE (or D). The Dimension Style Manager opens.
2. Click New.... Create New Dimension Style appears below.
3. In New Style Name: type Plan50; in Start With: leave Standard. Click Continue.
4. Modify Dimension Style opens. On the Fit tab, set Overall scale = 50.
5. On the Primary Units tab, set Precision (decimal places) = 0: measurements will show in whole millimetres (8000).
6. Click OK.
7. In the manager, with Plan50 selected, click Set Current and close the dialog.

With a scale of 50, the 2.5 text is 125 mm high in the drawing and 2.5 mm on paper.

2. Dimension chain along the lower façade

1. Make the Dims layer current in the layer control.
2. Enter DIMLINEAR (or DLI).

Specify first extension line origin or <select object>:

3. Type 0,0 (corner of the wall).

Specify second extension line origin:

4. Type 1000,0 (first jamb of the door).

Specify dimension line location:

5. Type 500,-600: the dimension line sits 60 cm below the wall. It measures 1000.
6. Enter DIMCONTINUE (or DCO). It starts from the last dimension drawn.

Specify a second extension line origin or [Undo/Select] <Select>:

7. Type 1900,0 and then 8000,0. Each point adds a dimension next to the previous one: 900 (the door) and 6100. Press Enter to finish.
8. Add the overall dimension outside: DIMLINEAR, 0,0, 8000,0, 4000,-1200.

If a point in the chain goes wrong, type U (Undo) in DIMCONTINUE: it removes the last dimension without leaving the command.

3. Dimensions on the left side and the upper façade

1. Left side: DIMLINEAR, 0,0, 0,6000, -1200,3000. As the location is to one side, the dimension is vertical: 6000.
2. Upper façade, with the windows: DIMLINEAR, 0,6000, 2000,6000, 1000,6600.
3. DIMCONTINUE, 3500,6000, 5900,6000, 7400,6000, 8000,6000 and Enter. The chain measures 2000, 1500, 2400, 1500 and 600.

4. Interior dimensions

1. DIMLINEAR, 250,2000, 5000,2000, 2625,2000: the clear width of the living room, 4750. The dimension line runs inside the room.
2. DIMCONTINUE, 5100,2000, 7750,2000 and Enter: the partition (100) and the bedroom (2650).

5. Room names

1. Make the Text layer current.
2. Enter TEXT (or DT).

Specify start point of text or [Justify/Style]:

3. Type J (Justify).

Enter an option [Left/Center/Right/Align/Middle/Fit/TL/TC/TR/ML/MC/MR/BL/BC/BR]:

4. Type MC: the text is centred on the point, horizontally and vertically.
5. Specify the point: 2625,1500.

Specify height <…>:

6. Type 200 (4 mm on paper at 1:50).

Specify rotation angle of text <…>:

7. Press Enter to keep 0.

Enter text:

8. Type LIVING ROOM and Enter. The command asks for another line below: press Enter on the empty line to finish.
9. Repeat for the bedroom: TEXT, J, MC, 6425,1500, 200, Enter, BEDROOM, Enter, Enter.
10. Add a title under the plan: TEXT, 0,-2200, height 250, Enter, GROUND FLOOR - 1:50, Enter, Enter.

6. Saving

Press Ctrl+S (QSAVE): the drawing is saved to plano.dwg, in the same version.

Notes

• Dimensions are drawn with the current style and on the current layer. To change the style of a dimension later, select it and change it in the PROPERTIES palette; when a style is modified, all its dimensions are redrawn.
• DIMBASELINE makes chains from a common origin, each dimension further out than the previous one.
• To change the text of a dimension (for example, to add a prefix), use DIMEDIT.
• TEXT always proposes 2.5 as the height: type the one you want for each text. For multi-line formatted text, use MTEXT.

See also

Dimensions · Text · Inserting blocks · DIMSTYLE · DIMLINEAR · DIMCONTINUE · DIMSCALE

Tutorial: inserting blocks from the library

In this tutorial you furnish the plan from the previous tutorials with symbols from the library installed with LinceCAD: a door in the partition doorway, furniture and a socket with its attribute. You use the Blocks palette (INSERT) and ADCENTER.

Open plano.dwg.

The included library

The bibliotecas folder, next to the program, holds two drawings with 2D symbols in millimetres, on layer 0 (they take the layer they are inserted on). Block names are in Spanish:

• Arquitectura.dwg (architecture): swing doors PUERTA_70, PUERTA_80 and PUERTA_90 (base point at the hinge), PUERTA_DOBLE_160 (double door) and PUERTA_CORREDERA_80 (sliding door); windows VENTANA_60, VENTANA_120 and VENTANA_180 (for a 15 cm wall); INODORO (WC), LAVABO (washbasin), BANERA_170 (bath), PLATO_DUCHA_80 (shower tray), FREGADERO_2 (sink); SILLA (chair), MESA_4_SILLAS (table with four chairs), CAMA_150 and CAMA_90 (beds), SOFA_3 and ARMARIO_120 (wardrobe).
• Electricidad.dwg (electrical): ENCHUFE and ENCHUFE_DOBLE (sockets), INTERRUPTOR (switch), CONMUTADOR (two-way switch), PULSADOR (push button), PUNTO_LUZ (ceiling light), APLIQUE (wall light), FLUORESCENTE_120 (linear luminaire), TOMA_TV (TV outlet), TOMA_DATOS (data outlet) and CUADRO_ELECTRICO (distribution board). Most carry the CIR attribute (circuit).

Opened as drawings, each one shows its catalogue: every symbol with its name below.

1. The Blocks palette

1. Enter INSERT (or I), or click Insert on the ribbon. The Blocks palette opens, with three tabs: Current Drawing (the blocks already in the drawing), Recent and Libraries.
2. Click Libraries. The library folder appears with its two drawings and the thumbnails of their blocks. The Search box filters by name: type puerta to see only the doors.
3. Below are the Insertion Options: the Insertion Point is specified on screen; the Scale is 1 and the Rotation 0. Leave them like that: the symbols are drawn at real size.

The palette can stay open while you draw.

2. The partition door

1. Make the Doors layer current.
2. In the palette, click PUERTA_80. The command line starts inserting and the block follows the cursor.

Specify insertion point or [Scale/Rotate]:

3. The library door opens upwards; in the partition it has to open towards the living room. Type R (Rotate).

Specify rotation angle <0>:

4. Type 90.
5. It asks for the point again: type 5000,1000, the corner of the doorway on the living room face. The hinge is at the bottom and the leaf opens to the left, with its swing inside the living room.

The block is copied from the library file into the drawing the first time; from then on it also appears on the Current Drawing tab.

3. Living room furniture

1. Make the Furniture layer current.
2. Click MESA_4_SILLAS and type 2600,3300: the table is centred on that point, with its four chairs (a SILLA block inside another block).
3. Click SOFA_3 and type 2800,4750: the base point is the lower left corner and the back rests against the wall.

To place the same block several times, tick Repeat Placement: after each insertion it asks for the point again, until you press Enter or Esc.

4. The bedroom with DesignCenter

DesignCenter browses other drawings (open ones or those in the library folders) and copies blocks, layers, styles and layouts from them.

1. Enter ADCENTER (or ADC). DesignCenter opens.
2. In the tree on the left, under the library folder, choose Arquitectura.dwg.
3. Click Blocks in the list of categories: its thumbnails appear.
4. Double-click CAMA_150 and type 5700,3500.
5. Click ARMARIO_120, click Insert and type 6400,250: the wardrobe stands against the lower wall.

With the other categories (Layers, Text Styles, Dimension Styles...) the Add to Drawing button copies the chosen item into the drawing; if an entry with that name already exists, the drawing's own is kept.

5. A socket with an attribute

1. In the Blocks palette, Libraries tab, search for enchufe and click ENCHUFE (from Electricidad.dwg).
2. Type 5600,250: the socket sits on the inner face of the lower wall.
3. The block has an attribute, and the program asks for its value with the block's own prompt, Circuito <C2>:. Type C3 and Enter (or press Enter to keep C2).

The value can be changed later by double-clicking the block (ATTEDIT) or with EATTEDIT.

6. Saving

Press Ctrl+S. The plan now has walls, doors and windows, dimensions, text and furniture: the next tutorial plots it to PDF.

Notes

• On the Current Drawing tab, Browse… inserts another whole DWG or DXF as a block.
• Add Folder… (Libraries tab) adds your own folder of drawings with blocks: it appears in the palette and in DesignCenter.
• -INSERT asks everything on the command line (name, point, scale and rotation); it is the one scripts use.
• To keep the blocks you use most at hand, with their layer, scale and rotation, drag them to a tool palette (TOOLPALETTES).
• To create your own blocks, see BLOCK and WBLOCK.

See also

Blocks and attributes · Plotting to PDF · INSERT · ADCENTER · BEDIT

Tutorial: plotting to PDF

In this tutorial you plot the plan from the previous tutorials to a PDF file, at 1:50 on an A4 sheet, in black and white with the monochrome.ctb plot style table. Then you see how layouts, with their viewports, are plotted.

Open plano.dwg and check that the Model tab, below the drawing area, is active.

1. The Plot dialog

Enter PLOT (or PRINT) or press Ctrl+P. The Plot dialog opens. LinceCAD plots to vector PDF: lines, text (with its fonts) and hatches come out as on screen, at any magnification.

1. Printer/plotter: leave DWG To PDF.pc3 (lince PDF). It is the same name AutoCAD uses, so the settings saved in the drawing work for it too.
2. Paper size: choose ISO full bleed A4 (297.00 x 210.00 mm).
3. Drawing orientation: select Landscape.

2. What to plot: a window

1. In What to plot: choose Window and click Window <. The dialog hides and the command line asks for the corners.

Specify first corner:

2. Type -1800,-2400 (bottom left, outside the dimensions and the title).

Specify opposite corner:

3. Type 9200,7200. The Plot dialog comes back.

The other options are Extents (everything drawn), Display (what is on screen) and Limits.

3. The scale

1. In Plot scale: clear Fit to paper.
2. Choose 1:50 from the list. Below it you can read the equivalence: 1 mm of paper = 50 drawing units. As the drawing is in millimetres, 1 m of the plan measures 2 cm on paper.
3. Tick Center the plot: the window is placed in the middle of the sheet.

The window measures 11 × 9.6 m: at 1:50 it takes 220 × 192 mm and fits on the landscape A4.

4. The plot style table

The plot style table (CTB) decides the colour, lineweight and screening each drawing colour is plotted with.

1. In Plot style table (pen assignments): choose monochrome.ctb: everything comes out black, whatever its colour on screen. With grayscale.ctb colours become greys.
2. In Plot options: leave Plot object lineweights ticked (walls, at 0.50 mm, come out thicker) and Plot with plot styles (without this box the table is not applied).

Your own tables (.ctb files, or .stb if the drawing uses named plot styles) are copied to the %APPDATA%\lince\estilos_trazado folder or to the drawing folder, and appear in the same list.

5. Preview and PDF

1. Click Preview… to see the sheet as it will come out. Close the preview to return to the dialog.
2. If you want the drawing to remember these settings for next time, tick Apply to Layout.
3. Click OK, choose the folder and type the name plano.pdf. The command line confirms the file and its size.

The same dialog saves PNG or SVG instead of PDF: just type the name with that extension. The PNG resolution is chosen in PNG:.

6. Layouts and viewports

Besides Model, a drawing can have layouts (paper space): each tab is a sheet with its title block and one or more viewports that show the model at a scale. Drawings coming from AutoCAD usually have them ready.

1. Click the layout tab. You see the sheet, its printable area and the viewports.
2. Double-click inside a viewport to enter the model through it (the status bar button changes from PAPER to MODEL); double-clicking outside it, or PSPACE, goes back to paper.
3. With a viewport active, the sun-with-viewport icon of the layer control freezes a layer in that viewport only; in the Layer Properties Manager it is the VP Freeze column. That way each viewport shows its own content.
4. Whatever you draw with the layout active and outside the viewports goes on paper: a title block, a legend.
5. To plot it, enter PLOT on that tab. What to plot: proposes Layout and a 1:1 scale: the sheet comes out at its size and each viewport keeps its own scale.

New layouts and viewports are created with LAYOUT and MVIEW; the viewport scale is set in the status bar. For a plan drawn from scratch you can also plot from Model as in steps 1 to 5.

Notes

• PAGESETUP saves named page setups to reuse them or import them from another drawing.
• PREVIEW opens the preview directly, with the current settings.
• To print on paper, choose the printer in Printer/plotter:.

See also

Layouts and plotting · Georeferenced drawings · PLOT · PAGESETUP · MSPACE

Tutorial: georeferenced drawings

In this tutorial you set up a drawing in real-world coordinates: you give the drawing a coordinate system, insert a georeferenced orthophoto and overlay the parcels of a SHP file, which LinceCAD converts to the drawing's system if it comes in another one.

You need two sets of files for the same area, like those published by official mapping agencies:

• An orthophoto in GeoTIFF, or in TIFF, JPG or PNG with its world file (.tfw, .jgw, .pgw or .wld) next to it. Here it is called ortofoto.tif.
• A SHP with its companion files (.shx, .dbf and, preferably, .prj). Here it is called parcelas.shp.

The example uses ETRS89 / UTM zone 30N (EPSG:25830), the official system in much of mainland Spain; use the one for your area. In UTM, one drawing unit is one metre.

1. The drawing's coordinate system

1. Start a drawing with NEW.
2. Enter GEOGRAPHICLOCATION (or GEO). The Geographic Location dialog opens and, at the same time, the command line asks:

Enter EPSG code of the coordinate system or [Remove/List] <…>:

3. Type 25830 and Enter (or choose the system from the list in the dialog and click OK). The command line confirms the chosen system.

This is the target system: everything imported with its own system is converted to it. Type L (List) to see the available systems: ETRS89, WGS84 and ED50 in zones 28 to 31, REGCAN95, Web Mercator (3857) and geographic coordinates. The AutoCAD code, such as ETRS89.UTM-30N, is accepted too.

The drawing is assumed to be, or to be going to be, in coordinates of that system: GEOGRAPHICLOCATION does not move what is already drawn.

2. The orthophoto

1. Create an Orthophoto layer and make it current, so that you can turn it off or lock it later.
2. Enter GEOIMAGE.

Enter image file name to attach or [Browse] <Browse>:

3. Press Enter (Browse) and choose ortofoto.tif.
4. The image is placed at its coordinates, with its pixel size and rotation, read from the world file or the GeoTIFF tags. The command line says which georeferencing file it used and which system the image is in.
5. Double-click the mouse wheel to see the whole image.

If the image states its coordinate system and it differs from the drawing's, it is reprojected on insertion. If it does not, it is inserted as it is: its coordinates must already be in the drawing's system.

3. The SHP parcels

1. Create a Parcels layer, with a colour that stands out on the photo (for example 2, yellow), and make it current.
2. Enter MAPIMPORT (or SHP2CAD). The Import SHP, KML or GeoJSON dialog opens.
3. In File click Browse… and choose parcelas.shp. The dialog shows the Contents: how many features and how many fields it has.
4. Layer from field: leave none so that everything goes to the current layer, or choose a field of the table (for example, the land use or type field): each feature goes to a layer named after the value of that field, created if it does not exist.
5. Block for the points: only matters if the file has points. With (point object), each point is a POINT object; with a block of the drawing, each point is that block, and its attributes take the values of the fields with the same name.
6. File coordinate system: the one stated in the .prj appears. If the file has no .prj, choose its system here; with (no reprojection) the coordinates are imported as they are.
7. Drawing coordinate system shows EPSG:25830. Click OK.

The parcels are drawn as closed polylines (polygon holes too) over the orthophoto. If the SHP was in another system, for example zone 29 or geographic coordinates, it has already been converted. The table data of each feature is kept with it, as extended data.

The same can be done on the command line, for example in a script:

SHP, KML, KMZ or GeoJSON file:

Field for the layer (…) or [None] <None>:

Block name for the points <point object>:

4. Checking coordinates

1. Enter GEOCOORD.

Specify point or [System] <EPSG:…>:

2. Click a parcel corner: the command line shows its drawing coordinates and its WGS84 latitude and longitude. With S (System) you choose another target system, for example 4326 or 23030 (ED50).
3. With the drawing georeferenced, clicking the coordinates on the status bar toggles them with the latitude and longitude of the cursor.

5. Saving and sharing

• Save as DWG: the coordinate system is saved the way AutoCAD saves it, and AutoCAD recognizes it when it opens the drawing (GEOGRAPHICLOCATION).
• The image is not stored inside the DWG: the drawing points to the file. Send the orthophoto and its world file along with the drawing.
• MAPEXPORT writes the selected objects to SHP, KML, KMZ or GeoJSON, with the table data they came with. KML and GeoJSON are in WGS84: a KMZ opens directly in map viewers.

Notes

• Image formats: TIFF and GeoTIFF, JPG, PNG, BMP, GIF and WebP. ECW and JPEG 2000 are not read: convert them to GeoTIFF first.
• If the image has no georeferencing, place it with GEOREFIMAGE, giving two or three points on the image and their real position.
• So that the orthophoto does not cover the parcels, send it to the back with DRAWORDER. IMAGEADJUST changes its brightness and contrast, and TRANSPARENCY lets what is underneath show through its transparent pixels.
• With the ED50 datum, the conversion to ETRS89 uses the official IGN grid (SPED2ETV2.gsb) if it is in the program's rejillas folder (centimetre accuracy); otherwise, a 7-parameter transformation (≈ 1.5 m).

See also

Georeferencing · Raster images · GEOGRAPHICLOCATION · GEOIMAGE · MAPIMPORT · GEOCOORD

Appendix: command aliases

An alias is a short way of typing a command on the command line: L instead of LINE, C instead of CIRCLE. LinceCAD uses the usual AutoCAD aliases in each language, so muscle memory works just the same.

• Type the alias and press Enter or Space, as if it were the full name.
• Every command also has an English global name prefixed with _ (_LINE, _CIRCLE), which works in any interface language: it is the one to use in scripts and in AutoLISP.
• As you type, the command line suggests the commands starting with those letters; an exact alias always comes first.

Your own aliases

Aliases can be changed and added with ALIASEDIT: they are saved in lince.pgp, in the configuration folder (%APPDATA%\lince; on Linux, ~/.config/lince), with the syntax of AutoCAD's acad.pgp (LL, *LINE). An AutoCAD acad.pgp can be imported as it is: its external commands are ignored.

• Your own alias wins over a built-in one with the same letters, but not over a command name.
• With _ or . in front, your own aliases are not used.
• They apply at once, without restarting.

Aliases changed in 1.0.0

So that the aliases are those of the AutoCAD 2027 acad.pgp (the English ones in English and the Spanish ones in Spanish), these have changed. If you prefer the old ones, add them with ALIASEDIT.

Also:

• With the English interface the Spanish aliases no longer work (they clashed with AutoCAD's English aliases, such as R, IM or ALI); the Spanish command names still do.
• With a leading _, English aliases work in any interface language (_DDEDIT, _P), as in AutoCAD.
• The global name of BVPARAM is _BVPARAM (_BVSTATE is another AutoCAD command); in English it is BVPARAM. DIMEDIT's Spanish name is now ACOEDIC, as in AutoCAD.
• In Spanish, the aliases follow AutoCAD 2027 in Spanish: POL is PLINE, U is JOIN, RR is TRIM, CO is SLICE… (see the Spanish version of this page).

Built-in aliases

The table lists every command with its name, its global name and its aliases in the language of this page.

See also

Keyboard and shortcuts · The interface · Welcome

The user interface

From top to bottom, the LinceCAD window has the ribbon (or the menus and toolbars of the Classic workspace), the drawing area, the layout tabs, the command line and the status bar. Palettes (Properties, layers, blocks...) open when you need them and can float over the drawing or be docked at its sides.

Workspaces

A workspace is a named layout of the interface. Two are built in:

• Drafting & Annotation (ribbon): the ribbon with its tabs, the LinceCAD ▾ application button and the Quick Access toolbar (New, Open, Save, Save As, Undo, Redo and Plot).
• Classic (menus and toolbars): the traditional menu bar (File, Edit, View, Insert, Format, Tools, Draw, Dimension, Modify, Window and Help) and the Standard, Draw, Modify and Layers toolbars.

Each workspace also remembers the ribbon state, how the command line is placed and which palettes are open, on which side and how wide. The ⚙ gear on the status bar shows the current one and, when clicked, lists them all to switch with one click. WSSAVE saves the current layout with a name and WORKSPACE renames and deletes them. They are kept when the program closes.

Both built-in workspaces give access to the same commands. Commands that are not finished yet are dimmed; hovering over any button shows its description.

The ribbon

Every available command is in some panel. Each panel shows its large buttons and two columns of small ones; if it has more, the ▾ in its title expands the rest. While you edit a block, the Block Editor contextual tab appears (see Blocks).

When the window is narrow, the panels that do not fit collapse, from right to left, into a button with their icon, title and ▼ that drops the panel down below.

Minimizing the ribbon

The ▴/▾ button to the right of the tabs cycles through the ribbon states; right-click it to choose one directly:

• Show Full Ribbon: tabs and panels.
• Minimize to Tabs: only the tabs; clicking one drops its panels over the drawing, and they fold away when you choose a command or click elsewhere.
• Minimize to Panel Titles: the tabs and the titles of their panels; each title drops its panel down.

The command line

The keyboard always goes to the command line, as in AutoCAD: just start typing.

• It shows the last three lines; the text window (F2) has the full history.
• While you type a command name, a list of up to 8 suggestions with their descriptions appears: choose with the arrow keys and complete with Tab or a click.
• Enter or Space sends what you typed (Space does not while you are typing text). Enter on an empty line repeats the last command.
• The options in brackets in the prompt are shown in blue and can be clicked; typing their capital letters also works.
• You can type the command name, its alias (built-in or your own) or the global English name with _ (_LINE) in any language.
• A line that starts with ( is evaluated as AutoLISP (see AutoLISP).

Floating command line

The ⇱ button at its left undocks the command line: it becomes a window without a title bar that you can drag anywhere and widen by its edges. While it floats, the ◐ button sets its transparency (opacity from 10 to 100 %); it turns opaque when the mouse is over it. ⇲ docks it again below the drawing.

Palettes

Each one has buttons in its header to place it:

• ◂ / ▸ (Dock left / Dock right): the palette docks on that side and the drawing narrows to make room. Several palettes on the same side share its height. Drag the edge facing the drawing to change the width.
• ◻ (Floating): it becomes a floating window again.
• 📌 (Auto-hide), docked only: the palette folds into a vertical tab at the edge of the window and slides out when the mouse passes over it.

