Working in Sketches

You can create sketches to define items such as profiles and layouts. You can create one or more sketches in a single model.

This task shows you how to:

See Also
Viewing a Model Normal To

Start a Sketch

You create a sketch on a plane or a planar face.

  1. From the Sketch section of the action bar, click Create or Edit Sketch or a sketch entity command, such as Line or Rectangle .
    The pointer changes to to indicate that you need to select a plane to sketch on.
  2. In the work area, specify the sketch plane by selecting one of the following:
    • A default plane (Top, Front, or Right).
    • A planar face of the model.
    • A previously created reference plane.
    The selected plane or face, or a reference plane appears in the Normal To view. A sketch opens and a grid appears on the selected plane.

    Note: In the work area, the tall and short red lines indicate the Vertical and Horizontal axes in an active sketch. The H and V axes help you orient your sketch with respect to the X,Y, and Z axes of the triad.

    The Sketch bar appears near the top of the 3D area.

    The Sketch bar provides access to the following commands:

    Command Description
    Command Icon When you are in an active sketch, the active command icon is displayed in the Sketch bar. In the screen capture above this table, the Line icon is shown.

    Press the A key to cycle through the sketch commands in the same action bar flyout.
    Toggle Snapping and Inferences. Switches between enabling and disabling snapping and inferences while sketching.

    Hold the Ctrl key to temporarily disable the snapping and inferences while sketching. Snapping and inferences return once Ctrl is released.
    Construction mode switches between the construction mode and standard sketch mode.

    You can create construction entities when you enable the construction mode.

    You can disable the mode to create standard sketch entities.

    Undo All Sketch Changes. Discards all your changes and deactivates the sketch.
    Important: Immediately after undoing all sketch changes, you can restore the discarded changes by clicking Redo from the standard area of the action bar.
    Exit Sketch. Keeps your changes and deactivates the sketch.


    		Lock View (available on touch devices). Prevents the view from rotating as you drag. (Equivalent to using Ctrl + drag on nontouch devices).

  3. Sketch various entities using commands from the Sketch section of the action bar.

    When sketching a line, you can click various places in the 3D area to draw a continuous line. Double-click to end the line, but keep the line command active. If using a hand held device, see Tablet or Mobile Device Option.

Exit a Sketch

You can keep all your changes and deactivate the sketch.

On the Sketch bar, click Exit Sketch .
Your changes remain in the sketch, and the sketch deactivates.

Undo All Sketch Changes

You can discard all your changes and deactivate the sketch.

On the Sketch bar, click Undo All Sketch Changes .
Your changes are discarded and the sketch deactivates.
Important: Immediately after undoing all sketch changes, you can restore your discarded changes by clicking Redo from the standard area of the action bar.

Edit a Sketch

You can activate an existing sketch and make changes to it.

Do one of the following:
  • In the 3D area, select the sketch and click Create or Edit Sketch on the context toolbar or the action bar.
  • In the design tree, double-click the sketch.

Inferencing

Inferencing lines work with pointers, snaps, and constraints to graphically display how sketch entities affect each other. Inferencing lines are dotted lines that appear as you sketch.

Start sketching an entity.
When the pointer approaches cues such as midpoints, vertical, and horizontal positions, inferencing lines guide appear relative to existing sketch entities.

Snapping

As you sketch, snap icons indicate when the pointer is over items that you can snap to.

Start sketching an entity that makes contact with another entity.
Snap icons display.
Snaps to a coincident point on the entity.
Snaps to the midpoint point on the entity.
Snaps to the vertical point on the entity.
Snaps to the horizontal point on the entity.
Snaps to other entities.
Note: You can click on the Sketch bar to switch between enabling and disabling snapping and inferences while sketching. You can also press the Ctrl key to override the toggle button and enable and disable snapping based on the state of the button.