Move, Re-size, Format Drawing Tools

In addition to the Delete options in the Tools menu, various editing operations can be performed on Drawing Tools, by clicking on them with the mouse. Tools can be formatted, moved, re-sized and deleted, as described below.

Right-Click

If you right-click the mouse on a Drawing Tool, you will see a popup menu which makes available various options.

• Copy - create a copy of the Drawing Tool

• Format – displays the Format Tool dialog for the clicked-on Drawing Tool (see below for details)

• Delete – delete the clicked-on Drawing Tool

Single Left-Click

If you single-click the left mouse button on a Drawing Tool, this will "select" the tool, and you will see the "control points" highlighted on the tool. While in this mode:

• Re-size – you can click and drag the control points, to re-size the tool (NOTE: not applicable for Contour Labels or Text Boxes, which cannot be re-sized)

• Move – If you hover the mouse over any part of the Drawing Tool, but NOT on a control point, you will see the four-way arrow cursor, allowing you to click and drag the entire Drawing Tool to a new location

• Delete – you can delete the selected tool by pressing Delete on the keyboard

Double Left-Click

If you double-click the left mouse button on a Drawing Tool, you will see the Format Tool dialog. The Format Tool dialog allows the user to customize styles, colours etc. Only the options applicable to the clicked-on tool, will be enabled in the Format Tool dialog.

• Position – the position and size of each Drawing Tool, is defined by two points (except for Text Boxes and Contour Labels, which are defined by a single point only, defining the position of the upper left corner). These points are referred to as the Head and the Tail (the Head is the first point you entered when you added the Drawing Tool, and the Tail is the second point). The user may edit these values in the Format Tool dialog, in order to change the size and / or position of a Drawing Tool. However, in most cases, this will probably be done graphically, as described above for the "Single-Click" options. The Lock Position option can be used to lock the position of the object on the view, so that it cannot be moved or re-sized.

• Hatch and Fill – Hatch and Fill are applicable to Rectangle or Circle Drawing Tools, and allow you to fill a Rectangle or Circle with a Fill colour or a Hatch pattern. NOTE: you cannot use both Hatch and Fill together, since they are always the same colour. If you use a Hatch pattern, then the Fill Colour determines the colour of the Hatch lines. Fill can also be used to change the background colour of Text Boxes or Contour Labels, but Hatch cannot be used for Text Boxes or Contour Labels.

• Line Style – Line Style is applicable to all Drawing Tools (except Picture from file). It allows you to change the Colour and / or Weight (thickness) of the Line used to draw the object. For Text Boxes or Contour Labels, the Colour will change the text or label colour, but the Weight is not applicable.

• Arc – only applicable for Circle Drawing Tools. Arc allows you to display an arc segment of a Circle or Ellipse, by entering starting and ending points of the arc segment in degrees.

• Axis Style – only applicable for Axes Drawing Tools. Allows you to specify any combination of Top, Left, Bottom or Right axes to be displayed.

• Custom Axis Spacing – allows you to customize the axis interval spacing for Axes Drawing Tools, and choose Global or Local coordinates. Local coordinates will ensure that the lower left corner of the Axes represents ( 0 , 0 ) regardless of where the Axes are placed on the view. Global coordinates will correspond to the view coordinates.

• Arrow Style – only applicable for Line or Arrow Drawing Tools. Allows you to specify arrow heads at either or both ends of a Line or Arrow Drawing Tool.

• Font – only applicable for Text Boxes or Contour Labels. Allows you to change the Font, Font Style and Font Size of the text in a Text Box or Contour Label.

• Image Properties – applicable to images added with the Picture from File option. Transparent allows you to select one colour on the image which will be transparent (invisible). Alpha-blend allows you to adjust the overall transparency of the image. Image Behind Geometry will ensure that the image is behind the model, if the image and model overlap. Scaling allows the user to maintain the original image size, if the view is zoomed in or out, or scale the image with the view as the view is zoomed.

• Apply – use the Apply button to apply the current dialog settings to the selected tool, to view the results without closing the Format Tool dialog. (NOTE: if you select Cancel after you use Apply, all formatting changes will be cancelled and the original formatting of the tool before applying the changes, will be restored)

• OK – select OK to apply the current settings to the selected tool, and close the dialog

• Default – select the Default button if you wish to make the current dialog settings the Default settings for ALL NEW TOOLS of the currently selected type (for example, if a Line object is selected, you can choose a Colour and Weight, and select Default, and all new Lines will use the new Colour and Weight settings). Other tool types will NOT be affected. A warning dialog will first appear, before the new Default settings are saved.