Customizing

CUI changes the commands of any ribbon panel or Classic toolbar (add, remove and reorder) and assigns your own keyboard shortcuts. Your own aliases are edited with ALIASEDIT and saved in lince.pgp, with the syntax of AutoCAD's acad.pgp (one can be imported). Everything is saved in the configuration folder (%APPDATA%\lince; on Linux, ~/.config/lince), together with the workspaces.

The status bar

Next come the program messages and, at the far right, what was drawn in the last redraw and how long it took.

Drawing tabs and layout tabs

With two or more drawings open, their tabs appear above the drawing area; Ctrl+Tab and Ctrl+Shift+Tab switch to the next and previous one. Below the drawing are the Model tab and one tab per layout (see Layouts and plotting).

Shortcut menu and double-click

Right-clicking in the drawing area opens a menu that depends on what you are doing:

• With a command running: Enter, Cancel and the options of the prompt.
• With no command: repeat the last command, the usual editing commands if something is selected (Erase, Move, Copy, Scale, Rotate, Mirror) and Deselect All, plus Undo, Redo, Zoom Extents, Select All and Properties.

Double-clicking an object opens its editor: a text, TEXTEDIT; a hatch, HATCHEDIT; a block with attributes, ATTEDIT; a block without attributes, BEDIT; a table cell, TABLEDIT. For any other object it opens the Properties palette.

You can also open a drawing by dragging the file onto the window.

See also

Keyboard shortcuts · Command aliases · Options · OPTIONS

Coordinates and input

When a command asks for a point, you can specify it by clicking in the drawing, with an object snap, or by typing its coordinates on the command line. Coordinates are Cartesian, in drawing units, in the current User Coordinate System (UCS), which at first is the World Coordinate System (WCS).

Ways to type a point

• Input is always typed as in AutoCAD: decimal point and comma between X and Y (10.5,20), whatever number format is chosen in OPTIONS.
• Angles are typed in degrees and measured from the X axis, counterclockwise.
• Direct distance entry is very handy with Ortho (F8) or polar tracking (F10): point with the mouse and type only the length.
• When the command expects a number (a radius, a height, a factor), what you type is that number, not a point.

Dynamic input (F12)

With DYN on (it is on at startup), the command prompt appears next to the cursor and, when a point is requested, two fields with live values:

• for the first point, X and Y;
• for the following ones, the distance and the angle from the last point.

What you type goes to the active field. Tab locks that value (the cursor is constrained to it and a padlock appears) and moves to the other field; Enter sends the point. Without Tab, what you type is read exactly as on the command line. F12 or the DYN button on the status bar turns it on and off.

Coordinates on the status bar

The left end of the status bar shows the cursor position (or that of the point it snaps to, if there is an object snap or grid snap). It uses the units and precision set with UNITS and the number format from OPTIONS: with a decimal comma, X and Y are separated by a semicolon (12,5; 30). If the drawing has a coordinate system (GEOGRAPHICLOCATION), clicking the coordinates adds latitude and longitude.

Drawing units

UNITS sets how lengths and angles are displayed (decimal, feet and inches, degrees-minutes-seconds, bearings...) and their precision. The variables LUNITS, LUPREC, AUNITS, AUPREC and INSUNITS store these settings in the drawing.

Querying coordinates and distances

• ID shows the coordinates of a point.
• DIST measures the distance and angle between two points.
• LIST shows the data of the selected objects, including their coordinates.
• MEASUREGEOM measures distances, radii and areas.

User coordinate systems (UCS)

A UCS is an origin and axes of your own, moved or rotated with respect to the WCS: for example, aligned with a building that does not follow the axes of the plan. LinceCAD has UCSs in the plane, like AutoCAD in 2D:

• UCS defines the current UCS (by origin and X axis, aligned with an object, rotated with Z...), saves it with a name and goes back to the previous one or to the world system. UCSMAN manages named UCSs.
• With a UCS, the coordinates you type and those shown in the status bar are in the UCS; an asterisk in front (*x,y) gives them in the world system.
• Ortho, the grid, snap and the crosshairs are aligned with the UCS, and so are RECTANG and the rotation of TEXT. Polar tracking, dynamic input and the angles of other commands stay on the world axes.
• The UCS icon, at the lower left or at the origin, is set up with UCSICON (variable UCSICON).
• PLAN rotates the view so that the UCS X axis is horizontal.
• The UCS is saved in the drawing as in AutoCAD. In AutoLISP, trans converts points between the WCS and the UCS.

For georeferenced drawings, see Geolocation.

See also

Object snaps and precision · LINE · UNITS · UCS · The user interface

Object snaps and precision

Clicking "close enough" is not enough to draw accurately: object snaps take the cursor to exact points on objects (endpoints, centers, intersections...), and Ortho, polar tracking and object snap tracking guide it along exact directions. All these aids work only while a command is asking for a point.

Object snaps (F3)

With OSNAP on, moving the cursor near a key point shows a yellow marker with its name, and the click snaps to that point. F3 or the status bar button turns snaps on and off; right-clicking the button opens the list of modes, with Select All and Clear All. At startup all modes are on except Nearest.

Snap override: when the command asks for a point, type the abbreviation (END, MID, TAN...) and press Enter: only that mode applies to the next point, even if OSNAP is off. The Spanish abbreviations (FIN, MED, CER...) and the underscore forms (_end) are accepted too. Object snaps also work inside inserted blocks and dimensions.

Object snap tracking (F11)

With OTRACK and object snaps on, rest the cursor on an object snap for half a second: the point is acquired and marked with a green cross. Horizontal and vertical tracking paths come out of each acquired point; the cursor snaps to them and to their intersections with other paths or with polar paths. Up to 7 points can be acquired; resting on one again releases it. The Extension mode is acquired the same way, by resting on an endpoint.

Ortho (F8) and polar tracking (F10)

• ORTHO forces the next point to be horizontal or vertical from the last one.
• POLAR snaps the cursor to directions that are multiples of the increment angle when it passes near them, with a dashed tracking path and a tooltip with the distance and angle. Right-click the button to choose the increment: 90°, 45°, 30°, 22.5°, 18°, 15°, 10° or 5°.

Ortho and polar tracking exclude each other: turning one on turns the other off. With either of them, typing just a distance places the point in the marked direction (see Coordinates and input).

Grid and snap (F9)

The model background shows a grid that adapts to the zoom: its spacing is a power of 10 with at least 25 pixels between lines. With SNAP (F9) the cursor jumps to the nodes of that grid. The grid cannot be configured or hidden yet (the GRID toggle and F7 are not available yet). With a rotated UCS, the grid, snap and Ortho follow its axes (see Coordinates and input).

Isometric drafting (F5, Ctrl+E)

To draw isometric views in 2D, turn on isometric drafting with ISODRAFT or the ISO button on the status bar. Ortho, the grid, snap and the crosshairs then follow the two axes of the current isometric plane:

F5 or Ctrl+E switch to the next plane (so does ISOPLANE), and ELLIPSE offers the Isocircle option to draw circles in the plane. The mode is saved in the drawing (SNAPSTYL and SNAPISOPAIR).

Order of priority

When several aids are on, the point is decided as follows: first the object snap under the cursor, if any; otherwise tracking (polar or object snap tracking); otherwise grid snap and Ortho. Dynamic input can then lock the distance or the angle with Tab.

See also

OSNAP · ORTHO · POLAR · SNAP · ISODRAFT · Coordinates and input · Keyboard shortcuts

Selecting objects

Almost all editing commands work on a set of selected objects. You can select them before starting the command (pre-selection, or noun/verb selection) or when the command asks for them with the prompt:

Select objects:

Ways to select

"Select objects" options

While selecting for a command you can type AutoCAD's options (? lists them):

If the command's prompt has its own options (for example GROUP: [Name/Description]), the command's win.

While selecting, the object under the cursor is highlighted so you can see what a click would select. Selected objects are drawn highlighted and, with no command running, show their grips (see Editing).

Pre-selection

With no command running, each click or window adds objects to the selection. If you then start an editing command (ERASE, MOVE, COPY...), the command uses that selection and does not ask again. To clear it:

• press Esc (with a command running, the first Esc cancels the command and the second one clears the selection);
• click an empty area of the drawing;
• or use Deselect All on the shortcut menu.

With something selected, Delete erases it and right-clicking offers the most common editing commands.

What cannot be selected

• Objects on locked layers: they are visible, but neither clicks nor windows select them (a few layer commands, which only need to know an object's layer, do accept them).
• Objects on layers that are off or frozen, which are not visible.
• Objects hidden with HIDEOBJECTS or left out by ISOLATEOBJECTS.

Groups

A group (GROUP) is a named set of objects that are selected together. With the PICKSTYLE variable set to 1, selecting a member selects the whole group; Ctrl+Shift+A toggles this behavior. GROUPEDIT adds or removes members and UNGROUP dissolves the group.

Selecting by properties

• QSELECT: selects by object type and by the value of a property (layer, color, linetype...).
• SELECTSIMILAR: selects the objects of the same type and properties as the selected ones.
• FILTER: selects with a list of type and property conditions combined with AND, OR, XOR and NOT, which can be saved with a name.
• The PROPERTIES palette shows a drop-down list by type ("All (6)", "Line (2)"...) to view or change only part of the selection.

Table cells

With no command running, a click inside a table selects the cell; Shift+click or dragging from one cell to another selects a range (see Tables).

Notes

• Selection cycling between overlapping objects is not available yet.
• AutoCAD's selection variables (PICKFIRST, PICKADD...) cannot be changed: LinceCAD behaves as with their default values.

See also

Editing · Layers · AI_SELALL · QSELECT · GROUP

Editing: grips, undo, clipboard and properties

Objects are changed with the editing commands (MOVE, COPY, ROTATE, TRIM...) or directly with the mouse, through their grips. This page covers what all of them have in common.

Grips

When you select objects with no command running, their grips appear: blue squares at the points that define each object (endpoints and midpoints of segments, center and quadrants of circles and arcs, insertion point of blocks and texts...). The one under the cursor turns red.

1. Click a grip: it becomes the hot grip (red) and STRETCH mode starts.

Specify stretch point or [Base point/Copy/eXit]:

2. Move the cursor and click where the point must go (object snaps and typed coordinates work). You can also drag the grip and drop it in place.
3. Enter or Space cycles to the next mode, in this order:

Every mode has three options:

• Base point (B): picks another base point instead of the grip.
• Copy (C): keeps the original and creates a copy with each click, until you press Enter.
• eXit (X): ends without further changes. Esc cancels as well.

Dimensions, tables (column widths, row heights) and dynamic blocks have their own grips; those of dynamic blocks are drawn in cyan.

Undo and redo

• UNDO (Ctrl+Z) undoes the whole last command; it can be repeated up to 50 times.
• REDO (Ctrl+Y) redoes what was undone.
• A change made with grips, in the Properties palette or in a table cell is also an undo step.
• A whole Block Editor session counts as a single step.

Clipboard

You can copy from one drawing and paste into another open drawing. The clipboard keys only act when the command line is empty and no command is running; if another text box has the keyboard focus, they copy and paste text as usual.

Properties

The PROPERTIES palette (Ctrl+1, or double-click an object) shows and changes the properties of the selection:

• General: color, layer, linetype, linetype scale and lineweight, common to all objects.
• Geometry and sections specific to each type: coordinates of a line, radius of a circle, vertices of a polyline, contents of a text, style of a dimension, cells of a table, properties of a dynamic block...
• When the objects have different values, *VARIES* is shown. Read-only values are grayed out.
• With nothing selected, the palette shows the current properties: the ones new objects will take.

MATCHPROP copies the properties of one object to others.

Other editing aids

• Delete erases the selection (ERASE).
• DRAWORDER changes which objects are drawn on top.
• ISOLATEOBJECTS and HIDEOBJECTS let you work with part of the drawing only, without changing it.

See also

Selecting objects · Layers and properties · Object snaps

Layers and object properties

Layers organize a drawing like stacked transparent sheets: every object is on a layer and, unless the object says otherwise, the layer sets its color, linetype, lineweight and transparency. Turning a layer off, freezing it or locking it affects all its objects at once.

The layer control

The layer control is on the ribbon (Home tab, Layers panel) and on the Layers toolbar of the Classic workspace: the drop-down list with the current layer and, for each layer, the state icons:

Choosing a layer in the drop-down list makes it current: new objects are created on it. The current layer is also shown on the status bar.

The Layer Properties Manager

LAYER opens the Layer Properties Manager, a palette with one row per layer and AutoCAD's columns: status, name, on, freeze, VP freeze, lock, color, linetype, lineweight, transparency, plot, new VP freeze and description. Click a column title to sort, select several layers at once, and search by name with wildcards (*, ?).

• Filters: property filters (conditions on name, state, color, linetype...) and group filters (a list of chosen layers), in a tree on the left, with the option to invert them.
• Layer states (LAYERSTATE): save the settings of all layers so you can restore them later. They are stored in the drawing as in AutoCAD, which lists and restores them.

Layer commands

Color, linetype, lineweight and transparency

Each object has four properties that can take a specific value or one of these two:

• ByLayer: the object takes the value of its layer. This is the usual choice, and what new objects have at first.
• ByBlock: an object inside a block takes the value of the inserted block.

Objects on layer 0 inside a block are drawn with the layer of the inserted block.

The global linetype scale is LTSCALE; the one for new objects is CELTSCALE. The current values are in CLAYER, CECOLOR and CELTYPE. Lineweights are always shown on screen (the LWDISPLAY toggle is not available yet), and when plotting they depend on the plot style table.

To change the properties of objects already drawn, use the PROPERTIES palette or MATCHPROP.

Transparency

Transparency lets what is underneath an object show through: at 50 %, the object is half visible over the background and over whatever is behind it. Object transparency is changed in the Properties palette; layer transparency, in the Transparency column of the layer manager or with the TRansparency option of -LAYER. New objects take CETRANSPARENCY, which starts as ByLayer.

• The TRANSP button on the status bar (TRANSPARENCYDISPLAY) shows or hides it on screen; it does not change the drawing.
• It is always plotted to PDF, SVG and PNG (there is no option to plot without it).
• It is saved in DWG files from version 2004 (group code 440 on objects and AcCmTransparency data on layers); DWG 2000 keeps the layer transparency but not the object transparency.
• Multiline text with its own colors inside the text loses its transparency.

See also

Editing and properties · Blocks · Layouts and plotting · PURGE

Text, styles and fonts

LinceCAD has AutoCAD's two kinds of text: single-line text (TEXT), created with TEXT, and multiline text or paragraph text (MTEXT), created with MTEXT. Both use a text style, which sets the font and its shape, and both are drawn with the real SHX or TrueType fonts, on screen and when plotting.

Single-line text

TEXT asks for the start point, the height and the rotation, and then the contents. Each line you type is a separate text object and the next one is placed below it; Enter on an empty line ends the command.

Specify start point of text or [Justify/Style]:

• Justify chooses which of the 15 points of the text is the insertion point (Left, Center, Right, Middle and the nine combinations of top, middle and bottom).
• Style changes the text style used (? lists them).

Multiline text

MTEXT asks for the two corners of the paragraph box; the width of the box decides where lines wrap. Before the second corner you can change the height, justification, style, rotation and width:

Specify opposite corner or [Height/Justify/Line spacing/Rotation/Style/Width/Columns]:

Then the Text Editor opens, with style, height, justification, width and color, and bold, italic and underline buttons that apply to the selected text. Each line in the editor is a paragraph. AutoCAD's MTEXT formatting codes are honored (font change, height, color, underline, stacked fractions...).

Editing text

Double-click a text, or use TEXTEDIT, to change its contents: a single-line text on the command line itself and an MTEXT in its editor. The PROPERTIES palette also changes the height, style, justification and rotation.

Text styles

STYLE opens the text style manager: create, rename, delete and set current. Each style sets:

The current style is in TEXTSTYLE and the default height in TEXTSIZE. Annotative texts and annotation scales are explained in Dimensions and annotation scales.

Fields

A field is a piece of text that is computed automatically: the date, the file name, the drawing author or title, the user, or a property of an object (the length of a line, the area of a boundary, the layer...). FIELD creates a text with a field or puts it in an existing text.

• Fields are shown on a gray background that is not plotted (FIELDDISPLAY turns it off).
• They are updated when the drawing is opened and saved; UPDATEFIELD updates them at any time, including the date.
• They are saved as in AutoCAD: the fields of an AutoCAD drawing are read and updated, and the other way round.

Find, replace and check spelling

• FIND finds a text and replaces it with another in the whole drawing or in the selection: texts, attributes, dimension texts, multileaders and table cells, matching case and whole words or not.
• SPELL checks those same texts with the dictionary of the interface language (Spanish or English, both included with the program) and suggests corrections; your own words are added to a user dictionary.

Fonts

• SHX: AutoCAD's stroke fonts (shapes 1.0 and 1.1, Unicode and big fonts).
• TrueType: the system fonts (.ttf).

LinceCAD does not ship AutoCAD's own fonts: it looks for them, in this order, in the drawing folder, in AutoCAD's font folders if AutoCAD is installed, and in the system fonts (on Linux, those of fontconfig). If a style's font is missing, it uses simplex.shx, txt.shx or Arial instead, the first one it finds, as AutoCAD does with FONTALT. For a drawing to look the same on another computer, copy its SHX fonts next to the DWG.

Notes

• When a DWG is read, texts are placed as AutoCAD left them; texts from a DXF are justified again.
• MTEXT indents, tabs and columns, text background masks and fields inside the MTEXT editor are not available yet.
• The texts of dimensions, leaders and tables also use text styles.

See also

TEXT · MTEXT · STYLE · Dimensions · Tables

Dimensions, leaders and annotation scales

A dimension measures the drawing and writes the measurement. In LinceCAD every dimension is an AutoCAD dimension object (DIMENSION) with its style: it is drawn from its definition points and regenerated when it is moved, copied or its style changes, so AutoCAD recognizes it and can edit it.

Dimension types

All of them ask for the points one by one, with a preview; object snaps (Endpoint, Center, Intersection...) are almost essential to dimension accurately. The dimension is created on the current layer; its lines, arrows and text go on layer 0 of the dimension's block with ByBlock properties, as in AutoCAD.

TOLERANCE creates geometric tolerance feature control frames (position, flatness, perpendicularity...); measurement tolerances (± and limits) are turned on in the dimension style.

Editing dimensions

• Grips move the dimension line, the text or the measured points.
• MOVE, COPY, ROTATE, SCALE, MIRROR and ARRAY regenerate the dimension; each copy gets its own block.
• DIMEDIT changes the text of dimensions or puts it back in its home position.
• DIMSPACE evens out the spacing between parallel dimensions, DIMBREAK breaks them where other objects cross them and DIMJOGLINE adds a jog to a linear dimension.
• The PROPERTIES palette has Dimension and Overrides sections: changing a dimension variable there overrides it for that dimension only, without touching the style (stored as AutoCAD does).

Associative dimensions

With DIMASSOC set to 2 (the initial value), a dimension whose points lie on the geometry (endpoint, midpoint, center, quadrant, node or polyline vertex) is associated with it: when the line, arc or polyline is moved, stretched, scaled or edited with grips, the dimension moves and its measurement changes.

• If the dimension is moved on its own or its geometry is erased, the dimension is disassociated and stays where it is.
• DIMREASSOCIATE associates it again by specifying its points once more; DIMDISASSOCIATE removes the association.
• Associations are saved as in AutoCAD, both ways: associative dimensions of an AutoCAD drawing stay associative in LinceCAD, and the other way round.
• A point at an intersection or a nearest point does not associate the dimension.

Dimension styles

DIMSTYLE opens the dimension style manager, with Set Current, New, Modify, Rename and Delete. When you modify a style, its settings are on AutoCAD's tabs: Lines, Symbols and Arrows, Text, Fit and Primary Units. Changes to a style apply to all the dimensions that use it.

A new drawing starts, as with AutoCAD's acadiso.dwt, with two styles: Standard (the inch one) and ISO-25, the current one (metric, arrows and text 2.5 high, with the same variables as in AutoCAD 2027). The decimal separator of the measurements is the style's: with a comma, as in Spanish AutoCAD, the dimension reads "56,57". The current style is in DIMSTYLE.

Multileaders

MLEADER draws a multileader: arrowhead, leader line, landing and a text or a block.

• MLEADERSTYLE: creates, modifies and sets current multileader styles.
• MLEADEREDIT: adds leader lines to an existing multileader or removes some.
• MLEADERALIGN: aligns the contents of several multileaders.

Annotation scales

For texts and dimensions to have the intended size on paper there are two ways:

• Fixed scale: DIMSCALE multiplies all dimension sizes (with 50, a 2.5 arrowhead is 125 drawing units long, which is 2.5 mm on a 1:50 plot), and texts are written with the height already multiplied.
• Annotative objects: they are written with the paper height (2.5) and shown at the size that matches the annotation scale (CANNOSCALE). If the plot changes scale, just change the annotation scale.

The current annotation scale is chosen with the selector on the status bar (or with CANNOSCALE) among the scales of the drawing's list, which is edited with SCALELISTEDIT. What is created annotative:

• texts, multiline texts and dimensions created with an annotative style (Annotative box in STYLE and on the Fit tab of DIMSTYLE);
• multileaders and tolerances with an annotative style;
• any text or dimension set to Annotative: Yes in the PROPERTIES palette.

An annotative object can support several scales and keeps one representation (position and size) for each. OBJECTSCALE adds scales to it or removes them and, with ANNOAUTOSCALE, the new scale is added automatically when the annotation scale changes. In a layout, each viewport shows the annotative objects at its own scale: the same text comes out the same size in a 1:50 viewport and in a 1:100 one.

Everything is saved as in AutoCAD: annotative objects of an AutoCAD drawing look the same in LinceCAD, and the other way round.

Notes

• Annotative blocks cannot be created yet (those that come in drawings do change scale), and annotative multileader styles are the ones that come in drawings.
• A grip moves all the representations of an annotative object, not only the one shown, and a copy of an annotative object supports only the current scale.

See also

Text and styles · Object snaps · Layouts · Tutorial: dimensioning a plan

Blocks, attributes and libraries

A block is a named set of objects that you define once and insert as many times as needed (a door, a socket, a symbol). Each insertion is a single object that can be moved, rotated or scaled; if you change the definition, all insertions change.

Creating and inserting

When you create a block you choose what to do with the original objects: retain them, convert them to an insertion of the block, or delete them. If the name already exists, you are asked whether to redefine it.

The Blocks palette shows thumbnails of the blocks in the current drawing, the recently used ones and those of the libraries. Click or drag a block to place it; scale and rotation are typed or picked with the mouse. Inserting a DWG or DXF file brings it in as a block with its layers, styles and nested blocks; definitions that already exist in the drawing are kept.

Tip: draw the contents of a block on layer 0 with ByBlock properties; that way each insertion takes the layer, color and linetype it is inserted with (see Layers).

Attributes

Attributes are variable texts inside a block (a reference, a circuit, a price).

