LinceCAD 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.
- Click a grip: it becomes the hot grip (red) and STRETCH mode starts.
Specify stretch point or [Base point/Copy/eXit]:
- 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.
- Enter or Space cycles to the next mode, in this order:
| Mode | What it does |
|---|---|
| ** STRETCH ** | Moves the point; if several objects share it, all of them are stretched |
| ** MOVE ** | Moves the selected objects |
| ** ROTATE ** | Rotates the objects around the grip (or the base point); a number is the angle |
| ** SCALE ** | Scales the objects from the grip; a number is the factor |
| ** MIRROR ** | Mirrors them about the line from the grip to the point you specify |
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
| Command | Key | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| COPYCLIP | Ctrl+C | Copies the selection |
| CUTCLIP | Ctrl+X | Copies the selection and erases it |
| COPYBASE | Ctrl+Shift+C | Copies with the base point you specify |
| PASTECLIP | Ctrl+V | Pastes; the objects follow the cursor until you click |
| PASTEBLOCK | Ctrl+Shift+V | Pastes the copied objects as a block |
| PASTEORIG | — | Pastes at the original coordinates |
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.