• ATTDEF creates an attribute definition: tag, prompt and default value. It is included in the block when the block is created.
• When the block is inserted, the values are requested.
• ATTEDIT (or double-click the block) and EATTEDIT change the values of an insertion.
• BATTMAN changes the order, prompt, default value and modes of a block's attributes, and ATTSYNC updates the existing insertions to match the definition.
• ATTEXT extracts attributes to a CSV file or to a table in the drawing.

Dynamic blocks

Dynamic blocks made with AutoCAD work in LinceCAD: their grips are drawn in cyan and change visibility, flip, lengths, point positions, rotation, arrays and lookup tables. The Properties palette shows their values in the Custom section. RESETBLOCK resets them to the values of the definition. LinceCAD cannot create new parameters or actions yet.

Block Editor

BEDIT (or double-click a block without attributes) opens a block definition as if it were a drawing: all commands, object snaps, grips and undo work. The Block Editor ribbon tab appears and, at the bottom, a bar with the block name.

• BSAVE saves the definition and redraws all its insertions.
• BSAVEAS saves the edited contents as a new block and leaves the original unchanged.
• BCLOSE closes the editor; if there are unsaved changes, it asks.

The whole editor session is undone in one step. External references and anonymous blocks cannot be edited.

DesignCenter, palettes and libraries

• ADCENTER browses other drawings, open or in a folder, and copies their blocks, layers, linetypes, styles and layouts into the current drawing.
• TOOLPALETTES are palettes with blocks ready to insert with their scale, rotation and layer; fill them by dragging blocks from the Blocks palette or from DesignCenter.
• LinceCAD is installed with two libraries of its own in the bibliotecas folder: Arquitectura.dwg (doors, windows, furniture and sanitary fittings) and Electricidad.dwg (switches, sockets and lights, with CIR and REF attributes). Any DWG with blocks can serve as a library.

Notes

• PURGE deletes unused block definitions.
• The base point of a drawing inserted as a block is INSBASE.

See also

Layers and properties · External references · Tables · Tutorial: blocks

Hatches and fills

A hatch (HATCH) fills a closed boundary with a pattern of lines, a solid fill or a gradient: sections, materials, areas of a plan. LinceCAD draws the hatches of any DWG or DXF with their pattern and islands, and creates new hatches with HATCH and gradients with GRADIENT.

Creating a hatch

1. Enter HATCH or click Hatch on the ribbon. The Hatch and Gradient dialog box opens.
2. Choose the Pattern, the Scale and the Angle.
3. Specify the boundary with Add: Pick points (click inside the area: LinceCAD finds the closed boundary around it and any islands inside) or with Add: Select objects (select the closed objects that form it). Both can be combined. If the boundary has small gaps, HPGAPTOL closes them.
4. Click OK.

Islands (boundaries inside the boundary) are treated as in AutoCAD's Normal style: hatched and empty areas alternate inwards.

Patterns

They are LinceCAD's own definitions with the usual names, so AutoCAD recognizes the hatch. Hatches that come with a drawing are always drawn with the pattern they store, even if it is not in this list.

The scale multiplies the pattern spacing; the angle rotates it (with ANSI31, 0° gives the 45° hatching).

The Origin option of HATCH chooses the point the pattern passes through: for example, so that a row of bricks starts at the corner of the wall.

Editing a hatch

Double-click the hatch, or use HATCHEDIT, to change its pattern, scale, angle, gradient or origin. On the command line, HATCHEDIT also disassociates it from its boundary or associates it with other objects, separates it into independent hatches (one per area) and recreates its boundary as polylines. The PROPERTIES palette also changes the layer, the color and the other general properties. A hatch is moved, copied, rotated and scaled like any other object, and TRIM removes the piece you pick between the cutting edges.

Associative hatches

The hatches LinceCAD creates are associative, as in AutoCAD: they keep the objects of their boundary and, if one of them is edited (with grips, MOVE, STRETCH, PEDIT...), the hatch is rebuilt to follow it. It stops being associative if the hatch is moved on its own, if a boundary object is erased or if it is trimmed. AutoCAD recognizes the associativity when it opens the drawing.

HATCHGENERATEBOUNDARY creates polylines with the boundary of a hatch that has lost it (without associating them).

Gradients

GRADIENT, or the Gradient tab of the HATCH dialog box, fills with a gradient of one color (towards black or white) or of two, in the nine AutoCAD types (linear, cylinder, spherical, hemispherical, curved and their inverted versions), centered or shifted and at any angle. They are saved as in AutoCAD, and the gradients that come in drawings are shown with their colors.

Related commands

• BOUNDARY creates a polyline or a region from the boundary around a point, with the same search as HATCH.
• REGION converts closed curves into regions.
• SOLID draws filled triangles and quadrilaterals, and DONUT, filled rings or circles.
• WIPEOUT covers what lies under a boundary with the background color.
• DRAWORDER decides whether the hatch is below or above other objects.

Notes

• AutoCAD's Outer and Ignore island styles are drawn as Normal.
• User-defined patterns (.pat files) are not available yet.
• The hatch is not automatically sent behind its boundary: use DRAWORDER if needed.
• When plotting, hatches come out with their pattern or fill, just as on screen.

See also

HATCH · HATCHEDIT · GRADIENT · Layers and properties · Layouts and plotting

Tables

A table is an object with rows and columns of cells holding text, numbers or formulas: bills of materials, area schedules, legends. LinceCAD creates and edits tables compatible with AutoCAD's (TABLE object), which look and plot the same in both programs.

Creating a table

TABLE opens the Insert Table dialog box:

• the table style;
• the number of columns and rows and their size (column width and row height in lines of text);
• what the first and second rows are: title, header or data;
• how it is placed: by its insertion point or with a window that sets the overall size;
• the contents: empty, from a CSV file, or pasted text (separated by tabs, commas or semicolons).

Once placed, you start typing in the first cell: Tab and Shift+Tab move to the next and previous cell, and the arrow keys move between cells.

Selecting and editing cells

With no command running:

• a click inside a cell selects it; Shift+click or dragging to another cell selects a range;
• double-clicking a cell, or TABLEDIT, edits its text with the multiline text editor.

With cells selected, the Table Cell palette appears: insert and delete rows and columns, merge and unmerge cells, alignment, text height and color, fill color, and quick formulas (Sum, Average, Count). Each button is equivalent to TABLECELL and is undone separately. The PROPERTIES palette also shows Table and Cells sections.

Formulas

A cell that starts with = is a formula. References are column and row, as in a spreadsheet (A3, B2:B9).

Formulas are recalculated when a cell changes, and a formula can use the result of another. A decimal comma is accepted, as in Spanish AutoCAD. They are stored as AutoCAD stores them, so AutoCAD keeps calculating them.

Grips

A selected table has grips to move it, to change the width of each column, the overall width and height (at the corners), and the height of each row. COPY, ROTATE, SCALE and EXPLODE work with tables as with any other object.

Table styles

TABLESTYLE creates and modifies table styles: cell margins and, for each kind of cell (title, header and data), text style and height, color, fill and alignment. The current style (CTABLESTYLE) can also be chosen on the ribbon, Annotate tab, Tables panel.

Import and export

• CSV: TABLE imports it when the table is created; TABLEEXPORT saves the cells of a table to a CSV file, with formulas as their values.
• ATTEXT creates a table with the attributes of blocks.

Notes

• Formulas do not update their references when rows or columns are inserted or deleted.
• Rows grow with the text but do not shrink by themselves. SCALE does not change text heights.
• In DWG 2000, formulas are saved as values (in DXF 2000 they are kept).
• There are no data links to Excel: use CSV.

See also

TABLE · TABLESTYLE · Text and styles · Blocks and attributes

External references

An external reference (xref) is another DWG or DXF drawing displayed inside the current one without copying it: an architectural plan under the building services, a survey base, a project's common title block. If someone changes the referenced drawing, the change shows when it is reloaded. A PDF underlay is the same with a page of a PDF: a plan received as a PDF that serves as a background to draw on.

Attaching a reference

1. Enter XATTACH or click Attach DWG… in the XREF palette.
2. Choose the file and specify the insertion point, the scale and the rotation.

With the Overlay option the reference is an overlay: it is shown in this drawing, but not in the drawings that attach this one (useful to avoid carrying bases from one drawing to another). The reference's layers appear as reference|layer: they can be turned off, frozen or recolored like any other, and with VISRETAIN = 1 those changes are kept when it is reloaded. The reference content is shown somewhat faded (XFADECTL) to tell it apart from your own objects.

The references of a reference (nested ones) are also loaded and drawn; nested overlays are not.

The External References palette

XREF opens the External References palette, with the tree of DWG references (and their nested ones), the PDF underlays and the raster images of the drawing. For each reference it shows its status, type, size, date, saved path and the file that was found, and it has buttons to:

The same is done on the command line with -XREF, which accepts wildcards in the names. If a reference's file changes while the drawing is open (for example, because someone else saved it), the status bar warns about it with a button to reload it.

Where files are looked for

As in AutoCAD, for each reference the program tries, in this order:

1. the saved path, if it is absolute;
2. the saved path, relative to the drawing's folder;
3. just the file name, in the drawing's folder.

That is why, to take a project to another computer, it is enough to copy the drawing and its references together. How the path of new ones is saved (full, relative or no path) is decided by REFPATHTYPE. For security, network paths (\\server\...) are not read, and nothing from a referenced file is ever run: only its geometry is read.

Clipping

XCLIP shows only part of a reference or a block, inside or outside a rectangular, polygonal or polyline boundary. XCLIPFRAME decides whether the boundary is shown.

PDF underlays

• PDFATTACH attaches a page of a PDF; at scale 1 it measures the same as on paper.
• PDFCLIP clips the underlay, PDFADJUST changes its fade or contrast or turns it monochrome, and PDFLAYERS turns the PDF layers off or on.
• LinceCAD turns the page into an image by itself, without external programs. That is why object snaps do not work on what is drawn in the PDF, and with a lot of zoom the pixels show.

Not available yet

• Editing references in place (REFEDIT); the Block Editor does not open external references.
• XCLIP clip depth (3D).
• DWF and DGN underlays.

Alternatives

• To bring the content of another drawing in permanently, insert it as a block with INSERT or -INSERT, or bind it with -XREF: its objects become part of the current drawing.
• To copy only layers, styles or blocks from another drawing, use ADCENTER.

See also

Blocks · Raster images · File formats · XREF · XATTACH · PDFATTACH

Raster images

You can place raster images (photos, orthophotos, scanned drawings, logos) in the drawing, as in AutoCAD: the drawing stores only the image path, its position, size and rotation, not the pixels. So the image file must always travel with the drawing.

Formats

PNG, JPEG, BMP, TIFF (including GeoTIFF and tiled TIFF), GIF and WebP. ECW, MrSID and JPEG 2000 cannot be read (the Spanish PNOA orthophotos come as ECW): when a drawing that attaches them is opened you are warned, their frame says Unsupported format, and CONVERTIMAGE converts them to GeoTIFF with GDAL (QGIS or OSGeo4W, installed separately) and attaches the result in the same place. The original is not deleted.

Inserting an image

1. Enter IMAGEATTACH or use the Insert tab. Enter opens the dialog box to choose the file.
2. Specify the insertion point (lower-left corner). The Path option chooses whether the path is saved Relative to the drawing folder or Full.
3. Enter the scale factor (with 1, the image takes the size given by its resolution and the drawing units) and the rotation.

To place an image at its real-world coordinates, use GEOIMAGE or GEOREFIMAGE (see Geolocation).

Managing the images of a drawing

• The XREF window lists the images with their status, size and coordinate system, and has buttons to Reload, Detach and Change Path…; those in an unsupported format also have Convert with GDAL… (in the row and in its shortcut menu).
• -IMAGE does the same on the command line: ? lists them; Detach, Path, Reload and Unload ask for the image name (* for all); Attach attaches a new one.
• If an image is not found when the drawing is opened, its frame is shown with the file name; change the path to see it again.

Adjusting the image

The IMAGEFRAME variable controls image frames: 0, no frame; 1, displayed and plotted; 2, displayed but not plotted (for now LinceCAD plots it too).

An image is moved, copied, rotated and scaled like any other object.

Large images

Very large images (orthophotos of hundreds of megapixels) are loaded in tiles and in the background: a reduced version appears first and the detail arrives as you zoom in. Their memory use is capped, so you can work with several at once. Huge PNG and JPEG files, unlike TIFF, are read whole; it is better to convert them to TIFF.

Plotting

Images come out in PDF, SVG and PNG with their clipping and transparency. To keep files from growing without limit, each image is plotted at 300 dpi and 16 megapixels at most.

Notes

• Images are saved in DWG and DXF as AutoCAD saves them, and AutoCAD opens them in place.
• Brightness and contrast are close to, but not exactly, AutoCAD's.

See also

Geolocation · External references · IMAGEATTACH · Layouts and plotting

Geolocation and GIS

A georeferenced drawing has its coordinates in a real-world reference system (for example, ETRS89 / UTM 30N): every point of the drawing is a point on the ground. This way orthophotos, maps, GIS files and GPS data can be overlaid without moving them by hand.

Coordinate system of the drawing

GEOGRAPHICLOCATION assigns a coordinate system to the drawing. Type its EPSG code (25830, 4326...) or the Autodesk code (ETRS89.UTM-30N), or choose it in the dialog box; the List option shows the available systems and Remove deletes it. The drawing must already be in coordinates of that system: GEOGRAPHICLOCATION moves nothing, it only states which system the drawing is in. It is saved as in AutoCAD, which recognizes it.

The full list (over 300) is in the GEOGRAPHICLOCATION dialog box, grouped by country or region and searchable by EPSG code, name or country, and in the List command-line option. The parameters of each projection are those of EPSG (checked against PROJ to the millimeter).

Datum shift accuracy. Between ETRS89, WGS84 and the GRS80-based frames (SIRGAS, MAGNA-SIRGAS, POSGAR, RGF93, ETRF2000-PL, SWEREF99…) there is no datum shift: the transformation is exact (as in PROJ, ETRS89 = WGS84). Older datums use the best EPSG transformation that needs no grid, with its nominal accuracy: about 1 m for Amersfoort, BD72, LUREF, CH1903+, GGRS87, HD72 and Nord Sahara 1959; 1.2 m for Egypt 1907; 1.5 m for MGI; 2 m for OSGB36 (the official OSTN15 grid is not included: it can reach 3–4 m); 3 m for DHDN (the former West Germany one) and Stereo 70; 4 m for Monte Mario; 7 m for Merchich and 14 m for Carthage. For accurate work, draw in the country's modern system (ETRS89, SIRGAS…). ED50 transformations use the official NTv2 grid of the Spanish IGN if it is installed (in the rejillas folder next to the program or in AutoCAD's); otherwise a 7-parameter transformation with an error of about 1.5 m, valid only in Spain.

Geographic coordinates

• With a coordinate system assigned, clicking the coordinates on the status bar adds the cursor's latitude and longitude.
• GEOCOORD shows a point in WGS84 (latitude and longitude) or, with the System option, in any other system of the catalog.

GIS import and export

MAPIMPORT brings SHP (with its DBF), KML, KMZ and GeoJSON files into the drawing:

• points, lines and polygons (holes as closed polylines);
• reprojected to the drawing's system according to the SHP's .prj (KML and GeoJSON are always in WGS84);
• the attributes of each feature are stored on the object as extended data;
• the layer can come from a field, and points can be a block whose attributes take the values of the fields with the same name.

MAPEXPORT saves the selection to SHP, KML, KMZ or GeoJSON; the format comes from the file extension. SHP is written in the drawing's system, with its .prj and one file per geometry type. KML, KMZ and GeoJSON are written in WGS84 and need the drawing to have a coordinate system.

Georeferenced images

• GEOIMAGE inserts an image at its real coordinates from its world file (.tfw, .jgw, .pgw, .bpw, .wld...) or its GeoTIFF tags. If the image carries its coordinate system (.prj or GeoTIFF) and it is not the drawing's, the image is reprojected.
• GEOREFIMAGE places an image without georeferencing using control points: for each one, specify the point on the image and its real position. With two points the image is moved, rotated and scaled exactly; with three it is fitted by least squares.

Large orthophotos are loaded in tiles (see Raster images). ECW, MrSID and JPEG 2000 cannot be read: CONVERTIMAGE turns them into GeoTIFF with GDAL (installed separately), keeping the size and the georeferencing, and attaches the GeoTIFF in the same place in the drawing.

Tips

• Use meters as drawing units (UNITS) when working in UTM.
• With UTM coordinates the numbers are large (X ≈ 400,000, Y ≈ 4,500,000): use ZOOMEXTENTS to find the drawing.

Online maps

MAPSERVICE loads maps from WMS, WFS, WMTS and XYZ services as a background or as vectors. The Spanish servers are built in; those of other countries are in Map servers by country.

See also

Raster images · Coordinates · Tutorial: georeferenced plan · Map servers by country

Layouts and plotting

In model space you draw at full size (1 unit = 1 meter, or 1 millimeter, depending on the project). In the paper space of each layout you compose the sheet to be printed: the title block, notes, and one or more viewports that show the model at the chosen scale. Plotting turns the model or a layout into a PDF, SVG or PNG file.

Model and layout tabs

Below the drawing area are the Model tab and one tab per layout in the drawing. Switching to a layout shows the sheet of paper with its shadow and printable area, and the viewports with their contents.

A button next to the tabs shows whether you are working on paper (PAPER) or inside a viewport (MODEL); a click switches.

Viewports

• Double-click inside a viewport, or use MSPACE, to enter it: what you draw or edit goes to the model, clipped and at the viewport scale.
• Double-click outside the viewports, or use PSPACE, to return to paper.
• On paper you draw the title block, the texts and the dimensions of the sheet, at paper size (in millimeters or inches).
• Each viewport keeps its scale and its list of frozen layers: the Freeze in current viewport icon of the layer control hides a layer in that viewport only, on screen and when plotting. AutoCAD respects it.
• Annotative objects of the model are shown in each viewport at its annotation scale (the viewport's own or the one matching its scale): the same text comes out the same size on paper in a 1:50 viewport and in a 1:100 one.

LAYOUT and the layout tab context menu create, copy, delete, rename and insert layouts from templates (drag the tabs to reorder). MVIEW creates viewports (also non-rectangular) and VPCLIP clips them; inside a viewport zoom changes its view, and its scale is set in the status bar or PROPERTIES. VPMAX maximizes it.

Plotting

PLOT (Ctrl+P) opens the Plot dialog box:

When you click OK you choose the file: the extension (.pdf, .svg or .png) decides the format. For PNG you choose the resolution in dots per inch. Apply to Layout saves the settings in the layout.

The PDF is vector-based: lines, fills and texts (with their real SHX or TrueType fonts) stay sharp at any zoom. With a system printer, the sheet is printed at the printer resolution.

Plot styles (CTB and STB)

The plot style table decides the color, screening and lineweight each object is plotted with. LinceCAD includes monochrome.ctb (everything in black) and grayscale.ctb (grays), and also uses the .ctb files (or .stb, if the drawing uses named plot styles) in the drawing folder and in %APPDATA%\lince\estilos_trazado. You can copy AutoCAD's tables there.

Page setups and preview

• PAGESETUP manages the page setup of each layout and the named page setups, and imports them from other drawings. They are stored in the drawing as in AutoCAD.
• PREVIEW shows the sheet exactly as it will be plotted, with plot styles; the wheel zooms and dragging pans.
• EXPORT plots directly to PDF, SVG or PNG with the same dialog box.

Notes

• Plotting is always wireframe (no hidden lines), which is what a 2D drawing needs.
• Viewport views cannot be rotated yet, and ZOOM does not work inside a viewport yet.

See also

Layers · Dimensions and annotation scales · Raster images · Tutorial: from a plan to PDF

File formats and compatibility

LinceCAD works directly with AutoCAD's formats: it opens and saves DWG and DXF with no conversion, and what it saves opens in AutoCAD with all its entities. Compatibility is checked with AutoCAD 2027 on dozens of real drawings, auditing every copy.

Opening

OPEN (Ctrl+O), or dragging the file onto the window, opens:

• DWG files from R14 to 2018, that is, those written by every AutoCAD release from R14 to 2027;
• text DXF files of the same versions.

Each drawing opens in its own tab, in the background and with a progress bar (an 80 MB plan takes a few seconds). If the empty drawing from startup (Drawing1) has not been touched, it is replaced. Several drawings can be open at once, and you can copy and paste between them.

Saving

• QSAVE (Ctrl+S) saves the drawing in its format and version. A DWG older than 2000 (R14) is saved as DWG 2018.
• SAVEAS chooses the format and version. In the application menu and the File menu, Save As has a submenu with all the versions; when typed, it proposes DWG 2018.

When saving to an earlier version, objects that do not exist in it (proxy objects of third-party applications, render sun) are left out, with a warning. Drawings with AutoCAD Architecture objects can only be saved as DWG in their original version. The DWG 2000 format is not compressed, so it takes about twice the space of the same drawing in 2004 or later.

Safe saving

• The drawing is first written to a temporary file; only when it is complete does the original become .bak and the new file take its place. If anything fails, the original is left intact.
• Read-only files are not overwritten.
• When you close a drawing, exit, or open another drawing in its place, you are asked whether to save the changes.

Automatic save

Every 10 minutes, drawings with unsaved changes are saved in the background to the user's temporary folder (%TEMP%\lince\<name>_<n>.sv$). The file is deleted when the drawing is closed normally. If LinceCAD closes unexpectedly, opening the drawing again warns that there is a more recent automatic save: change its extension to .dwg and open it.

Damaged drawings

• AUDIT checks the integrity of the open drawing and fixes what is safe to fix.
• RECOVER opens a damaged file in tolerant mode, recovers whatever can be read and shows a report. Then save the drawing to keep what was repaired.
• If a file cannot be read, the error is shown and the drawing that was open is not lost.

Other formats

Notes

• Saving to R14 or R12, to DXF 2004 to 2013, or to binary DXF is not in the save dialog yet.
• There are no .dwt templates: NEW starts an empty metric drawing (ISO-25).
• LinceCAD does not associate itself with .dwg files when installed, so as not to take them from AutoCAD; the installer can add it to "Open with".

See also

What's new · External references · SAVEAS · RECOVER

Options and languages

OPTIONS (alias OP; also on the application menu and the Tools menu) opens the Options window with the program preferences. They belong to the user, not to the drawing: they apply to every drawing you open.

Interface tab

Apply tries the change without closing the window; OK applies and saves it; Cancel leaves everything as it was. Changing the language takes effect at once: no restart is needed.

Open and Save tab

Updates are explained in CHECKFORUPDATES and in License and maintenance.

Automation tab

Lets other programs on the computer (Python scripts, AI assistants over MCP) read and change the drawings: Allow automation (API/MCP), read-only mode, confirmation in the AIACTIONS palette, allowed folders and the local HTTP MCP server. Changes are saved at once. Everything is explained in Automation (API and MCP).

Language and command names

• In English you type the English command names (LINE, CIRCLE...) and their aliases (L, C...).
• In Spanish you type the Spanish AutoCAD names (LINEA, CIRCULO...).
• In any language the global names with an underscore (_LINE, _CIRCLE) and the Spanish names always work, so .scr scripts and AutoLISP routines run with any interface language.
• The first time, LinceCAD starts in the system language if it has a catalog for it; otherwise in Spanish.

Number format

The format decides how numbers are displayed: status bar coordinates, measurements from DIST or LIST, properties... With Automatic (by language) the language's format is used (comma in Spanish, point in English). With a decimal comma, X and Y are separated by a semicolon (12,5; 30).

What you type never changes: on the command line it is always decimal point and comma between coordinates (10.5,20), AutoCAD-style.

Drawing units (decimal, feet and inches, angles) are a different thing: they are stored in each drawing and changed with UNITS. The decimal separator of dimensions is set by their style (DIMSTYLE).

Where they are stored

Preferences are stored in preferencias.toml, in the user configuration folder: %APPDATA%\lince on Windows and ~/.config/lince on Linux. The same folder holds lisp.toml (APPLOAD routines and trusted folders), idiomas (added language catalogs) and estilos_trazado (your own CTB and STB tables).

Adding a language

Each language is a text file <code>.ftl (UTF-8) with one key = text line for each text of the interface. Nothing needs to be compiled:

1. Start from es.ftl, the complete Spanish catalog (in the idiomas folder of the LinceCAD source code), and save it with the code of the new language: fr.ftl, de.ftl, pt-BR.ftl...
2. Translate the texts to the right of =; do not change the keys or the { $name } variables. Use AutoCAD's official terms in that language.
3. Put the name of the language, written in that language, in idioma-nombre, and its decimal separator (, or .) in idioma-separador-decimal.
4. cmd-<command>-nombre and cmd-<command>-alias hold the names and aliases to be typed in that language. In the options (opt-…), the capital letters are the abbreviation.
5. Copy the file to the idiomas folder next to lince.exe or to %APPDATA%\lince\idiomas and restart LinceCAD: the language appears under Language.

A partial catalog works: whatever is missing is shown in Spanish. A file with the code of an existing language (es.ftl, en.ftl) replaces only the keys it contains, which is useful to adjust a few texts.

The pages of this help are translated the same way: an ayuda\<code> folder next to the program with the pages you want to translate; missing pages are shown in Spanish.

Other preferences

• The workspace (ribbon, Classic or a saved one) is chosen with the ⚙ button on the status bar; the ribbon, toolbars, shortcuts and aliases are adapted with CUI (see The user interface).
• Automatic save runs every 10 minutes (see File formats).

See also

The user interface · Coordinates · Keyboard shortcuts · UNITS

Keyboard and mouse shortcuts

LinceCAD uses AutoCAD's keys and mouse gestures. The keyboard always goes to the command line: you do not need to click it before typing a command.

Function keys

Command shortcuts

Shortcuts assigned to commands in the program's command registry:

Other combinations

Editing keys

Space does not send while you are typing text (TEXT, MTEXT, names) or inside an AutoLISP expression that starts with (: in those cases, only Enter does.

Mouse

In a layout, double-clicking inside a viewport enters it, and double-clicking outside the viewports returns to paper.

Notes

• Command options are chosen by typing their capital letters (C for Close, U for Undo), as in AutoCAD; in Spanish the letters may be different.
• The clipboard keys (Ctrl+C, Ctrl+X, Ctrl+V) only act when the command line is empty; if another text box has the keyboard focus, they copy and paste text.
• With CUI you can add your own shortcuts (Ctrl, Alt or a function key plus a key) for any command; your own shortcut wins over a built-in one with the same keys. Aliases are changed with ALIASEDIT.

See also

The user interface · Object snaps and precision · Selecting objects

What's new

History of the LinceCAD versions, from the most recent to the oldest. The installed version is shown in the window title and in ABOUT.

1.0.0 (coming): bug fixes

• Aliases as in AutoCAD 2027; with the English interface the Spanish aliases no longer apply, and _ plus an English alias works in any language. See Command aliases.
• LINE: Undo also removes the segment, not only the point.
• OPEN, SAVEAS (and its versions), RECOVER and NEW follow FILEDIA and, in scripts, SCRIPT, AutoLISP and the API, ask for the file on the command line. SAVEAS offers DWG, DXF and DWT in the dialog.
• ORTHO, OSNAP, SNAP, POLAR, LWDISPLAY and PAN can be typed; SETVAR, scripts and AutoLISP read and change OSMODE, ORTHOMODE, SNAPMODE, AUTOSNAP, POLARANG and GRIDMODE, and getvar/setvar see every SETVAR variable.
• In evaluation mode the query palettes can be opened (PROPERTIES, LAYER, XREF…).
• MESHREFINE makes the smoothed shape the mesh; ARRAY offers PAth; RECTANG previews in the UCS; texts and help fixed.

0.1.4-beta (November 2026)

• Complete external references: XATTACH (attach or overlay), -XREF (bind, detach, unload, reload, path and path type), the XREF palette with the tree of nested references and a status bar warning when a file changes, XCLIP and the BINDTYPE, REFPATHTYPE, VISRETAIN, XCLIPFRAME and XFADECTL variables.
• PDF underlays: PDFATTACH, -PDFATTACH, PDFCLIP, PDFADJUST and PDFLAYERS, without external programs.
• Gradients (GRADIENT and the Gradient tab of HATCH) and associative hatches, with the new options of HATCHEDIT, HATCHGENERATEBOUNDARY, TRIM on hatches and HPGAPTOL.
• XLINE and RAY.
• Isometric drafting: ISODRAFT, ISOPLANE, F5 and Ctrl+E, the ISO button and isocircles in ELLIPSE.
• UCS: UCS, UCSMAN, UCSICON and PLAN; trans converts between the WCS and the UCS.
• Annotation scale and annotative objects: CANNOSCALE with a selector on the status bar, annotative text and dimension styles, OBJECTSCALE, ANNOAUTOSCALE, Annotative in PROPERTIES and viewports that each show their own scale.
• Associative dimensions (DIMASSOC, DIMREASSOCIATE and DIMDISASSOCIATE) and new dimensions: DIMARC, DIMJOGGED, DIMJOGLINE, QDIM, DIMSPACE, DIMBREAK, three-point DIMANGULAR, TOLERANCE and measurement tolerances in DIMSTYLE.
• Fields: FIELD, UPDATEFIELD and FIELDDISPLAY.
• FIND (find and replace) and SPELL, with Spanish and English dictionaries included.
• Output: PUBLISH (several sheets to one PDF or one PDF per sheet), ETRANSMIT (ZIP package with the dependent files), layered PDF and PDF/A-2b, SAVEAS to DWG R14 and DXF R12, and proxies kept as AutoCAD does when changing version.
• Help (F1): this viewer, with help for every command, extended tooltips and the PDF manual.
• Interface: collapsible ribbon (full, tabs only or panel titles; panels that do not fit collapse) with every command; workspaces (WORKSPACE, WSSAVE and the ⚙ gear); dockable palettes on the left or right with auto-hide; floating command line with transparency; CUI (ribbon, toolbars and shortcuts) and ALIASEDIT (aliases in lince.pgp, compatible with acad.pgp).
• Object and layer transparency (0–90 %): in PROPERTIES, the layer manager and -LAYER, with CETRANSPARENCY, TRANSPARENCYDISPLAY and the TRANSP button; saved in DWG files and plotted.

0.1.3-beta (November 2026)

• Block Editor: BEDIT (also by double-clicking a block), BSAVE, BSAVEAS and BCLOSE; dynamic blocks remain dynamic after being edited.
• Editing: complete PEDIT, SPLINEDIT, LENGTHEN, ALIGN, OVERKILL and SCALELISTEDIT.
• Groups: GROUP, GROUPEDIT and UNGROUP, with Ctrl+Shift+A.
• ISOLATEOBJECTS, HIDEOBJECTS and UNISOLATEOBJECTS, with the ISOLATE button on the status bar.
• Multilines: MLINE and MLEDIT.
• Tables: TABLE, cell editing, formulas, TABLESTYLE, CSV import and TABLEEXPORT.

0.1.2-beta

• Raster images: IMAGEATTACH, -IMAGE, IMAGECLIP, IMAGEADJUST and TRANSPARENCY, with large tiled orthophotos and plotting to PDF, SVG and PNG.
• Georeferenced images: GEOIMAGE (world files and GeoTIFF) and GEOREFIMAGE (control points).
• Dynamic blocks: visibility, flip, stretch, rotation, arrays and lookups, with their grips; RESETBLOCK.

0.1.1-beta

• Blocks palette with thumbnails and libraries (INSERT), -INSERT, DesignCenter (ADCENTER) and tool palettes (TOOLPALETTES). Architecture and Electrical libraries included.
• Attributes: BATTMAN, ATTSYNC and ATTEXT.
• Geolocation: GEOGRAPHICLOCATION, GEOCOORD, latitude and longitude on the status bar, MAPIMPORT and MAPEXPORT (SHP, KML, KMZ and GeoJSON).
• AutoLISP: .lsp routines, expressions on the command line, C: commands and APPLOAD.

0.1.0-beta: first complete basic 2D clone

Brings together everything from the 0.0.x versions: drawing, editing, precision, layers, text, dimensions, blocks, hatches, layouts, plotting, utilities and several open drawings. The program is now split into independent modules, which speeds up its development.

0.0.14-alpha

• Utilities: DIST, AREA, ID, LIST, MEASUREGEOM, text window (F2), PURGE, UNITS, clipboard, QSELECT, SELECTSIMILAR, SETVAR, SCRIPT and DRAWORDER.
• Annotation and drawing: MLEADER and its styles, REVCLOUD, WIPEOUT, DONUT, SOLID, DIVIDE, MEASURE, PTYPE, BOUNDARY, REGION, and complete ELLIPSE and SPLINE.
• Several open drawings, with tabs, CLOSE, CLOSEALL and copy and paste between drawings.
• Plotting and saving, much faster using several cores.

0.0.13-alpha

• Complete Layer Properties Manager: all columns, filters, layer states and the layer commands.
• Plotting: Window and Limits areas, PAGESETUP, CTB/STB plot styles, PREVIEW and PNG/SVG output.
• Visible name LinceCAD and a smaller executable.

0.0.12-alpha

• Progress bar when opening large drawings.

0.0.11-alpha

• Editable grips (stretch, move, rotate, scale, mirror), POLAR (F10), OTRACK (F11) and dynamic input (F12).
• Tangent, Nearest and Extension snaps, and typed snap overrides (END, MID...).
• CIRCLE by 3 points, 2 points and tangent-tangent-radius; ARC in four variants; PLINE with arcs and width.
• Clickable options, shortcut menu, double-click to edit, Shift to remove from the selection, Ctrl+A and ZOOM.

0.0.10-alpha

• HATCH and HATCHEDIT; MTEXT with an editor; TEXTEDIT; DIMCONTINUE, DIMBASELINE and DIMORDINATE.
• Construction lines, rays, multilines, multileaders and tables are displayed.
• Attributes (ATTDEF, ATTEDIT, EATTEDIT), block redefinition, inserting a DWG as a block, WBLOCK, read-only external references (XREF), AUDIT and RECOVER.

0.0.9-alpha

• Interface in Spanish and English, extensible with more languages without recompiling; number format; OPTIONS.

0.0.8-alpha

• Plotting to vector PDF, layouts and viewports, MSPACE and PSPACE.
• Editable dimensions, DIMSTYLE, STYLE and LINETYPE with .lin loading.
• Text with the real SHX and TrueType fonts.
• Unsaved-changes warning, safe saving with .bak, automatic save and protection against damaged files.
• Linux version.

0.0.7-alpha

• BLOCK and INSERT; linear, aligned, radius, diameter and angular dimensions.

0.0.6-alpha

• PROPERTIES palette, MATCHPROP, COLOR, LINETYPE and LWEIGHT.
• Hatches, linetypes and lineweights drawn as in AutoCAD.
• RECTANG, POLYGON, ELLIPSE, POINT, SPLINE, MIRROR, ARRAY, TRIM, EXTEND, FILLET, CHAMFER, EXPLODE, JOIN, BREAK and STRETCH.

0.0.1-alpha to 0.0.5-alpha (October 2026)

• Opening, viewing, drawing and saving DWG and DXF; layers; selection, editing, undo, object snaps and Ortho.
• Ribbon, menus and Classic workspace with all commands, own icons and autocomplete; layer control and manager; installer.

Coming soon

A collapsible ribbon with editable aliases and shortcuts, and this help (F1).

See also

File formats · The user interface · ABOUT

Automation (API and MCP)

LinceCAD can be driven by other programs on the same computer: Python scripts, other programs and AI assistants (Claude, for example) through MCP (Model Context Protocol). They can open and save drawings, query and create entities, change layers, run commands, evaluate AutoLISP, plot to PDF and see the drawing as an image. Everything goes through local channels: nothing leaves the computer.

Enabling it

Automation is off by default. Turn it on in OPTIONS, Automation tab:

The settings are saved at once in api.toml, in the user configuration folder (%APPDATA%\lince on Windows, ~/.config/lince on Linux), together with the token: the password programs present when they connect. Only your user can read it. Generate a new token changes it (programs holding the old one can no longer get in).

Control over what the AI does

• One undo step per call: everything a call changes is undone with a single UNDO.
• AI Actions (AIACTIONS): with confirmation on, each change requested by an assistant shows up with what it wants to do; Accept runs it and Reject denies it. Accept all in this session stops asking until LinceCAD is closed. Below is the log of every call.
• If you are in the middle of a command, changes wait: the API answers "busy".
• An internal error during a call is undone entirely and LinceCAD keeps running.

Without a window

• lince --servidor serves the API with no visible window (for batch processes and servers). --canal NAME changes the channel name.
• lince --mcp is an MCP server over standard input and output, for assistants that start it themselves.

Both are the same LinceCAD with its window off-screen: same commands and same view (for captures). They open no dialogs and ask nothing; they honour the read-only mode and allowed folders of api.toml. On Linux they need a graphical session (or xvfb-run).

Connecting an AI assistant (MCP)

Claude Desktop: in %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json (Windows):

    {
      "mcpServers": {
        "lince": { "command": "C:\\Program Files\\lince\\lince.exe", "args": ["--mcp"] }
      }
    }

Claude Code (no window, in a project): claude mcp add --scope project lince -- "C:\Program Files\lince\lince.exe" --mcp

Claude Code with LinceCAD open (enable MCP server over HTTP on 127.0.0.1, port; the token is in api.toml): claude mcp add --transport http lince http://127.0.0.1:7341/mcp --header "Authorization: Bearer <token>"

The assistant sees the tools (open, query, create, dimension, insert blocks, plot to PDF, capture the view, undo…), the resources (summary, entities, layers and blocks of each open drawing, and these help pages as documentation) and three prompts: review the drawing, dimension a floor plan and clean the layers.

Python

There are two Python packages (Python 3.9 or newer):

• lince (client): drives LinceCAD through the API. pip install lince. No dependencies.

    import lince
    with lince.iniciar() as s:              # starts "lince --servidor" with no window
        dib = s.nuevo()
        dib.crear_capa("MUROS", color=1)
        with dib.transaccion():             # a single undo step
            dib.linea([0, 0], [100, 0], layer="MUROS")
            dib.circulo([50, 50], 20)
        dib.trazar_pdf("plan.pdf")
        dib.guardar_como("plan.dwg")

For a running instance (with automation enabled): s = lince.conectar(); dib = s.dibujo.

• lince_nucleo (PyO3 wheel): read, modify, save and query DWG/DXF without opening LinceCAD (batch, servers, Jupyter). pip install lince-nucleo.

    import lince_nucleo as ln
    dib = ln.abrir("plan.dwg")
    for e in dib.consultar(tipo="CIRCLE"):
        print(e["handle"], e["radius"])
    dib.guardar("out.dwg", "2018")

Entities use the same typed format of §5.1. Examples in python/ejemplos of the source.

Your own programs (JSON-RPC)

Programs connect through the pipe \\.\pipe\lince-<user> (Windows) or the socket $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/lince.sock (Linux) and send one JSON-RPC 2.0 message per line. The first one is session.hello with the token:

    {"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"session.hello","params":{"token":"<token>"}}
    {"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":2,"method":"entity.create","params":{"entity":{"type":"LINE","start":[0,0],"end":[100,0]}}}
    {"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":3,"method":"document.saveAs","params":{"path":"C:\\drawings\\test.dwg"}}

There are methods for drawings (document.*), commands (command.run), AutoLISP (lisp.eval), entities (entity.query/get/create/set/delete, as objects or as entget DXF lists), layers, blocks, styles, variables, selection, undo, plotting, view capture and events. The full specification is in docs/api.md of the source code.

See also

OPTIONS · AIACTIONS · AutoLISP · SCRIPT

Map servers by country

Official map services (cadastre, national mapping agency, national SDI, orthophoto) in Europe, Latin America and North Africa that are the equivalent of Spain's Catastro and IGN, with the URL to add in MAPSERVICE, WMS, WFS or WMTS. Every URL was checked one by one with the same requests LinceCAD makes (see the date at the bottom).

How to add a server

1. Open the command for the service type: WMS, WFS or WMTS. The new server is saved with the type of the command you add it from. From MAPSERVICE it is saved as XYZ if the URL contains {z} and as WMS otherwise.
2. Expand Add another server…, type a name and the URL from the list below and click Add and save.
3. Click Connect, choose the recommended layer and click Load.

Which type to choose and what the service must offer:

Coordinate system. The drawing must have one (GEOGRAPHICLOCATION) that is in LinceCAD's catalogue (see Georeferencing). WMTS and XYZ tiles are reprojected to any system in the catalogue. A WMS, however, only works if it offers the drawing's system: the relevant ones are given for each service. Almost all offer Web Mercator (EPSG:3857), but a drawing in 3857 does not measure true distances (it enlarges them by a factor of 1/cos(latitude)): use it only as a reference background. Draw in the country's national system, which the catalogue already includes (it is given for each country): WMTS and XYZ tiles are reprojected to it, and the WMS that offer it serve it directly. It is advertised in the GetCapabilities (checked on 2026-11-02) of the WMS of France (2154), Switzerland (2056), the Netherlands (28992), Belgium (31370 and 3812), Austria (31254–31256), Germany (25832, 25833 and 31467), Poland (2180), Luxembourg (2169), Portugal (3763), Italy (3003, 3004 and 25832–25834), Argentina (5343–5349), Uruguay (5382), Brazil (4674) and Ecuador (32717).

Attribution. Almost every licence requires crediting the source. LinceCAD writes the credit automatically only for the built-in Spanish servers and OpenStreetMap. For the services on this page, write the attribution yourself in the title block or next to the image, and respect each agency's terms of use.

Europe

To find more services in the European Union, use the INSPIRE geoportal, https://inspire-geoportal.ec.europa.eu: it catalogues the view (WMS/WMTS) and download (WFS) services of every member state. On the day of the check its HTTPS certificate had expired and the browser may warn about it.

Portugal: DGT (Direção-Geral do Território)

• OrtoSat 2023 satellite orthoimage (WMS): https://ortos.dgterritorio.gov.pt/wms/ortosat2023 · layer ortoSat2023-CorVerdadeira · CRS 3857 and 3763.
• 2021 orthophotos (WMS, northern mainland): https://cartografia.dgterritorio.gov.pt/ortos2021/service · layer Ortos2021-RGB · CRS 3857 and 3763.
• INSPIRE land cadastre (WMS and WFS at the same URL): https://snicws.dgterritorio.gov.pt/geoserver/inspire/ows · WMS layer cadastralparcel, WFS layer inspire:cadastralparcel (GeoJSON) · CRS 3857, 3763 and others. Coverage is partial: only municipalities with a geometric cadastre.
• CAOP administrative boundaries (WMS): https://geo2.dgterritorio.gov.pt/geoserver/caop_continente/wms · layer cont_municipios.
• Licence: DGT open data, free of charge (DGT publishes its products under CC BY 4.0; check each one on dados.gov.pt). Attribution: "© DGT – Direção-Geral do Território".
• National system in LinceCAD: PT-TM06 (EPSG:3763), which these WMS offer: work with the drawing in 3763.

France: IGN (Géoplateforme) and cadastre (PCI)

• Raster WMS https://data.geopf.fr/wms-r/wms · layers ORTHOIMAGERY.ORTHOPHOTOS (orthophoto), GEOGRAPHICALGRIDSYSTEMS.PLANIGNV2 (base map) and CADASTRALPARCELS.PARCELLAIRE_EXPRESS (cadastre) · CRS 3857.
• WFS https://data.geopf.fr/wfs/ows · layers CADASTRALPARCELS.PARCELLAIRE_EXPRESS:parcelle (parcels) and BDTOPO_V3:batiment (buildings) · GeoJSON.
• WMTS https://data.geopf.fr/wmts: its tile matrix set is called PM, not GoogleMapsCompatible. Add it as XYZ with one of the two templates below.
• Plan IGN (XYZ): https://data.geopf.fr/wmts?SERVICE=WMTS&REQUEST=GetTile&VERSION=1.0.0&LAYER=GEOGRAPHICALGRIDSYSTEMS.PLANIGNV2&STYLE=normal&TILEMATRIXSET=PM&TILEMATRIX={z}&TILEROW={y}&TILECOL={x}&FORMAT=image/png
• Orthophoto (XYZ): https://data.geopf.fr/wmts?SERVICE=WMTS&REQUEST=GetTile&VERSION=1.0.0&LAYER=ORTHOIMAGERY.ORTHOPHOTOS&STYLE=normal&TILEMATRIXSET=PM&TILEMATRIX={z}&TILEROW={y}&TILECOL={x}&FORMAT=image/jpeg
• Licence: Licence Ouverte Etalab 2.0 (free use, commercial included, crediting the source); terms at cartes.gouv.fr/cgu. Attribution: "IGN – Géoplateforme"; cadastre: "IGN, DGFiP – Parcellaire Express (PCI)".
• National system in LinceCAD: RGF93 v1 / Lambert-93 (2154) and the CC42–CC50 conics (3942–3950). The raster WMS also offers 2154.

Italy: Geoportale Nazionale and cadastre

• 2012 orthophoto from the Geoportale Nazionale (MASE) (WMS, http only): http://wms.pcn.minambiente.it/ogc?map=/ms_ogc/WMS_v1.3/raster/ortofoto_colore_12.map · layers OI.ORTOIMMAGINI.2012.32 and OI.ORTOIMMAGINI.2012.33 (zones 32 and 33) · CRS 3857. No conditions stated. Attribution: "Geoportale Nazionale – MASE".
• Cadastre of the Agenzia delle Entrate (WMS): https://wms.cartografia.agenziaentrate.gov.it/inspire/wms/ows01.php · layers CP.CadastralParcel and CP.CadastralZoning · CC BY 4.0, "Agenzia delle Entrate". It offers ETRS89 / UTM 32N–34N (25832–25834), RDN2008 and similar, but not 3857: work with the drawing in 25832, 25833 or 25834, all in the catalogue. It does not cover Trento or Bolzano.
• National system in LinceCAD: RDN2008 / UTM 32N–34N (7791–7793) or ETRS89 / UTM 32N–34N; for older drawings, Monte Mario / Italy zone 1 and 2 (3003 and 3004, with a datum shift of about 4 m). The Geoportale orthophoto also offers 3003, 3004 and 25832.

Germany: BKG and each Land's cadastre

• TopPlusOpen by BKG (WMS): https://sgx.geodatenzentrum.de/wms_topplus_open · layer web · CRS 3857. As XYZ: https://sgx.geodatenzentrum.de/wmts_topplus_open/tile/1.0.0/web/default/WEBMERCATOR/{z}/{y}/{x}.png. Licence Datenlizenz Deutschland – Namensnennung 2.0. Attribution: "© BKG (year) dl-de/by-2-0".
• basemap.de (WMS): https://sgx.geodatenzentrum.de/wms_basemapde · layer de_basemapde_web_raster_farbe. CC BY 4.0. Attribution: "© basemap.de / BKG (month and year)".
• Cadastre (ALKIS): there is no federal service; each Land publishes its own (look for it in the INSPIRE geoportal or geoportal.de). Example, North Rhine-Westphalia (WMS): https://www.wms.nrw.de/geobasis/wms_nw_alkis · layer adv_alkis_flurstuecke (parcels) · CRS 3857 and 25832 · Datenlizenz Deutschland – Zero 2.0. Attribution: "Geobasis NRW".
• National system in LinceCAD: ETRS89 / UTM 32N and 33N (25832, 25833); for older drawings, DHDN / Gauss-Krüger zones 2–5 (31466–31469, with a datum shift of about 3 m). TopPlusOpen also offers 25832, 25833 and 31467.

Netherlands: PDOK (Kadaster)

• BRT base map (XYZ): https://service.pdok.nl/brt/achtergrondkaart/wmts/v2_0/standaard/EPSG:3857/{z}/{x}/{y}.png. CC BY 4.0. Attribution: "Kadaster".
• Orthophoto (XYZ): https://service.pdok.nl/hwh/luchtfotorgb/wmts/v1_0/Actueel_orthoHR/EPSG:3857/{z}/{x}/{y}.jpeg; or WMS https://service.pdok.nl/hwh/luchtfotorgb/wms/v1_0 · layer Actueel_orthoHR. CC BY 4.0. Attribution: "Beeldmateriaal.nl".
• Cadastre (WMS): https://service.pdok.nl/kadaster/kadastralekaart/wms/v5_0 · layer Perceel · CRS 3857 · CC0. Suggested attribution: "Kadaster".
• National system in LinceCAD: Amersfoort / RD New (28992), offered by the cadastre and orthophoto WMS (datum shift to WGS84 of about 1 m).
• The cadastre WFS (.../kadastralekaart/wfs/v5_0) returns GeoJSON but rejects the WGS84 (CRS84) coordinates LinceCAD asks for: not usable today.

Belgium: NGI/IGN, Flanders and Wallonia

• Cartoweb by NGI/IGN (WMS): https://cartoweb.wms.ngi.be/service · layer topo · CRS 3857. As XYZ: https://cartoweb.wmts.ngi.be/1.0.0/topo/default/3857/{z}/{y}/{x}.png. Free use under the cartoweb.be terms (ngi.be). Attribution: "© NGI/IGN".
• Flanders, orthophoto (WMS): https://geo.api.vlaanderen.be/OMWRGBMRVL/wms · layer Ortho.
• Flanders, cadastral parcels (WMS): https://geo.api.vlaanderen.be/Adpf/wms · layer Adpf; and WFS https://geo.api.vlaanderen.be/Adpf/wfs · layer Adpf:Adpf (GeoJSON).
• Flanders: free use (Digitaal Vlaanderen terms). Attribution: "Digitaal Vlaanderen".
• Wallonia, orthophoto (WMS): https://geoservices.wallonie.be/arcgis/services/IMAGERIE/ORTHO_LAST/MapServer/WMSServer · CRS 31370 and 4326 (not 3857): work with the drawing in 31370.
• The federal cadastre (FPS Finance) has no public WMS that answers today.
• National system in LinceCAD: BD72 / Lambert 72 (31370) and ETRS89 / Lambert 2008 (3812). Cartoweb offers both, and the Wallonia orthophoto, which only offers 31370, can now be used with the drawing in 31370.

Switzerland: swisstopo

• WMS https://wms.geo.admin.ch/ · layers ch.swisstopo.pixelkarte-farbe (national map) and ch.swisstopo.swissimage (orthophoto) · CRS 3857.
• National map (XYZ): https://wmts.geo.admin.ch/1.0.0/ch.swisstopo.pixelkarte-farbe/default/current/3857/{z}/{x}/{y}.jpeg
• Orthophoto (XYZ): https://wmts.geo.admin.ch/1.0.0/ch.swisstopo.swissimage/default/current/3857/{z}/{x}/{y}.jpeg
• Official cadastral survey (XYZ): https://wmts.geo.admin.ch/1.0.0/ch.kantone.cadastralwebmap-farbe/default/current/3857/{z}/{x}/{y}.png
• Licence: swisstopo open data, free use (commercial included) crediting the source. Attribution: "© swisstopo"; cadastre: "© swisstopo, official cadastral survey of the cantons".
• National system in LinceCAD: CH1903+ / LV95 (2056), which the WMS also offers.

Austria: basemap.at and BEV

• basemap.at, base map (XYZ): https://mapsneu.wien.gv.at/basemap/geolandbasemap/normal/google3857/{z}/{y}/{x}.png
• basemap.at, orthophoto (XYZ): https://mapsneu.wien.gv.at/basemap/bmaporthofoto30cm/normal/google3857/{z}/{y}/{x}.jpeg
• basemap.at: CC BY 4.0. Attribution: "Datenquelle: basemap.at".
• DKM cadastre by BEV (WMS): https://data.bev.gv.at/geoserver/BEVdataKAT/wms · layer KAT_DKM_GST-NFL · CRS 3857 and 31254–31256. CC BY 4.0. Attribution: "© BEV".
• National system in LinceCAD: MGI / Austria GK West, Central and East (31254–31256), with a datum shift of about 1.5 m; or ETRS89 / UTM 32N and 33N.

Poland: GUGiK

• Parcels (KIEG) (WMS): https://integracja.gugik.gov.pl/cgi-bin/KrajowaIntegracjaEwidencjiGruntow · layers dzialki and numery_dzialek · CRS 3857. It only draws at large scales (zoom in before loading).
• Orthophoto (WMS): https://mapy.geoportal.gov.pl/wss/service/PZGIK/ORTO/WMS/HighResolution · CRS 2180 and 4326 (not 3857): work with the drawing in 2180. The same goes for the topographic map.
• National system in LinceCAD: PL-1992 (2180) and PL-2000 zones 15–24 (2176–2179). In these systems EPSG puts north first, and LinceCAD already asks for the WMS box in that order.
• Licence: GUGiK data free of charge and reusable. Attribution: "Źródło: GUGiK (geoportal.gov.pl)".

United Kingdom: Ordnance Survey

• There is no open map service without registration. The OS Maps API needs a key (free on the OS OpenData plan of the OS Data Hub, osdatahub.os.uk); without it the answer is "401". With a key, as XYZ: https://api.os.uk/maps/raster/v1/zxy/Light_3857/{z}/{x}/{y}.png?key=YOUR_KEY.
• Only OS OpenData is open (Open Government Licence v3). Styles and zoom levels with Premium data (OS MasterMap) are paid. Attribution: "Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right (year)".
• The cadastre (HM Land Registry, INSPIRE Index Polygons) is published only as a download, not as a map service.
• National system in LinceCAD: OSGB36 / British National Grid (27700). The datum shift uses 7 parameters (2 m nominal, up to 3–4 m): the official OSTN15 grid is not included.

Ireland: Tailte Éireann

• No open service could be verified. Tailte Éireann (formerly OSi) maps and orthophotos are licensed; its INSPIRE orthophoto service did not answer. Use OpenStreetMap or the global alternative below.
• National system in LinceCAD: IRENET95 / Irish Transverse Mercator (2157).

Andorra: Govern d'Andorra (IDE Andorra)

• 2025 orthophoto (WMS): https://www.ideandorra.ad/Serveis/wmsorto2025/wms · layer Andorra_orto_25cmGSD_2025 · CRS 25831 (ETRS89 / UTM 31N, in LinceCAD's catalogue), 23031 and 4326. It does not advertise 3857: work with the drawing in 25831.
• General map (WMS): https://www.ideandorra.ad/Serveis/wms_cartogeneral/wms (roads, rivers, boundaries, towns). The full list of services is at cartografia.ad/serveis-ogc.
• Terms: "© Govern d'Andorra"; see the legal notice on cartografia.ad.

Other European countries checked

• Luxembourg (ACT), orthophoto (WMS): https://wms.geoportail.lu/opendata/service · layer ortho_latest · CRS 3857 and 2169 (LUREF / Luxembourg TM, in the catalogue). Open data (CC0). Attribution: "© ACT Luxembourg".
• Czechia (ČÚZK), orthophoto (WMS): https://ags.cuzk.cz/arcgis1/services/ORTOFOTO/MapServer/WMSServer · layer 0; cadastre (WMS): https://services.cuzk.cz/wms/wms.asp · layer KN · CRS 3857 and 32633. Open data (CC BY 4.0). Attribution: "© ČÚZK". The national S-JTSK / Krovak system (5514) is not in the catalogue: use WGS 84 / UTM 33N (32633), which the cadastre offers.
• Norway (Kartverket), topographic map (XYZ): https://cache.kartverket.no/v1/wmts/1.0.0/topo/default/webmercator/{z}/{y}/{x}.png. CC BY 4.0. Attribution: "© Kartverket".

Latin America

Mexico: INEGI

• Mapa Digital de México (WMS): https://gaia.inegi.org.mx/NLB/tunnel/wms/wms61 · layers Ortofotos, c100 (states), c101 (municipalities), c104 (blocks), c102 (urban localities) · CRS 3857.
• Licence: INEGI's free-use terms (commercial included, crediting the source). Attribution: "Fuente: INEGI".
• National system in LinceCAD: Mexico ITRF2008 / LCC (6372) and Mexico ITRF2008 / UTM 11N–16N (6366–6371). This WMS does not advertise them: use the tiles, or the drawing in 3857 only as a background.

Argentina: IGN

• WMS and WFS (same URL): https://wms.ign.gob.ar/geoserver/ows · layers ign:provincia, ign:departamento and many more · CRS 3857 · WFS in GeoJSON.
• Argenmap base map: IGN blocks its use over WMS; add it as XYZ: https://wms.ign.gob.ar/geoserver/gwc/service/wmts?SERVICE=WMTS&REQUEST=GetTile&VERSION=1.0.0&LAYER=capabaseargenmap&STYLE=&TILEMATRIXSET=EPSG:3857&TILEMATRIX=EPSG:3857:{z}&TILEROW={y}&TILECOL={x}&FORMAT=image/png.
• Licence: free reuse (Law 27.275 on access to public information). Attribution: "Instituto Geográfico Nacional de la República Argentina".
• National system in LinceCAD: POSGAR 2007 / Argentina zones 1–7 (5343–5349), which the WMS offers.

Brazil: IBGE (INDE)

• WMS https://geoservicos.ibge.gov.br/geoserver/wms · layer CCAR:bc250_2025 (1:250,000 base map) · CRS 3857.
• WFS https://geoservicos.ibge.gov.br/geoserver/wfs · layer CCAR:BCIM_Unidade_Federacao_A (states) · GeoJSON.
• Free use crediting the source. Attribution: "Fonte: IBGE". More services in the INDE catalogue (inde.gov.br).
• National system in LinceCAD: SIRGAS 2000 / UTM 17S–26S and 11N–24N (31965–31985, 6210, 6211, 5396) and the Brazil Polyconic (5880). The WMS offers SIRGAS 2000 geographic (4674), not its UTM zones: with the drawing in UTM, use the WFS or the tiles.

Uruguay: IDEuy

• Orthophotos (WMS): https://mapas.ide.uy/geoserver-raster/ortofotos/ows · layer ORTOFOTOS_2019 · CRS 3857. Open data. Attribution: "IDEuy – Infraestructura de Datos Espaciales del Uruguay".
• National system in LinceCAD: SIRGAS-ROU98 / UTM 21S (5382) and 22S (5383); the orthophoto WMS offers 5382.

Ecuador: IGM

• National map (WMS and WFS, same URL): https://www.geoportaligm.gob.ec/nacional/wms · layer igm:Nacional · CRS 3857 · WFS in GeoJSON.
• 2021 orthophotos (WMS): https://www.geoportaligm.gob.ec/orto/toma2021/wms · one layer per area (otf_...) · CRS 3857.
• The service states no licence: check the terms of the IGM geoportal. Attribution: "Instituto Geográfico Militar del Ecuador".
• National system in LinceCAD: WGS 84 / UTM 17S (32717), which the national WMS offers, or SIRGAS 2000 / UTM 17S (31977).

Peru: IGN (through the IDEP)

• 1:100,000 maps (WMS): https://www.idep.gob.pe/geoportal/services/DATOS_GEOESPACIALES/PERU_100K/MapServer/WMSServer · numbered layers (1, 2…; choose them when connecting) · CRS 3857.
• 1:500,000 raster map (WMS): https://www.idep.gob.pe/geoportal/services/MAPA_BASE/PER%C3%9A_RASTER_500K/MapServer/WMSServer · layer 0.
• No licence stated. Attribution: "Instituto Geográfico Nacional del Perú". Catalogue of government services at geoidep.gob.pe.
• National system in LinceCAD: Peru96 / UTM 17S–19S (5839, 5387, 5389) or WGS 84 / UTM 17S–19S.

Dominican Republic: IGN-JJHM (IDERD)

• WMS and WFS (same URL): https://geoportal.iderd.gob.do/geoserver/ows · layer ign:Provincias · CRS 3857 · WFS in GeoJSON. No licence stated. Attribution: "IGN José Joaquín Hungría Morell – IDERD".

Countries without a verified compatible service

• Chile: IDE Chile catalogues its services at geoportal.cl, but no national base map or orthophoto WMS that answered could be found. National system in LinceCAD: SIRGAS-Chile 2021 / UTM 18S and 19S (20048, 20049).
• Colombia (IGAC/ICDE): IGAC's ArcGIS services (for example, https://mapas.igac.gov.co/server/services/Dato_Fundamental_Catastro/MapServer/WMSServer, cadastre CC BY-SA 4.0) answer, but they do not advertise 3857 and the image request timed out. Catalogue at colombiaenmapas.gov.co. National system in LinceCAD: MAGNA-SIRGAS 2018 / Origen-Nacional (9377) and the MAGNA-SIRGAS zones (3114–3118; Bogota, 3116).
• Costa Rica (SNIT/IGN): according to its documentation, it publishes in CRTM05 and WGS84; CR05 / CRTM05 (5367) is now in the catalogue, but its server did not answer.
• Bolivia (GeoBolivia): its domain did not answer.
• Paraguay, Venezuela, Panama, Guatemala and Cuba: no reliable public service could be found. For Venezuela the catalogue includes REGVEN / UTM 18N–20N (2201–2203); for the rest, WGS 84 / UTM or SIRGAS 2000 / UTM of their zone.

For these countries, use the global alternative below.

North Africa

Morocco (ANCFCC), Algeria (INCT), Tunisia (OTC), Egypt, Libya and Mauritania do not publish open map services today: their maps and cadastre are sold or consulted at their offices. Use the global alternative below and ask each country's agency for the official maps when the project requires them.

National systems in LinceCAD (to draw over that official mapping and over the global tiles):

• Morocco: Merchich / Nord Maroc, Sud Maroc, Sahara Nord and Sahara Sud (26191, 26192, 26194, 26195). 3-parameter datum shift (about 7 m).
• Algeria: Nord Sahara 1959 / UTM 29N–32N (30729–30732), Nord Algérie and Sud Algérie (30791, 30792). About 1 m.
• Tunisia: Carthage / UTM 32N, Nord Tunisie and Sud Tunisie (22332, 22391, 22392). About 14 m.
• Egypt: Egypt 1907 / Red, Blue, Purple and Extended Purple Belt (22991–22994). About 1.2 m.
• Libya: LGD2006 / Libya TM and UTM 32N–35N (3177, 3199, 3201–3203).
• Mauritania and the rest: WGS 84 / UTM of their zone.

Global alternatives

• OpenStreetMap (XYZ, already built in): base map of the whole world, ODbL licence. For occasional use only, under the OpenStreetMap Foundation tile policy. Attribution: "OpenStreetMap (openstreetmap.org/copyright)" (LinceCAD writes it automatically).
• Sentinel-2 cloudless by EOX, cloud-free 10 m satellite imagery of the whole world. Its WMTS is GoogleMapsCompatible and works directly: https://tiles.maps.eox.at/wmts.
• Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016, layer s2cloudless_3857: CC BY 4.0, commercial use allowed. Attribution: "Sentinel-2 cloudless – https://s2maps.eu by EOX IT Services GmbH (Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2016)".
• Sentinel-2 cloudless 2018 to 2025, layers s2cloudless-2018_3857 to s2cloudless-2025_3857: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, non-commercial use only; for commercial use, EOX sells a licence (cloudless.eox.at). Attribution: the same, with the year of the data.
• Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 as XYZ: https://tiles.maps.eox.at/wmts/1.0.0/s2cloudless_3857/default/g/{z}/{y}/{x}.jpg.

Digital elevation models (DEM)

IMPORTDEM reads the DEMs in ESRI ASCII Grid (.asc) and GeoTIFF (.tif) published by these agencies, and IGNDEM downloads the Spanish one directly from the IGN service. On each portal, check the coordinate system (the zone of the sheet) and the licence before using the data.

Verification and validity

Checked on 2026-11-02: GetCapabilities of every WMS, WMTS and WFS; for WMS, a GetMap image in EPSG:3857 (or 25831 in Andorra); for WFS, a GetFeature query in GeoJSON with CRS84 coordinates; for XYZ, one tile. Agencies change their URLs, layers and terms without notice: if a service stops answering, look for it on the agency's geoportal or the INSPIRE geoportal, and always check the current licence.

See also

MAPSERVICE · WMS · WFS · WMTS · GEOGRAPHICLOCATION · Georeferencing

License and maintenance

The LinceCAD license is perpetual: it does not expire and keeps working without paying anything else. It includes one year of maintenance, that is, the right to the new versions released during that year.

What it includes

• During the maintenance year, CHECKFORUPDATES offers every new version.
• When it ends, LinceCAD keeps working in the version you have and in any other version released up to the end of maintenance. Versions released later are no longer offered: the update dialog says which one requires renewing.
• Conformity or security fixes (labelled «fix») are also offered with expired maintenance, during the 2-year warranty from purchase, and can be installed without LinceCAD switching to read-only.
• 30-day trials get every update while they last.
• Licenses bought before maintenance existed get one year from their issue date.

Where to see it

In LICENSE, the Updates until row and the Maintenance section show Updates included until: … or, if it has passed, Maintenance expired on ….

Renewing

1. In LICENSE, click Renew maintenance… (it also appears in the update dialog and on the start screen when needed).
2. The secure Stripe payment page opens, as for the purchase. It costs €50 a year plus your country's taxes.
3. Once the payment is confirmed, maintenance is extended one year from its end date or, if it had already expired, from today. LinceCAD picks up the new date within seconds and you receive a confirmation email.

If you manually install a later version

If you install a version released after the end of your maintenance, LinceCAD detects it at startup, also offline (it compares the release date built into the program with the one in the signed license):

• It switches to read-only and grants the courtesy save: no work is lost.
• The start screen and LICENSE explain it: «This version (released on F) is later than your maintenance (until D). Renew maintenance or reinstall version X».
• CHECKFORUPDATES offers to install the latest entitled version. Once you renew, the full license comes back without reinstalling anything.

See also

LICENSE · CHECKFORUPDATES · Options

3DPOLY — 3D polyline

Draws a polyline with 3D points.

• Command: 3DPOLY · Global name: _3DPOLY · Alias: 3P

Draws a polyline whose vertices have 3D coordinates. It is a different object from the lightweight polyline of PLINE.

Usage

1. Enter 3DPOLY (or 3P).
2. Specify the start point and the next ones, as x,y,z (a missing Z is the current elevation).

Specify start point of polyline:
Specify endpoint of line or [Close/Undo]:

3. Press Enter to finish.

Options

• Close (C): joins the last point to the first (three are needed).
• Undo (U): removes the last point.

Notes

• It has no arcs or width. To draw on the plane use PLINE.

See also

PLINE · LINE · PEDIT

ARC — Arc

Creates an arc through three points.

• Command: ARC · Global name: _ARC · Alias: A
• Ribbon: Home › Draw
• Menu: Draw
• Toolbar: Draw

Draws a circular arc. By default it passes through three points: start, intermediate and end. With its options it can also be drawn by its center, or by its start, its end and the center or the radius.

Usage

1. Enter ARC (or A) or click Arc.
2. Specify the start point, or enter Center to begin with the center.

Specify start point of arc or [Center]:

3. Specify a second point the arc passes through, or enter Center or End.

Specify second point of arc or [Center/End]:

4. Specify the end point.

Specify end point of arc:

Options

• Center (C) at the first prompt: center, start point and end point.

Specify center point of arc:
Specify start point of arc:

• Center (C) at the second prompt: after the start point, specify the center and the end point.
• End (E): after the start point, specify the end and then the center or, with the Radius option (R), the radius. A negative radius draws the major arc.

Specify center point of arc or [Angle/Direction/Radius]:
Specify radius of arc:

• Angle (A): in start-center and in start-end, the included angle (positive: counterclockwise). chord Length (L): after the center, the length of the chord. Direction (D): in start-end, the tangent direction at the start.

Specify end point of arc or [Angle/chord Length]:
Specify tangent direction for the start point of arc:

• Enter at the first prompt: continues the last object (line, arc or open polyline) with a tangent arc; only the end point is asked.

Notes

• With a center, arcs are drawn counterclockwise from the start point; the end point only gives the direction in which the arc ends and does not have to lie on it.
• If the three points are collinear there is no arc and the program says so.
• The AutoCAD methods are available except Ctrl to switch direction.

See also

CIRCLE · PLINE · ELLIPSE · Object snaps and precision

BOUNDARY — Boundary

Creates a polyline or a region from the boundary around a point.

• Command: BOUNDARY · Global name: _BOUNDARY · Alias: BO, BPOLY
• Ribbon: Home › Draw
• Menu: Draw

Creates a closed polyline (or a region) from the boundary around an internal point, using the objects that enclose it. The original objects are not modified.

Usage

1. Enter BOUNDARY (or BO) or click Boundary.
2. Click inside each closed area. For each one, its outer boundary and the boundary of each island it contains are created.

Specify internal point or [Advanced options]:

3. Press Enter to finish; the program reports how many objects it has created.

Options

• Advanced options (A): like AutoCAD -BOUNDARY; Enter goes back to asking for points.

Enter an option [Boundary set/Island detection/Object type]:

• Boundary set (B): New selects the objects that count when looking for the boundary (the rest is ignored); Everything counts everything visible again.

Specify candidate set for boundary [New/Everything] <Everything>:

• Island detection (I): with No, only the outer boundary is created, without the islands.
• Object type (O): chooses what is created, polylines or regions (also directly with O when asked for the point).

Enter type of boundary object [Region/Polyline] <Polyline>:

Notes

• The boundary is found in the same way as in HATCH with an internal point: lines, arcs, circles, polylines, ellipses, splines and blocks count; text and dimensions do not.
• If there is no closed boundary around the point, the program says so and you can try another point.
• The resulting polylines are useful, for example, to measure the area of a room with AREA.
• No dialog box in this version: it is used from the command line, with the options of the AutoCAD dialog box.

See also

REGION · HATCH · AREA · PLINE

CIRCLE — Circle

Creates a circle by center and radius.

• Command: CIRCLE · Global name: _CIRCLE · Alias: C
• Ribbon: Home › Draw
• Menu: Draw
• Toolbar: Draw

Draws a circle. By default you specify the center and the radius; with its options, also by three points, by the endpoints of a diameter or tangent to two objects with a given radius.

Usage

1. Enter CIRCLE (or C) or click Circle.
2. Specify the center, or enter an option.

Specify center point for circle or [3P/2P/Ttr (tan tan radius)]:

3. Specify the radius with a point on the circle or by typing its value.

Specify radius of circle or [Diameter]:

Options

• 3P: the circle passes through three points.

Specify first point on circle:
Specify second point on circle:
Specify third point on circle:

• 2P: the two points are the endpoints of a diameter.

Specify first end point of circle's diameter:
Specify second end point of circle's diameter:

• Ttr (T): tangent to two objects (lines, circles, arcs or polyline segments) with the radius you enter. Select each object near where the circle should touch it and enter the radius (or give a point: the radius is its distance to the second point selected).

Specify point on object for first tangent of circle:
Specify point on object for second tangent of circle:
Specify radius of circle or [Diameter]:

Notes

• Type 3P and 2P in full.
• With Ttr there are usually several solutions: the one nearest the points where the objects were selected is used. If there is none with that radius, the program says so.
• With the Diameter option (D), after the center, give the diameter by typing it or with a point (its distance from the center).
• Tangent to three objects (Tan, Tan, Tan), as in AutoCAD: in 3P, type TAN before each point and select the object (line, circle, arc or polyline segment) near where it should touch it; points and TAN can be mixed.

See also

ARC · ELLIPSE · DONUT · POLYGON · Object snaps and precision

DIVIDE — Divide

Places points or blocks that divide an object into equal parts.

• Command: DIVIDE · Global name: _DIVIDE · Alias: DIV
• Ribbon: Home › Draw
• Menu: Draw

Divides an object into a number of parts of equal length and places points (or a block) at the divisions. The object is not cut.

Usage

1. Enter DIVIDE (or DIV) or click Divide.
2. Select a line, arc, circle, polyline, ellipse or spline.

Select object to divide:

3. Enter the number of parts, from 2 to 32767.

Enter the number of segments or [Block]:

Options

• Block (B): instead of points, inserts a block of the drawing at each division, rotated to follow the direction of the object at that point or not rotated.

Enter name of block to insert:
Align block with object? [Yes/No] <Y>:
Enter the number of segments:

Notes

• On an open object, n parts give n − 1 points. On a closed one you get n points, the first one at the start (on a circle, at 0°).
• The points are shown with the style set by PTYPE; with the default style they can hardly be seen. They can be used with the Node object snap.
• On ellipses and splines the length is measured on a very fine approximation of the curve.

See also

MEASURE · POINT · PTYPE · BLOCK

DONUT — Donut

Draws filled rings or filled circles.

• Command: DONUT · Global name: _DONUT · Alias: DO, DOUGHNUT
• Ribbon: Home › Draw
• Menu: Draw

Draws donuts (filled rings) or filled circles. You give the two diameters and then as many centers as you want.

Usage

1. Enter DONUT (or DO) or click Donut.
2. Enter the inside diameter; Enter accepts the one shown.

Specify inside diameter of donut <…>:

3. Enter the outside diameter, greater than the inside one.

Specify outside diameter of donut <…>:

4. Specify the center of each donut. Press Enter or Esc to finish.

Specify center of donut or <exit>:

Notes

• With an inside diameter of 0 you get a filled circle.
• The diameters (0.5 and 1 at the start) are remembered for the next donut during the session.
• Each donut is a closed polyline of two arcs with a width, as in AutoCAD; it can be changed with PEDIT.

See also

CIRCLE · SOLID · PLINE · PEDIT

ELLIPSE — Ellipse

Creates an ellipse or an elliptical arc.

• Command: ELLIPSE · Global name: _ELLIPSE · Alias: EL
• Ribbon: Home › Draw
• Menu: Draw
• Toolbar: Draw

Draws an ellipse or an elliptical arc. The ellipse is defined by one axis (its two endpoints, or the center and one endpoint) and by the distance to the other axis or by a rotation.

Usage

1. Enter ELLIPSE (or EL) or click Ellipse.
2. Specify one endpoint of the first axis, or enter an option.

Specify axis endpoint of ellipse or [Arc/Center]:

3. Specify the other endpoint of that axis.

Specify other endpoint of axis:

4. Specify the distance from the center to the other axis, with a point or a number.

Specify distance to other axis or [Rotation]:

Options

• Center (C): starts with the center and then one endpoint of the first axis.

Specify center of ellipse:
Specify endpoint of axis:

• Rotation (R): instead of the distance, the rotation of a circle about the first axis, from 0 to 89.4 degrees (0 gives a circle).

Specify rotation around major axis:

• Arc (A): draws an elliptical arc. After the ellipse is defined, it asks where it starts and where it ends.

Specify start angle or [Parameter]:
Specify end angle or [Parameter/Included angle]:

• Parameter (P) and Angle (A): switch between giving angles (the direction from the center) and parameters (the angle in the parametric equation of the ellipse).
• Included angle (I): the end as the angle swept from the start.
• Isocircle (I): only with isometric drafting on (ISODRAFT); the first prompt offers it. It draws the ellipse that represents a circle in the current isometric plane: specify the center and the radius, or choose Diameter (D) and give the diameter.

Specify axis endpoint of ellipse or [Arc/Center/Isocircle]:
Specify radius of isocircle or [Diameter]:

Notes

• The first axis may turn out to be the major or the minor one: if the distance to the other axis is greater than half the first one, the other becomes the major axis.
• The angles and parameters of the arc are measured from the first axis specified and counterclockwise, as in AutoCAD.
• A true ellipse (ELLIPSE) is created, not a polyline that approximates it.

See also

CIRCLE · ARC · SPLINE · Object snaps and precision

EXTRUDE — Extrude

Creates a solid by extruding a closed profile a given height.

• Command: EXTRUDE · Global name: _EXTRUDE · Alias: EXT
• Ribbon: Home › Draw

Creates a 3D solid by extruding one or more closed profiles a given height, like AutoCAD's EXTRUDE. Modeling uses the truck kernel (pure Rust) and the result is stored as an ACIS 3DSOLID, just like AutoCAD.

Usage

1. Type EXTRUDE or click it in the ribbon.
2. Select one or more closed profiles (polylines, circles, ellipses…) and press Enter.

Select the closed profiles and press Enter:

3. Enter the height (positive towards +Z, negative towards −Z).

Extrusion height:

Exact vs faceted

• Polygonal profiles (straight edges only): the solid is exact; AutoCAD audits it with no errors and MASSPROP reports the exact volume.
• Profiles with arcs or curves: the outline is approximated with segments and the solid comes out faceted.

Notes

• The extrusion starts at the profile's Z (the elevation of the polyline or circle: the ELEV one if it was drawn with it) and is vertical. Profiles on tilted planes, path and taper angle come in a later phase.
• See also REVOLVE, UNION, SUBTRACT and INTERSECT.

FLATSHOT — Flatshot

Projects the view's 3D solids to a 2D block with visible and hidden lines.

• Command: FLATSHOT · Global name: _FLATSHOT · Alias: FSHOT
• Ribbon: Home › Draw

Projects the 3D solids of the current view to 2D geometry (visible and hidden lines) and inserts it as a block in the current space, like AutoCAD's FLATSHOT. Hidden-line removal reuses the same z-buffer as the 3D plot.

Usage

1. Orbit to the 3D view you want to flatten (for example an isometric).
2. Type FLATSHOT (or APLANADA) or click it in the ribbon.
3. Specify the insertion point of the flattened drawing.

Specify the insertion point of the flattened drawing:

Result

• Visible lines go on the current layer.
• Hidden lines go on the OCULTAS layer (gray), created if it does not exist.
• Everything is grouped into a block and inserted at the given point.

Notes

• The projection is orthographic, on the view plane.
• See also PRESSPULL and SLICE.

Notes

• No dialog box in this version: it is used from the command line.

GRADIENT — Gradient

Fills an enclosed area with a gradient fill.

• Command: GRADIENT · Global name: _GRADIENT · Alias: GD
• Ribbon: Home › Draw
• Menu: Draw

Fills a closed area with a color gradient: from one color to another, or from a color towards black or white. It is HATCH with its dialog open on the Gradient tab: the boundary is given in the same way.

Usage

1. Enter GRADIENT (or GD) or click the button.
2. In the Hatch and Gradient dialog, choose One color or Two color and the colors (from the AutoCAD palette or a true color).
3. With one color, move the slider between Shade (towards black) and Tint (towards white).
4. Choose one of the nine types by clicking its sample, and set Centered and the Angle.
5. Click inside each area you want to fill (or select its boundaries, as in HATCH).

Pick internal point or [Select objects/Pattern/sCale/Angle/Gradient/Origin/inHerit/adVanced/dRaw order]:

6. Press Enter or OK.

Types

LINEAR, CYLINDER, INVCYLINDER, SPHERICAL, INVSPHERICAL, HEMISPHERICAL, INVHEMISPHERICAL, CURVED and INVCURVED: the same as in AutoCAD. When not centered, the gradient is shifted towards one side, as in AutoCAD.

On the command line

The Gradient (G) option of HATCH and HATCHEDIT asks for the type (? lists them), the angle and whether it is centered; it uses the colors of the last gradient.

Enter gradient name or [?] <…>:
Specify gradient angle <…>:
Centered gradient? [Yes/No] <Yes>:

Notes

• The gradient is saved as in AutoCAD (a solid hatch with the gradient data) and AutoCAD draws it the same way.
• When plotting to PDF, PNG or SVG it comes out in thin bands of flat color, which cannot be told apart by eye.
• The settings are remembered for the next gradient. They are changed later with HATCHEDIT.

See also

HATCH · HATCHEDIT · HATCHGENERATEBOUNDARY · Hatches

HATCH — Hatch

Fills a closed boundary with a pattern.

• Command: HATCH · Global name: _HATCH · Alias: H, BH
• Ribbon: Home › Draw
• Menu: Draw
• Toolbar: Draw

Fills a closed area with a pattern of lines, a solid fill or a gradient. While the command runs, the Hatch and Gradient dialog box is shown, with its Hatch tab (the pattern swatches, the scale and the angle) and its Gradient tab; the same can be done on the command line.

Usage

1. Enter HATCH (or H) or click Hatch.
2. In the dialog box, choose the pattern by clicking its swatch and set the scale and the angle (or switch to the Gradient tab: see GRADIENT).
3. Click inside each area you want to hatch (or, with the Select objects option, select its boundaries). The dialog box shows how many boundaries have been found.

Pick internal point or [Select objects/Pattern/sCale/Angle/Gradient/Origin/inHerit/adVanced/dRaw order]:

4. Press Enter or OK to create the hatch. Cancel exits without creating it.

Options

• Select objects (S): select closed polylines, circles, ellipses or splines as boundaries.

Select objects or [Internal point/Pattern/sCale/Angle/Gradient/Origin/inHerit/adVanced/dRaw order]:

• Internal point (I): goes back to picking internal points.
• Pattern (P): enter the pattern name; ? lists them.

Enter a pattern name or [?] <…>:

• sCale (C) and Angle (A): pattern scale (greater than 0) and its rotation in degrees.
• Gradient (G): a gradient instead of the pattern: type, angle and whether it is centered.

Enter gradient name or [?] <…>:

• Origin (O): the point the pattern passes through (for example, the corner of a row of bricks).

Specify new hatch origin:

• inHerit (H): select a hatch and the new one takes its pattern, scale, angle or gradient (not its origin). In the dialog box, Inherit properties button.

Select hatch object:

• adVanced (V): like the advanced options of AutoCAD -HATCH; Enter goes back to the main prompt.

Enter an option [Island detection/Style/Gap tolerance/separate Hatches]:

• Island detection (I): with No, islands are not taken into account.
• Style (S): which islands are filled: Normal (nested ones alternate), Outer (only the area between the boundary and the outermost islands; AutoCAD's default) or Ignore (the whole boundary). All islands and the style are stored, as in AutoCAD.

Enter hatching style [Ignore/Outer/Normal] <…>:

• Gap tolerance (G): the gap tolerance (HPGAPTOL).
• separate Hatches (H): with Yes, each area (each outer boundary with its islands) is a separate hatch.
• dRaw order (R): draw order of the new hatch; by default, behind its boundary, as in AutoCAD.

Enter draw order [do Not assign/send to Back/bring to Front/send beHind boundary/bring in front of bounDary] <…>:

Patterns

SOLID (solid fill), ANSI31, ANSI32, ANSI37, LINE, NET, DOTS, CROSS, BRICK, HONEY and HORMIGON (concrete). The definitions are LinceCAD's own; the names match AutoCAD's when the drawing is the same. HORMIGON is saved as a custom pattern.

Notes

• With an internal point, the program looks for the nearest boundary around it, with its islands (Outer style, unless another one is chosen). Lines, arcs, circles, polylines, ellipses, splines and blocks count; text and dimensions do not. If the boundary has small gaps, HPGAPTOL closes them.
• The hatch is associative: if an object of its boundary is edited (with grips, MOVE, STRETCH...), the hatch is rebuilt to follow it. It stops being associative if the hatch is moved on its own or a boundary object is erased.
• Besides the library, patterns from AutoCAD .pat files are read: acadiso.pat and acad.pat (with several patterns) or NAME.pat (a single one) in the current folder, in those of the LINCE_PATRONES environment variable or in the patrones folder of the user configuration. Their measures are used as they are, with the hatch scale and angle, and the result is a custom pattern.
• TRIM trims hatches: it removes the selected piece between the cutting edges.

See also

HATCHEDIT · GRADIENT · HATCHGENERATEBOUNDARY · BOUNDARY · Hatches

HATCHEDIT — Edit Hatch

Modifies the pattern, scale, angle, gradient or boundary of a hatch.

• Command: HATCHEDIT · Global name: _HATCHEDIT · Alias: HE
• Ribbon: Home › Modify

Changes the pattern, scale, angle, gradient, origin or boundary of an existing hatch. It also opens when you double-click the hatch.

Usage

1. Enter HATCHEDIT (or HE), or double-click a hatch. If a hatch was already selected, that one is edited.
2. Select the hatch.

Select hatch object:

3. Change the values in the Hatch and Gradient dialog box (Hatch or Gradient tab) or with the command-line options.

Enter an option [Pattern/sCale/Angle/Gradient/Origin/inHerit/Disassociate/ASsociate/Separate/Boundary recreate] <exit>:

4. Press Enter or OK to apply the changes.

Options

• Pattern (P): name of the new pattern (? lists them).
• sCale (C): new scale, greater than 0.
• Angle (A): new angle in degrees.
• Gradient (G): switches to a gradient, or changes its type, angle and whether it is centered.
• Origin (O): new origin point of the pattern; it is applied at once.

Specify new hatch origin:

• Disassociate (D): the hatch stops following its boundary.
• ASsociate (AS): select closed objects; they become the boundary of the hatch, which is associated with them.

Select boundary objects:

• Separate (S): a hatch with several separate areas is split into one hatch per area (each with its islands).
• Boundary recreate (B): creates a polyline for each boundary of the hatch and associates the hatch with them.

Notes

• A hatch read from a drawing with a pattern that is not in the LinceCAD library keeps its definition: its scale and angle can be changed.
• When the scale is changed, the pattern goes back to its definition origin (the origin chosen with Origin is lost).
• To create the boundary polylines without associating them, use HATCHGENERATEBOUNDARY.

See also

HATCH · GRADIENT · HATCHGENERATEBOUNDARY · PROPERTIES · Hatches

HATCHGENERATEBOUNDARY — Generate Boundary

Creates non-associated polylines around selected hatches.

• Command: HATCHGENERATEBOUNDARY · Global name: _HATCHGENERATEBOUNDARY
• Ribbon: Home › Draw
• Menu: Draw

Creates closed polylines around the selected hatches: one for each boundary, the outer one and that of each island. It is used to recover the boundary of a hatch that has lost it (for example, one that comes from another program or has been disassociated).

Usage

1. Enter HATCHGENERATEBOUNDARY or click the button.
2. Select the hatches and press Enter. If hatches were already selected, those are used.

Select hatch objects:

3. The program reports how many boundaries it has created.

Boundaries created: ….

Notes

• The polylines follow the straight segments and arcs of the boundary; ellipses and splines in the boundary become short straight segments.
• They are created on the current layer. The hatch is not associated with them; for that, use the Boundary recreate option of HATCHEDIT.
• Other objects can be included in the selection: only hatches count.

See also

HATCHEDIT · HATCH · BOUNDARY · Hatches

HATCHSETBOUNDARY — Set Hatch Boundary

Replaces the boundary of a hatch with other closed objects.

• Command: HATCHSETBOUNDARY · Global name: _HATCHSETBOUNDARY
• Ribbon: Home › Draw

Replaces the boundary of a hatch or fill with other closed objects, as in AutoCAD 2027. The pattern, scale, angle and the other properties of the hatch do not change.

Usage

1. Enter HATCHSETBOUNDARY or click the button.
2. Select the hatch.

Select hatch object:

3. Select the closed objects of the new boundary and press Enter. Only closed polylines, circles, ellipses and closed splines are valid; other objects are not taken.

Select objects to use for the new boundary:

4. Say whether the selected objects are deleted (Enter: No).

Delete selected lines? [Yes/No] <N>:

Notes

• With No, the hatch stays associative to the new objects: when they are edited, the hatch follows them.
• With Yes, the objects are deleted and the hatch is no longer associative.

Hatch boundary associativity removed.

• Each closed object is a boundary; one inside another is an island.

See also

HATCH · HATCHEDIT · HATCHGENERATEBOUNDARY · Hatches

HATCHSETORIGIN — Set Hatch Origin

Changes the pattern origin of the selected hatches.

• Command: HATCHSETORIGIN · Global name: _HATCHSETORIGIN
• Ribbon: Home › Draw

Changes the pattern origin of one or more hatches, as in AutoCAD 2027: the pattern shifts to pass through the given point; the boundary does not change.

Usage

1. Enter HATCHSETORIGIN or click the button.
2. Select the hatches and press Enter.

Select hatch objects:

3. Specify the new origin.

Select new hatch origin:

Notes

• It is the same as the Origin option of HATCHEDIT, for several hatches at once.

See also

HATCH · HATCHEDIT · Hatches

HATCHTOBACK — Hatches to Back

Puts all hatches behind the other objects.

• Command: HATCHTOBACK · Global name: _HATCHTOBACK · Alias: HB
• Ribbon: Home › Draw

Puts all hatches and gradients in model space behind the other objects, as in AutoCAD 2027. It asks nothing.

Usage

1. Enter HATCHTOBACK (alias HB) or click the button.

… hatches sent to back.

Notes

• It changes the draw order, like DRAWORDER › Back with all hatches selected.

See also

DRAWORDER · HATCH · Hatches

HELIX — Helix

Draws a helix or a flat spiral.

• Command: HELIX · Global name: _HELIX
• Ribbon: Home › Draw

Draws a helix, as in AutoCAD 2027. With height 0 it is a flat spiral; with a height, its projection is seen in plan (the spiral from the base to the top).

Usage

1. Enter HELIX or click the button. The program remembers the number of turns and the twist.

Number of turns = …    Twist=…

2. Specify the center point of the base.

Specify center point of base:

3. Specify the base radius (or Diameter). If it is given with a point, the helix starts there.

Specify base radius or [Diameter] <…>:

4. Specify the top radius (Enter: the base one).

Specify top radius or [Diameter] <…>:

5. Specify the height (0 for a flat spiral) or an option.

Specify helix height or [Axis endpoint/Turns/turn Height/tWist] <…>:

Options

• Axis endpoint: the height and the direction of the axis come from a point (it may have Z).
• Turns: number of turns (up to 500).

Enter number of turns <…>:

• turn Height: distance between turns; it ends the helix with height = turns × distance.

Specify distance between turns <…>:

• tWist: twist direction, clockwise or counterclockwise.

Enter twist direction of helix [CW/CCW] <…>:

Notes

• It is saved as the AutoCAD HELIX entity (with its spline), which AutoCAD opens as a helix.

See also

SPLINE · PLINE

LINE — Line

Creates straight line segments.

• Command: LINE · Global name: _LINE · Alias: L
• Ribbon: Home › Draw
• Menu: Draw
• Toolbar: Draw

Draws straight line segments. Each segment is a separate object that can be moved, erased or put on another layer on its own. For an outline that is a single object, use PLINE.

Usage

1. Enter LINE (or L) or click Line on the ribbon.
2. Specify the first point with a click, an object snap or by typing its coordinates.

Specify first point:

3. Specify the next point. A segment is created and the prompt repeats from the last point.

Specify next point or [Undo]:

4. From the third point on you can close the figure.

Specify next point or [Close/Undo]:

5. Press Enter, Space or Esc to finish.

Options

• Close (C): joins the last point to the first one and ends the command.
• Undo (U): removes the last segment without leaving the command; it can be repeated.
• Enter at the first point: continues from the end of the last line or arc drawn. After an arc, the line is tangent and its length is asked.

Length of line:

Notes

• Coordinates can be typed as absolute (100,50), relative (@20,0) or polar (@50<30). See Coordinates and input.
• With Ortho (F8) or polar tracking (F10) the segments snap to the horizontal and vertical directions or to the polar angles.
• Lines are created on the current layer, with the current color, linetype and lineweight.

See also

PLINE · RECTANG · PEDIT · Object snaps and precision

MEASURE — Measure

Places points or blocks at measured intervals along an object.

• Command: MEASURE · Global name: _MEASURE · Alias: ME
• Ribbon: Home › Draw
• Menu: Draw

Places points (or a block) along an object at intervals of a given length, measured from one of its ends. The object is not cut.

Usage

1. Enter MEASURE (or ME) or click Measure.
2. Select the object near the end you want to measure from.

Select object to measure:

3. Enter the length of each segment.

Specify length of segment or [Block]:

Options

• Block (B): instead of points, inserts a block of the drawing at each mark, rotated to follow the direction of the object at that point or not rotated.

Enter name of block to insert:
Align block with object? [Yes/No] <Y>:
Specify length of segment:

Notes

• Lines, arcs, circles, polylines, ellipses and splines can be used. On an open object, measuring starts at the end nearest the point where it was selected; the last segment may be shorter. If the last mark falls exactly on the far end, it is placed too.
• If the length is so small that more than 100,000 objects would be created, the program says so and creates none.
• The points are shown with the style set by PTYPE.

See also

DIVIDE · POINT · PTYPE · BLOCK

MLINE — Multiline

Draws multilines (parallel lines following the multiline style).

• Command: MLINE · Global name: _MLINE · Alias: ML
• Ribbon: Home › Draw
• Menu: Draw

Draws multilines: several parallel lines that run together, according to a multiline style. They are used, for example, for walls or roads.

Usage

1. Enter MLINE (or ML) or click Multiline. The prompt shows the current justification, scale and style.

Current settings: Justification = …, Scale = …, Style = …. Specify start point or [Justification/Scale/STyle]:

2. Specify the start point and the following ones.

Specify next point:
Specify next point or [Close/Undo]:

3. Press Enter to finish.

Options

• Justification (J): which line passes through the points you give.

Enter justification type [Top/Zero/Bottom] <…>:

• Top (T), Zero (Z) and Bottom (B): the top line, the axis of the style or the bottom line.
• Scale (S): multiplies the spacing of the style. A negative scale reverses the order of the lines.

Enter mline scale <…>:

• STyle (ST): multiline style; ? lists those in the drawing.

Enter mline style name or [?]:

• Close (C): with three points or more, joins back to the first one and ends the command.
• Undo (U): removes the last point.

Notes

• Justification, scale and style are changed before the first point and saved in the drawing for the next time.
• As in AutoCAD 2027, Style only picks one of the styles the drawing already has (Standard, two lines at ±0.5, if there is no other); a name that does not exist is rejected and asked again. Styles are created and loaded from .mln files with MLSTYLE.
• For crossings, tees, cuts and welds of multilines, use MLEDIT.

See also

MLEDIT · PLINE · LINE · EXPLODE

PLINE — Polyline

Creates a polyline with several segments.

• Command: PLINE · Global name: _PLINE · Alias: PL
• Ribbon: Home › Draw
• Menu: Draw
• Toolbar: Draw

Draws a polyline: a sequence of straight and arc segments that form a single object. Each segment can have a width, constant or tapering from its start to its end.

Usage

1. Enter PLINE (or PL) or click Polyline.
2. Specify the first point.

Specify first point:

3. Specify the next points. Each point adds a straight segment.

Specify next point or [Arc/Halfwidth/Length/Undo/Width]:

4. With the Arc option, the following segments are arcs tangent to the previous segment: specify the end point of each arc.

Specify endpoint of arc or [Angle/CEnter/Direction/Halfwidth/Line/Radius/Second pt/Undo/Width]:

5. Press Enter, Space or Esc to finish.

Options

With straight segments:

• Arc (A): switches to arcs.
• Halfwidth (H) and Width (W): ask for the starting and ending value of the next segment (the half-width is half the width); Enter accepts the value shown and a click gives it as the distance from the last point. Later segments keep the ending value, which becomes the default width (PLINEWID).

Specify starting width <…>:
Specify ending width <…>:

• Length (L): adds a segment of that length in the direction of the previous one.
• Close (C): joins the last point to the first and finishes.
• Undo (U): removes the last point without leaving the command.

With arcs (the default, tangent to the previous segment):

• Angle (A): included angle and end point. CEnter (CE): center and end point (counterclockwise). Direction (D): tangent direction at the start and end point. Radius (R): radius and end point. Second pt (S): second point of the arc and end point. Line (L): back to straight segments.

Specify endpoint of arc or [Angle/CEnter/Direction/Halfwidth/Line/Radius/Second pt/Undo/Width]:

Notes

• A lightweight polyline (LWPOLYLINE) is created, as in AutoCAD. As there, the last vertex of an open polyline repeats the bulge of the previous segment.
• Pending: the width is not taken from PLINEWID at the start, and the Angle/Length sub-options after CEnter.
• To change the vertices or the width or to join segments later, use PEDIT.

See also

LINE · RECTANG · POLYGON · PEDIT · EXPLODE · Object snaps and precision

POINT — Point

Creates point objects.

• Command: POINT · Global name: _POINT · Alias: PO
• Ribbon: Home › Draw
• Menu: Draw
• Toolbar: Draw

Places point objects. Each click creates a point; points are used as marks and as targets for the Node object snap.

Usage

1. Enter POINT (or PO) or click Point.
2. Specify a point with a click or by typing its coordinates. The prompt repeats so you can place more points.

Specify a point:

3. Press Enter, Space or Esc to finish.

Notes

• The symbol used to draw all points and its size are chosen with PTYPE (variables PDMODE and PDSIZE). With the default style a point is a single pixel, hard to see.
• To place points along an object, use DIVIDE or MEASURE.
• Points are created on the current layer, with the current color and linetype.

See also

PTYPE · DIVIDE · MEASURE · Object snaps and precision

POLYGON — Polygon

Creates a regular polygon.

• Command: POLYGON · Global name: _POLYGON · Alias: POL
• Ribbon: Home › Draw
• Menu: Draw
• Toolbar: Draw

Draws a regular polygon, with 3 to 1024 sides, as a closed polyline.

Usage

1. Enter POLYGON (or POL) or click Polygon.
2. Enter the number of sides; Enter accepts the one shown.

Enter number of sides <…>:

3. Specify the center.

Specify center of polygon or [Edge]:

4. Choose whether the polygon is inscribed in the circle or circumscribed about it.

Enter an option [Inscribed in circle/Circumscribed about circle] <I>:

5. Specify the radius with a point or by typing its value.

Specify radius of circle or [Diameter]:

Options

• Inscribed (I): the radius reaches the vertices; the point you give is a vertex.
• Circumscribed (C): the radius reaches the midpoints of the sides; the point you give is the midpoint of a side.

Notes

• If you type the radius, the bottom side is horizontal. With a point, the polygon rotates to pass through it.
• With the Edge option (E) you give the two endpoints of a side and the polygon is drawn to its left.

See also

RECTANG · CIRCLE · PLINE · PEDIT

PRESSPULL — Press/Pull

Pushes or pulls a closed region a distance to create a solid.

• Command: PRESSPULL · Global name: _PRESSPULL
• Ribbon: Home › Draw

Creates or modifies a 3D solid by pushing or pulling a closed region a given distance, like AutoCAD's PRESSPULL. The region is extruded with the truck kernel (pure Rust) and stored as an ACIS 3DSOLID.

Usage

1. Type PRESSPULL (or PULSARTIRAR) or click it in the ribbon.
2. Select one or more closed areas (polylines, circles, ellipses…) and press Enter.

Select the closed areas and press Enter:

3. Enter the distance (positive towards +Z, negative towards −Z).

Press and pull distance:

Exact vs faceted

• Polygonal regions (straight edges only): the solid is exact; AutoCAD audits it with no errors.
• Regions with arcs or curves: the outline is approximated with segments and the solid comes out faceted.

Notes

• Pushing a specific face of an existing solid will come with subentity picking; for now PRESSPULL acts on closed areas of the drawing.
• See also EXTRUDE, SLICE and UNION.

RAY — Ray

Creates lines that start at a point and continue to infinity.

• Command: RAY · Global name: _RAY
• Ribbon: Home › Draw
• Menu: Draw

Draws rays: half-lines that start at a point and go on endlessly in one direction. Like construction lines, they are construction guides, for when only one side matters.

Usage

1. Enter RAY or click the button.
2. Specify the start point.

Specify start point:

3. Specify a point the ray passes through. Each point creates another ray from the same start.

Specify through point:

4. Press Enter, Space or Esc to finish.

Notes

• RAY objects are created, as in AutoCAD. They do not count for zoom extents.
• With ortho (F8) or polar tracking (F10) it is easy to draw horizontal, vertical or fixed-angle rays.

See also

XLINE · LINE · Object snaps and precision

RECTANG — Rectangle

Creates a rectangle from two opposite corners.

• Command: RECTANG · Global name: _RECTANG · Alias: REC, RECTANGLE
• Ribbon: Home › Draw
• Menu: Draw
• Toolbar: Draw

Draws a rectangle with its sides parallel to the X and Y axes of the current UCS from two opposite corners. The rectangle is a closed polyline with four vertices.

Usage

1. Enter RECTANG (or REC) or click Rectangle.
2. Specify the first corner.

Specify first corner point or [Chamfer/Elevation/Fillet/Thickness/Width]:

3. Specify the opposite corner, with a click or with relative coordinates: @40,25 draws a 40 × 25 rectangle.

Specify other corner point or [Area/Dimensions/Rotation]:

Options

Before the first corner:

• Chamfer: two distances (the first counts on the side that arrives at each corner). Fillet: radius. One cancels the other.
• Elevation, Thickness (extrusion height) and Width (line width).

Specify first chamfer distance for rectangles <…>:

After the first corner:

• Area: the area and the length or width; the rectangle is created at once, up and to the right.
• Dimensions: length and width; the opposite corner gives the quadrant.
• Rotation: rotation of the rectangle (an angle, or a point giving the direction).

Notes

• The two corners must have different X and different Y (in the UCS). With a rotated UCS (see UCS), the rectangle is rotated with it.
• The Chamfer, Elevation, Fillet, Thickness and Width modes are remembered for the next rectangles (as in AutoCAD). With chamfer or fillet the rectangle has eight vertices; if they do not fit the sides, it is drawn plain.
• As it is a polyline, it is edited with PEDIT and exploded into four lines with EXPLODE.

See also

PLINE · POLYGON · PEDIT · Coordinates and input

REGION — Region

Converts closed curves into regions.

• Command: REGION · Global name: _REGION · Alias: REG
• Ribbon: Home › Draw
• Menu: Draw

Converts closed curves into regions: flat surfaces saved in the same way as in AutoCAD. Each closed curve selected becomes a region and the original curve is erased.

Usage

1. Enter REGION (or REG) or click Region. If objects were already selected, those are used.
2. Select closed polylines, circles, ellipses or closed splines.

Select objects:

3. Press Enter. The program reports how many loops it found and how many regions it created.

Notes

• Each region takes the layer, color and linetype of the curve it comes from.
• Only closed curves made of a single object can be used: separate lines or arcs that enclose an area are not joined into a region. For that, use BOUNDARY with the Region type or join the segments with PEDIT.
• Ellipses and splines are turned into a very fine polygon that approximates them.
• There are no operations between regions (union, subtraction, intersection).
• To get curves back, explode the region with EXPLODE.

See also

BOUNDARY · EXPLODE · AREA · Selecting objects

REVCLOUD — Revision Cloud

Draws a revision cloud: rectangular, polygonal, freehand or from an object.

• Command: REVCLOUD · Global name: _REVCLOUD
• Ribbon: Home › Draw
• Menu: Draw

Draws a revision cloud: a polyline made of arcs used to mark the changes on a drawing. The cloud can be rectangular, polygonal or freehand, or made from an existing object.

Usage

1. Enter REVCLOUD or click Revision Cloud.
2. Choose the type of cloud with its option, if it is not the current one, and specify the first point. The prompt shows the current type; Enter goes to the Object option.

Specify first corner point or [Arc length/Object/Rectangular/Polygonal/Freehand/Style/Modify] <Object>:

3. Rectangular: specify the opposite corner and the cloud is created.

Specify opposite corner:

4. Polygonal and freehand: specify the next points and press Enter to finish.

Specify next point or [Undo]:

Options

• Arc length (A): minimum and maximum arc length. The maximum cannot exceed three times the minimum.

Specify minimum length of arc <…>:
Specify maximum length of arc <…>:

• Object (O): turns a polyline, circle, ellipse or spline into a cloud. The cloud replaces the object and takes its layer, color and linetype; the direction of the arcs can be reversed.

Reverse direction [Yes/No] <No>:

• Rectangular (R), Polygonal (P) and Freehand (F): type of cloud.
• Style (S): Normal or Calligraphy (arcs of varying width, as if drawn with a pen nib).
• Modify (M): changes a piece of a cloud. Select the cloud at the point where the new part starts (or specify it with First point), give the points of the new part until a segment crosses the cloud again and pick the side of the cloud to erase; the new part, with its arcs, takes its place in the same polyline.

Select polyline to modify:
Specify next point or [First point]:
Pick a side to erase:
Reverse direction [Yes/No] <No>:
Select arc style [Normal/Calligraphy] <Normal>:

• Undo (U): removes the last point of a polygonal or freehand cloud.

Notes

• A polygonal cloud closes itself when you press Enter. A freehand cloud closes when you come back near the first point; if you press Enter before, it stays open. Freehand clouds are also drawn with clicks, point by point.
• The arc lengths, the style and the type are remembered for the next cloud.
• The cloud is saved like AutoCAD's (a polyline with 110° arcs) and is edited with PEDIT.

See also

PLINE · RECTANG · PEDIT · WIPEOUT

REVOLVE — Revolve

Creates a solid by revolving a closed profile about an axis.

• Command: REVOLVE · Global name: _REVOLVE · Alias: REV
• Ribbon: Home › Draw

Creates a 3D solid by revolving a closed profile about an axis, like AutoCAD's REVOLVE. Modeling uses the truck kernel (pure Rust).

Usage

1. Type REVOLVE or click it in the ribbon.
2. Select the closed profile and press Enter.

Select the closed profiles and press Enter:

3. Enter the axis: X, Y or two points "x1,y1,z1 x2,y2,z2".

Revolution axis [X/Y] or two points "x1,y1,z1 x2,y2,z2":

4. Enter the angle (360° by default).

Revolution angle <360>:

Notes

• The revolved solid comes out faceted: exact curved surfaces (cylinders, cones, tori as a B-spline surface) come in a later phase. AutoCAD audits it with no errors.
• The axis must lie in the profile's plane and must not cross it.
• See also EXTRUDE, UNION, SUBTRACT and INTERSECT.

SKETCH — Sketch

Draws freehand.

• Command: SKETCH · Global name: _SKETCH
• Ribbon: Home › Draw

Draws freehand, as in AutoCAD 2027.

Usage

1. Enter SKETCH or click the button. The program shows the current type, increment and tolerance.

Type = … Increment = … Tolerance = …

2. Click to lower the pen and move the mouse: it leaves a point each time it moves the increment away from the previous one. Another click raises the pen; you can make several strokes.

Specify sketch or [Type/Increment/toLerance]:

3. Press Enter to record the strokes.

… objects recorded.

Options

• Type: lines, polylines (one per stroke) or splines (one per stroke, fitted with the tolerance).

Enter sketch type [Line/Polyline/Spline] <…>:

• Increment: distance between the points of the stroke.

Specify sketch increment <…>:

• toLerance: how far the spline may deviate from the stroke.

Specify spline fit tolerance <…>:

Notes

• The options are the variables SKPOLY, SKETCHINC and SKTOLERANCE.
• In a script, each typed point lowers or raises the pen; the stroke joins the typed points.

See also

PLINE · SPLINE · LINE

SOLID — 2D Solid

Draws filled triangles and quadrilaterals.

• Command: SOLID · Global name: _SOLID · Alias: SO
• Ribbon: Home › Draw
• Menu: Draw

Draws filled triangles and quadrilaterals (2D solids). They can be chained to form a strip.

Usage

1. Enter SOLID (or SO) or click 2D Solid.
2. Specify the first and second points: they form one side.

Specify first point:
Specify second point:

3. Specify the third point.

Specify third point:

4. Specify the fourth point, or press Enter to create a triangle and finish.

Specify fourth point or <exit>:

5. After the fourth point, the third and fourth become the first side of the next solid: go on with more third and fourth points, or press Enter to finish.

Notes

• The order of the points is AutoCAD's: the first and second form one side and the third and fourth the opposite side, in the same direction. If you give them in circular order (1, 2, 3, 4 around the figure), you get a bow tie.
• To fill areas of any shape, use HATCH with the SOLID pattern.

See also

HATCH · DONUT · WIPEOUT

SPLINE — Spline

Creates a smooth curve through the specified points.

• Command: SPLINE · Global name: _SPLINE · Alias: SPL
• Ribbon: Home › Draw
• Menu: Draw
• Toolbar: Draw

Draws a smooth curve (spline). By default the curve passes through the points you specify (Fit method); with the CV method, the points are control vertices that pull the curve.

Usage

1. Enter SPLINE (or SPL) or click Spline.
2. Specify the first point, or first change the method, the knots or the degree.

Specify first point or [Method/Knots/Object]:

3. Specify the next points.

Enter next point or [start Tangency/toLerance]:
Enter next point or [end Tangency/toLerance/Undo/Close]:

4. Press Enter to finish.

Options

• Method (M): chooses the method.

Enter spline creation method [Fit/CV] <Fit>:

• Knots (K): in the Fit method, how the knots are spaced between the points: by the distance between them (Chord), by its square root (S) or evenly (Uniform).

Enter knot parameterization [Chord/Square root/Uniform] <Chord>:

• Degree (D): in the CV method, the degree of the curve, from 1 to 10 (3 by default).

Enter degree of spline <3>:

• start Tangency (T): after the first point, the direction in which the curve leaves.
• end Tangency (T): the direction in which it reaches the last point; ends the spline. Enter at a tangent prompt leaves it free.
• Close (C): with three points or more, closes the curve and ends the command. By CVs, with any degree, the closed spline is periodic (smooth at the joint), as in AutoCAD.
• toLerance (L): with a value greater than 0, the curve no longer passes through the points but within that distance of them, smoother; the points entered and the tolerance are stored.

Specify fit tolerance <…>:

• Object (O): select spline-fit polylines (AutoCAD PEDIT Spline) and press Enter: each one becomes the equivalent quadratic or cubic spline, with its frame as control vertices, and the polyline is erased.

Select spline-fit polyline:

• Undo (U): removes the last point.

Notes

• A fit spline stores its fit points and tangents as AutoCAD does, which recognizes and edits it in the same way.
• With toLerance, the curve is smoothed differently from AutoCAD; when it opens the DWG, AutoCAD recalculates it from the stored points and tolerance.
• To edit the curve later, use SPLINEDIT.

See also

SPLINEDIT · PLINE · ELLIPSE · REVCLOUD

SUPERHATCH — Super hatch

Fills boundaries by repeating a block or an image as the pattern, or with a wipeout.

• Command: SUPERHATCH · Global name: _SUPERHATCH
• Ribbon: Home › Draw

Fills closed boundaries by repeating a block or an image as the pattern, or covers them with a wipeout, like the Express Tools SUPERHATCH; in addition to the HATCH patterns.

Usage

1. Type SUPERHATCH or click Super hatch.
2. Select the closed boundaries and press Enter; those inside another one are islands and are not filled.

Select the closed boundaries to fill or [Internal point]:

3. Type the name of a block in the drawing (or choose an option).

Name of the block to fill with or [Image/Wipeout]:

Options

• Internal point (I): instead of selecting, click inside the areas, as in HATCH: their boundary and islands are taken. Enter goes on.

Specify internal point:

• Image (I): type the file of a raster image; it is tiled at the size IMAGEATTACH inserts it at scale 1.

Image file:

• Wipeout (W): a wipeout (WIPEOUT) for each outer boundary, which hides what is below.

Notes

• The boundary can be a closed polyline, a circle, an ellipse, a closed spline or a region.
• The pattern is tiled over the bounding box of the boundaries at scale 1 and the copies whose center falls in the filled area (outside the islands) are kept. Copies crossing the boundary are not clipped.
• An external reference works as a block (it is inserted the same way).
• The copies are plain INSERT objects (or images); a single UNDO removes them all.
• No dialog box: the options of the Express Tools dialog box are on the command line. The wipeout leaves no holes for the islands.

See also

HATCH · INSERT · BOUNDARY · WIPEOUT

WIPEOUT — Wipeout

Covers what lies under an outline with the background color.

• Command: WIPEOUT · Global name: _WIPEOUT
• Ribbon: Home › Draw
• Menu: Draw

Creates a wipeout: a polygonal area that covers everything drawn beneath it with the background color. It is used, for example, to clear the space for a text or a table on a drawing.

Usage

1. Enter WIPEOUT or click Wipeout.
2. Specify the first point of the boundary, or press Enter to convert a polyline.

Specify first point or [Frames/Polyline] <Polyline>:

3. Specify the next points.

Specify next point:
Specify next point or [Close/Undo]:

4. Press Enter (or enter C) to close the boundary and create the wipeout. At least three points are required.

Options

• Polyline (P): uses a closed polyline as the boundary; then asks whether to erase the polyline.

Select a closed polyline:
Erase polyline? [Yes/No] <No>:

• Frames (F): shows or hides the frame of all the wipeouts in the drawing (WIPEOUTFRAME).

Enter mode [ON/OFF/Display but not plot] <ON>:

• Undo (U): removes the last point.

Notes

• A wipeout covers what was drawn before it; to change what stays on top, use DRAWORDER.
• The arcs of the polyline are turned into straight segments, as AutoCAD does.
• The wipeout and its frame mode are saved in the drawing like AutoCAD's.

See also

DRAWORDER · REVCLOUD · SOLID · HATCH

XLINE — Construction Line

Creates lines of infinite length in both directions.

• Command: XLINE · Global name: _XLINE · Alias: XL
• Ribbon: Home › Draw
• Menu: Draw

Draws construction lines: infinite straight lines in both directions, useful as construction guides (axes, alignments, projections between views). They do not count for zoom extents.

Usage

1. Enter XLINE (or XL) or click the button.
2. Specify a point on the line, or choose an option.

Specify a point or [Hor/Ver/Ang/Bisect/Offset]:

3. Specify a point it passes through. Each point creates another construction line through the first one; Enter ends.

Specify through point:

Options

• Hor (H) and Ver (V): horizontal or vertical lines through each point you specify.
• Ang (A): lines at a fixed angle, in degrees, through each point.

Enter angle of xline (0) or [Reference]:

• Reference (R), inside Ang: the angle is measured from a line, a polyline (its straight segment nearest to the selected point), a ray or another construction line.

Select a line object:
Enter angle of xline <0>:

• Bisect (B): the bisector of an angle, given by its vertex and a point on each side. Each further end point creates another bisector with the same vertex and start.

Specify angle vertex point:
Specify angle start point:
Specify angle end point:

• Offset (O): parallels to a line, at a distance or through a point (Enter). After each one you can select another line.

Specify offset distance or [Through] <Through>:
Specify side to offset:

Notes

• XLINE objects are created, as in AutoCAD. They cannot be trimmed or extended yet.
• For a half-line starting at a point, use RAY.

See also

RAY · LINE · OFFSET · Object snaps and precision

-MLEDIT — Edit Multiline (command line)

Edits multilines from the command line.

• Command: -MLEDIT · Global name: _-MLEDIT

Command-line version of MLEDIT: edits crossings, tees, corners, vertices, cuts and welds of multilines by typing the code of the tool. It is the way to use it in scripts and in AutoLISP.

Usage

1. Enter -MLEDIT.
2. Type the code: CC, OC or MC (crosses), CT, OT or MT (tees), CJ (corner), AV or DV (add or delete vertex), CS or CA (cut one or all) or WA (weld all).

Enter mline editing option [CC/OC/MC/CT/OT/MT/CJ/AV/DV/CS/CA/WA]:

3. Select the multilines and the points as in MLEDIT. The prompt repeats; Enter finishes.

Select first mline or [Undo]:

Options

• Undo (U): undoes the last edit.

Notes

• In LinceCAD MLEDIT opens no dialog box either, so both commands do the same.

See also

MLEDIT · MLINE · SCRIPT

-OVERKILL — Delete Duplicate Objects (command line)

Deletes duplicates from the command line.

• Command: -OVERKILL · Global name: _-OVERKILL

Command-line version of OVERKILL: erases duplicates and combines overlapping lines and arcs with typed options, without dialog boxes. It is the way to use it in scripts and in AutoLISP.

Usage

1. Enter -OVERKILL.
2. Select the objects and press Enter (or start the command with them already selected).

Select objects:

3. Change the settings you want and press Enter to clean up.

Current settings: Tolerance=…, Ignore=…, Optimize polylines=…, Combine partial overlap=…, Combine end-to-end=…. Enter an option to change [Done/Ignore/tOlerance/optimize Polylines/combine parTial overlap/combine End-to-end] <done>:

Options

The same as OVERKILL: tOlerance (O), Ignore (I), Polylines (P), parTial (T), End-to-end (E) and Done (D).

Notes

• In LinceCAD OVERKILL has no dialog box either, so both commands do exactly the same.
• In a script, for example, -OVERKILL · ALL · Enter · I · layer,color · Enter cleans the whole drawing ignoring layer and color.

See also

OVERKILL · SCRIPT · AutoLISP

ALIGN — Align

Moves, rotates and scales objects to align them with others.

• Command: ALIGN · Global name: _ALIGN · Alias: AL
• Ribbon: Home › Modify
• Menu: Modify

Moves, rotates and, if you ask for it, scales the selected objects so that some source points match some destination points. Use it to fit a part or a block against another object without working out angles.

Usage

1. Enter ALIGN (or AL).
2. Select the objects and press Enter. If they were already selected before starting the command, they are used without asking.

Select objects:

3. Specify the first pair of points: one on the objects (source) and the place where it must go (destination).

Specify first source point:
Specify first destination point:

4. Specify the second pair, or press Enter to just move.

Specify second source point or <continue>:
Specify second destination point:

5. Specify the third pair, or press Enter and choose whether the objects are scaled so that the second source lands on the second destination (Enter: no).

Specify third source point or <continue>:
Scale objects based on alignment points? [Yes/No] <N>:

Notes

• With one pair of points, the objects are moved; with two, they are also rotated around the first destination so that the direction from the first source to the second matches that of the destinations.
• With three pairs, the third one also decides whether the objects must be flipped (mirrored about the line of the first pair) so that they end up on the same side as the third destination.
• Use object snaps (F3) so that the points land exactly on the vertices.

See also

MOVE · ROTATE · SCALE · MIRROR · Object snaps and precision

ARRAY — Array

Repeats objects in rows and columns or in a circle.

• Command: ARRAY · Global name: _ARRAY · Alias: AR
• Ribbon: Home › Modify
• Menu: Modify
• Toolbar: Modify

Repeats the selected objects in rows and columns (rectangular array) or around a center (polar array). The copies are independent objects.

Usage

1. Enter ARRAY (or AR) or click Array on the ribbon.
2. Select the objects and press Enter. If they were already selected before starting the command, they are used without asking.

Select objects:

3. Choose the type of array (Enter: rectangular).

Enter the type of array [Rectangular/PAth/POlar] <R>:

4. Rectangular: enter the number of rows and columns (Enter: 1) and the distances between them. The original stays in a corner; with negative distances the copies go down or to the left.

Enter the number of rows (---) <1>:
Enter the number of columns (|||) <1>:
Specify the distance between rows:
Specify the distance between columns:

5. Polar: specify the center, the number of items (including the original) and the angle to fill (Enter: 360; negative, clockwise). The copies are rotated around the center.

Specify center point of array:
Enter the number of items in the array:
Specify the angle to fill (+=ccw, -=cw) <360>:

Options

• Rectangular (R): rows and columns at a fixed spacing.
• Polar (PO): copies spread around a circle or an arc.
• PAth (PA): continues as ARRAYPATH with the objects already selected.

Notes

• With a single row or column its distance is not asked. The total number of items goes from 2 to 100,000.
• The array is not associative (it cannot be edited later as a whole) and there is no path array.

See also

COPY · OFFSET · ROTATE · Selecting objects

ARRAYCLASSIC — Classic array

Rectangular or polar array in the classic style.

• Command: ARRAYCLASSIC · Global name: _ARRAYCLASSIC

Array in the classic AutoCAD style (the dialog box from before 2012). In LinceCAD it does the same as ARRAY: it asks the type, rectangular or polar, on the command line.

Usage

1. Enter ARRAYCLASSIC (MATRIZCLASICA).
2. Select the objects and press Enter.

Select objects:

3. Choose the array type.

Enter the type of array [Rectangular/PAth/POlar] <R>:

See also

ARRAY · ARRAYRECT · ARRAYPOLAR

ARRAYCLOSE — Close array

Ends editing the source of an array, saving or discarding the changes.

• Command: ARRAYCLOSE · Global name: _ARRAYCLOSE

Ends editing the source of an associative array, like AutoCAD ARRAYCLOSE: saves or discards the changes and goes back to the drawing.

Usage

1. With ARRAYEDIT, select the array and choose Source.
2. Change the source objects and enter ARRAYCLOSE.

See also

ARRAYEDIT · ARRAY

ARRAYEDIT — Edit array

Changes an array's parameters and regenerates it.

• Command: ARRAYEDIT · Global name: _ARRAYEDIT · Alias: EDITARRAY
• Ribbon: Home › Modify

Changes the parameters of an array created with ARRAY or ARRAYPATH and lays it out again, without reselecting the objects.

Usage

1. Type ARRAYEDIT (or EDITARRAY).
2. Select the array to edit. If it was selected before the command, it is used without asking.

Select the array to edit:

3. Depending on the array type, re-enter its values. Press Enter in a field to keep its current value. - Rectangular: rows, columns and spacing. > Enter the number of rows (---) <1>: > Enter the number of columns (|||) <1>: - Polar: number of items and angle (the center is kept). > Enter the number of items in the array: > Specify the angle to fill (+=ccw, -=cw) <360>: - Path: number of items or, with Distance, the spacing; the path is kept. > Enter the number of items or [Distance/Align]:

Options

• Distance / Number / Align: on a path array, switch between laying out by number or by distance and turn each copy's rotation on or off.

Source, Replace and Reset

At the first prompt these also work:

• Source: opens the source objects of the array for editing (like the block editor); when done, ARRAYCLOSE saves or discards the changes and every item changes.
• REPlace: select the replacement objects and their base point and then, as in AutoCAD 2027, the items of the array to replace (one click on each; Enter ends), or Source to replace the source of all of them. The base point goes to the reference point of each item and the replacement objects are erased.

Select replacement objects:
Select base point of replacement objects:
Select an item in array to replace or [Source objects] <exit>:

• RESet: lays the items out again with the array parameters (undoes single item replacements).

Notes

• A replaced item becomes like the others again if the array numbers are changed afterwards (AutoCAD keeps it).
• It only edits Lince's own arrays (blocks with their parameters stored). Selecting any other object warns and does nothing.
• A path array's path must still be in the drawing; if it was deleted, the array cannot be regenerated.

See also

ARRAY · ARRAYPATH

ARRAYPATH — Path array

Distributes copies of objects along a path.

• Command: ARRAYPATH · Global name: _ARRAYPATH · Alias: PATHARRAY
• Ribbon: Home › Modify

Distributes copies of the selected objects along a path curve (a line, arc, circle, polyline, ellipse or spline), as in AutoCAD 2027.

Usage

1. Type ARRAYPATH (or PATHARRAY) or click Path array.
2. Select the objects to distribute and press Enter. If they were already selected, they are used without asking.

Select objects:

3. Select the path curve. The array starts with the default values: items spaced 1.5 times the size of the selection along the path, until it is filled.

Select path curve:

4. Change what you need with the options and press Enter (or eXit) to create the array.

Select grip to edit array or [ASsociative/Method/Base point/Tangent direction/Items/Rows/Levels/Align items/Z direction/eXit] <eXit>:

Options

• ASsociative (AS): associative array (a single object, editable with ARRAYEDIT) or separate copies (ARRAYASSOCIATIVITY variable).

Create associative array [Yes/No] <…>:

• Method (M): Divide spreads the number of items over the whole path; Measure places them at the given distance from the start.

Enter path method [Divide/Measure] <…>:

• Base (B): point of the selection that is taken to the path. Without it, items are placed relative to the start of the path and the original does not move.

Specify base point <end of path curve>:

• Tangent (T): two points giving the direction of the selection that is aligned with the path tangent (by default, the tangent at the start).

Specify first point of tangent vector <path tangent>:

• Items (I): with Divide, how many items; with Measure, the distance between them and then how many (at most, those that fit; Fill places all of them).

Specify the distance between items along path <…>:
Specify number of items or [Fill entire path] <…>:

• Rows (R): rows parallel to the path, at the given distance (to the left of the path direction), and elevation between rows.
• Levels (L): levels and distance between them (in Z).
• Align (A): each item rotates with the path tangent (Yes, by default) or is only moved.

Align arrayed items to the path? [Yes/No] <…>:

• Z (Z): keep the Z direction of the items (no effect in 2D).

Notes

• At a path vertex the item takes the tangent of the incoming segment, as in AutoCAD.
• Associative, with a single row and level, no base point and no own tangent, it is a LinceCAD array stored as a block: AutoCAD opens it the same, but only LinceCAD edits it with ARRAYEDIT. Otherwise separate copies are created.
• Expression and Key point are not available. On ellipses and splines the length is measured on a very fine approximation of the curve.

See also

ARRAYEDIT · ARRAY · DIVIDE · MEASURE · COPY

ARRAYPOLAR — Polar array

Distributes copies of objects around a circle or arc.

• Command: ARRAYPOLAR · Global name: _ARRAYPOLAR

Creates a polar array: copies of the objects spread around a circle or an arc. It is ARRAY with the polar type already chosen.

Usage

1. Enter ARRAYPOLAR (MATRIZPOLAR) or click Polar Array on the ribbon.
2. Select the objects and press Enter (if they were already selected, they are used without asking).

Select objects:

3. Specify the center, the number of items (counting the original) and the angle to fill.

Specify center point of array:
Enter the number of items in the array:
Specify the angle to fill (+=ccw, -=cw) <360>:

Notes

• It works like ARRAY with the Polar option; the notes of that page apply here.
• It does not have AutoCAD's interactive options yet (Base point, Rotate items, Direction, Rows, Levels).

See also

ARRAY · ARRAYRECT · ARRAYCLASSIC · ARRAYPATH

ARRAYRECT — Rectangular array

Creates a rectangular array of rows and columns.

• Command: ARRAYRECT · Global name: _ARRAYRECT

Creates a rectangular array: copies of the objects in rows and columns. It is ARRAY with the rectangular type already chosen.

Usage

1. Enter ARRAYRECT (MATRIZRECTANG) or click Rectangular Array on the ribbon.
2. Select the objects and press Enter (if they were already selected, they are used without asking).

Select objects:

3. Give the rows, columns and the distances between them.

Enter the number of rows (---) <1>:
Enter the number of columns (|||) <1>:

Notes

• It works like ARRAY with the Rectangular option; the notes of that page apply here.
• It does not have AutoCAD's interactive options yet (Base, Angle, Count, Spacing, Associative, Levels).

See also

ARRAY · ARRAYPOLAR · ARRAYCLASSIC · ARRAYPATH

BLEND — Blend curves

Creates a spline joining two open curves.

• Command: BLEND · Global name: _BLEND

Creates a spline joining two open curves at the ends nearest to where you picked them, tangent to both.

Usage

1. Enter BLEND (FUSIONAR).
2. Select the first curve near the end you want to join.

Select first object or [CONtinuity]:

3. Select the second curve, also near its end.

Select second object:

Options

• CONtinuity: Tangent (the default) or Smooth.

Enter a continuity [Tangent/Smooth] <…>:

Notes

• Works with lines, arcs and open polylines. The spline is a cubic with the end tangents; the Smooth type gives the same result as Tangent today (curvature continuity is missing).
• It does not trim or extend the curves.

See also

SPLINE · FILLET · JOIN

BREAK — Break

Breaks an object between two points.

• Command: BREAK · Global name: _BREAK · Alias: BR
• Ribbon: Home › Modify
• Menu: Modify
• Toolbar: Modify

Breaks an object by removing the piece between two points, or splits it in two at a single point without removing anything.

Usage

1. Enter BREAK (or BR) or click Break on the ribbon.
2. Click the object. The point you click is the first break point.

Select object:

3. Specify the second break point: whatever lies between both points is removed.

Specify second break point or [First point] (@: at the same point):

Options

• First point (F): discards the clicked point and asks for the first break point, for example to give it with an object snap.

Specify first break point:

• @: uses the same point as the first one; the object is split into two objects that touch.

Notes

• Breaks lines, arcs, circles and polylines. The points are projected onto the object, so they do not have to lie exactly on it.
• On a circle the piece from the first point to the second one counterclockwise is removed and an arc remains; a closed polyline becomes open. Closed objects cannot be broken at a single point (@).
• It does not use preselection: the object is picked during the command.

See also

TRIM · JOIN · LENGTHEN · Object snaps and precision

BREAKATPOINT — Break at point

Breaks an object in two at a point.

• Command: BREAKATPOINT · Global name: _BREAKATPOINT

Breaks an object in two at a point, removing nothing. It is BREAK with the second point equal to the first.

Usage

1. Enter BREAKATPOINT (PARTIRENPUNTO) or click Break at Point on the ribbon.
2. Select the object (a line, an arc, a circle or an open polyline).

Select object:

3. Specify the break point (it is projected onto the object).

Specify break point:

Notes

• A closed polyline or a circle cannot be broken with a single point: use BREAK with two.
• A point at an end of the object changes nothing.

See also

BREAK · JOIN · TRIM

BURST — Burst

Explodes blocks keeping attributes as texts with their values.

• Command: BURST · Global name: _BURST
• Ribbon: Home › Modify

Explodes blocks like EXPLODE, but visible attributes become texts with their values (EXPLODE turns them into attribute definitions that show the tag). It is the BURST tool of the Express Tools.

Usage

1. Enter BURST.
2. Select the blocks and press Enter. If they were already selected, they are exploded without asking.

Select objects:

Notes

• What is on layer 0 or has ByBlock color, linetype or lineweight takes those of the insert, as when exploding in AutoCAD.
• Invisible or empty attributes disappear. Multiline attributes come out as a single-line text.
• One level is exploded: nested blocks stay as blocks. Other selected objects do not change.

See also

EXPLODE · TXTEXP · ATTEDIT · BATTMAN

CHAMFER — Chamfer

Bevels the corner between two lines.

• Command: CHAMFER · Global name: _CHAMFER · Alias: CHA
• Ribbon: Home › Modify
• Menu: Modify
• Toolbar: Modify

Joins two lines with a chamfer (a straight line) at the given distances, trimming or extending them to it. With distances 0 it forms a sharp corner.

Usage

1. Enter CHAMFER (or CHA) or click Chamfer on the ribbon.

Select first line or [Undo/Polyline/Distance/Angle/Trim/mEthod/Multiple]:

2. Select the first line and then the second, each on the part you want to keep. The first distance (or the length) counts on the first line.

Select second line or shift-select to apply corner or [Distance/Angle/Method]:

3. The chamfer is created and the command ends (with Multiple it keeps asking for pairs until Enter).

Options

• Distance: the two distances (CHAMFERA and CHAMFERB; Enter on the second repeats the first).

Specify first chamfer distance <…>:

• Angle: length on the first line (CHAMFERC) and angle with it (CHAMFERD, in radians).

Specify chamfer length on the first line <…>:

• Method: Distance or Angle (CHAMMODE).
• Polyline: chamfers all straight vertices of a 2D polyline.
• Trim: Trim or No trim (TRIMMODE). Without trimming only the chamfer is added.
• Multiple and Undo.

Notes

• Works only with lines and polylines. If the distances do not fit, a message is shown.
• The chamfer goes on the layer of the first line if both share a layer; otherwise on the current layer.
• With Shift held when selecting the second line, a sharp corner. Two straight segments of the same polyline, adjacent or separated by an arc (which is replaced by the chamfer), or the first or last segment of an open polyline with a line, are chamfered as in FILLET, as in AutoCAD 2027. The Polyline option leaves the vertices next to an arc unchanged.

See also

FILLET · TRIM · EXTEND · Editing

CHANGE — Change

Changes points and properties of objects.

• Command: CHANGE · Global name: _CHANGE · Alias: -CH
• Ribbon: Home › Modify
• Menu: Modify

Changes the geometry or the properties of the selected objects: with a change point it takes line endpoints and circle radii to that point and lets you change texts and blocks one by one; with Properties it changes the color, layer, linetype and other properties of everything selected.

Usage

1. Enter CHANGE (or -CH).
2. Select the objects and press Enter.

Select objects:

3. Specify the change point, press Enter to go on to texts, blocks and circles, or choose Properties.

Specify change point or [Properties]:

Change point

• Lines: the endpoint of each line closest to the point is moved to it.
• Circles: the radius changes so that the circle passes through the point. Without a point (Enter), the radius of each circle is asked.

Specify new circle radius <no change>:

• Texts: the insertion point, style, height, rotation angle and text are asked one by one. Enter keeps each value.

Specify new insertion point <no change>:
Enter new text style <no change>:
Specify new height <no change>:
Specify new rotation angle <no change>:
Enter new text <no change>:

• Blocks: the insertion point and the rotation angle.

Properties

Enter property to change [Color/Elev/LAyer/LType/ltScale/LWeight/Thickness/TRansparency/Material/Annotative]:

• Color (C), LAyer (LA), LType (LT), ltScale (S), LWeight (LW) and TRansparency (TR): as in the PROPERTIES palette. The layer and the linetype must exist in the drawing.
• Elev (E): the elevation (Z) of lines (if both endpoints are at the same one), circles, arcs, polylines, texts, blocks, points, ellipses, hatches, 2D solids and shapes.
• Material (M): the name of a material of the drawing, ByLayer or ByBlock. Annotative (A... see the prompt): Yes or No.
• Thickness (T): the extrusion thickness of lines, circles, arcs, polylines, texts and points.

After each property you return to the list; Enter ends.

Notes

• Everything a CHANGE does is undone at once with U.
• It does not change the material, the plot style or the annotative property yet; of attributes, only what they have of text; of multiline texts, only the insertion point. ORTHO mode does not make the lines parallel.

See also

PROPERTIES · MATCHPROP · STRETCH · TEXTEDIT

CHPROP — Change properties

Changes color, layer, linetype and other properties of objects.

• Command: CHPROP · Global name: _CHPROP
• Ribbon: Home › Modify

Changes the properties of the selected objects from the command line, like AutoCAD CHPROP: color, layer, linetype and its scale, lineweight, thickness, transparency, material and annotative.

Usage

1. Enter CHPROP.
2. Select the objects and press Enter.

Select objects:

3. Choose a property, enter its value and repeat with another; Enter ends.

Enter property to change [Color/LAyer/LType/ltScale/LWeight/Thickness/TRansparency/Material/Annotative]:

Notes

• Options and values are those of the Properties option of CHANGE, without elevation.

See also

CHANGE · PROPERTIES · MATCHPROP

COPY — Copy

Copies objects from a base point to another point.

• Command: COPY · Global name: _COPY · Alias: CO, CP
• Ribbon: Home › Modify
• Menu: Modify
• Toolbar: Modify

Copies the selected objects from a base point to one or more destination points. Each point you specify creates a new copy; the originals do not change.

Usage

1. Enter COPY (or CO, CP) or click Copy on the ribbon.
2. Select the objects and press Enter. If they were already selected before starting the command, they are used without asking.

Select objects:

3. Specify the base point.

Specify base point or [Displacement/mOde] <Displacement>:

4. Specify the destination point. A copy is created and the prompt repeats to make another one from the same base point.

Specify second point or [Array] <use first point as displacement>:

5. Press Enter, Space or Esc to finish.

Notes

• As in AutoCAD, copying is multiple: the command keeps asking for destinations until you finish it.
• Destinations can be typed as relative or polar coordinates from the base point, or as a distance in the direction of the cursor.
• In 3D points accept Z (x,y,z, @dx,dy,dz), as in MOVE: the copy is raised or lowered.
• Grips copy too: in any mode (stretch, move, rotate, scale, mirror) choose Copy (C) and each point leaves a copy.
• There is no Array option as in AutoCAD; for copies in rows, columns or around a circle use ARRAY.
• To copy between drawings use COPYCLIP and PASTECLIP.
• AutoCAD's Displacement, mOde and Undo options are not available.

• Options: Displacement (a vector, a single copy), mOde (Single or Multiple, variable COPYMODE), Array (number of items and second point; with Fit the point is the last item), Exit and Undo (removes the last copy or array). Enter at the first second point uses the base point as displacement.