Drawing Grid

The Drawing Grid is a tool that lets you draw new members and plates in the model view. This grid is independent of the model, so you may change the grid as you build your model without changing any modeling that you have completed. This is because as you draw the members and plates the joints used to define them are created automatically. These joints remain in their locations if the grid is relocated.

Drawing Grid Features

The Drawing Grid tools can be found on the Drawing Tools ribbon. These features allow you to define, save and reuse rectangular, radial and DXF underlay drawing grids. You can also set a specific grid as your default.

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To use the Drawing Grid features refer to the following table and sections.

Drawing Grid Features

Feature	Description
Drawing Grid section
	The ‘Display Grid’ icon lets you turn on (show) or off (hide) the drawing grid in the current model. Gray slider - indicates that the drawing grid is off (hidden) Blue slider - indicates that it is on (showing). See Show / Hide the Drawing Grid for more information.
Type	The ‘Type’ feature lets you choose between a rectangular drawing grid, radial drawing grid or DXF underlay.
Plane	The ‘Plane’ feature lets you place the grid in any one of the three global planes.
Color	The ‘Color’ feature lets you choose what color you would like the drawing grid lines displayed in.
X Increments__ft	The ‘X Increments’ feature lets you set the number of and width between the drawing grid lines.
Y Increments__ft	The ‘Y Increments’ feature lets you set the number of and height between the drawing grid lines.
Skew Angle__deg	The ‘Skew Angle’ lets you skew the drawing grid perpendicularly to the global axis plane.
	The icon located to the bottom right of the ‘Skew Angle’ feature lets you open the “Rectangular Grid Increments” window. Click on image to enlarge it The “Rectangular Grid Increments” window lets you enter more X and Y incremental values.
Drawing Grid Origin section
X__ft	The ‘X’ grid origin lets you set the increment, in feet, for the X direction. For more information see Rectangular Drawing Grid.
Y__ft	The ‘Y’ grid origin lets you set the increment, in feet, for the Y direction. See Rectangular Drawing Grid for more information.
Z__ft	The ‘Z’ grid origin lets you set the increment, in feet, for the Z direction. See Rectangular Drawing Grid for more information.
	The ‘Click to Locate’ icon lets you specify or relocate the origin of the drawing grid. See Relocating the Drawing Grid for more information.
Save and Recall features section
	The ‘Save as Default’ feature lets you save any of the grid information as the default settings so that when you start a new model that information is already there. See Save a Drawing Grid Default for more information.
	The ‘Save Grid’ feature lets you save a drawing grid so you can recall it for later use. Saved drawing grids are model independent, i.e. when you save a grid, you can reuse it in any other model you are working with in the future. See Save a Drawing Grid for more information.
	The ‘Load Grid’ feature lets you recall a saved drawing grid. See Recall a Drawing Grid for more information.

Show / Hide the Drawing Grid

The ribbon includes a feature that works like a toggle; allowing you to show or hide the drawing grid in the current model.

To show or hide the drawing grid:

Open to the Drawing Tools ribbon.

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Click on the Display Grid icon.
- When the Display Grid slider is blue, it indicates that the drawing grid is turned ‘on’ (shown).
- When the Display Grid slider is gray, the drawing grid turned ‘off’ (hidden).

Drawing Grid Type

Rectangular Drawing Grid

The rectangular drawing grid is defined by increments in two directions. The X, Y, Z Origins are where you want the grid increments to start. The X, Y, Z Increments are the distances between the grid points or lines in two global directions.

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You may use symbols such as "@", "/" and "," when entering the drawing grid increments.

The "@" entry may be used to specify multiple, equally spaced, grid increments.

For example, if you wanted 7 increments at 10 units each, you would type "7@10" in the increment field.
The "/" entry subdivides a larger increment into smaller equal increments.

For example, the entry "12/4" would create 4 increments of 3 units each.
Use commas (",") to enter multiple increments in the increment field.

For example, if you wanted to define increments of 3, 4, 7 and 2 units, you could enter "3,4,7,2" in the increment field.

Once the drawing grid is specified and displayed in the model view, it provides snap points while drawing your model.

Radial Drawing Grid

Increments in two polar directions define a radial drawing grid. The Drawing Grid Origin is the point about which the grid will rotate. The default is at the global origin (0,0,0). The Start Angle defines the angle from the global axis that the first spoke will be drawn. The Angle Increment controls the number and angular spacing of the spokes in the grid. The Radial Increments controls the number and location of the rings in the grid.

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DXF Underlay Grid

This type should only be chosen when you want to import a DXF Grid from a DXF file. The following is an example of an imported DXF file underlay grid.

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Relocating the Drawing Grid

The origin of the drawing grid may be specified in two ways. The first is to enter the exact global coordinates for the origin. This can be done by entering the values in the X Origin, Y Origin, and Z Origin boxes. The second option is to specify the origin by clicking on an existing point in the model. This option is available by clicking the Click to Locate button, and then clicking on the specific location in the model view where you wish the drawing grid origin to be located. The drawing grid origin is then moved to this point.

Skewed Drawing Grid

The rectangular drawing grid can be skewed by specifying a skew angle. This option is available in the Drawing Grid Section section of the Drawing toolsribbon. This skew angle allows for the creation of a regular rectangular drawing grid, but displayed in the model view at the specified angle, inclined from the global axis.

Save a Drawing Grid Default

You may save any of the grid information as the default setting so that when you start a new model that information is already there.

To save a drawing grid as the default:

In the Drawing Grid and Drawing Grid Origin sections of the ‘Drawing Tools’ ribbon, enter the information that you want to save.
Click on Save as Default in the ‘Drawing Tools’ ribbon.

Save a Drawing Grid

To save a drawing grid:

Use the table above to define the grid settings.
Click on Save Grid in the ‘Drawing Tools’ ribbon, after defining the grid.

You are prompted for a name for the drawing grid. Once you provide a name, the drawing grid is saved and added to the list of grids available for recall.

Recall a Drawing Grid

To recall a previously defined drawing grid:

Click on Load Grid in the ‘Drawing Tools’ ribbon.

The Edit Saved Drawing Grids window opens.

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Click on the drawing grid you want.
Click the Load button.

Note: You can also “Rename” drawing grids and “Delete” drawing grids from the Edit Saved Drawing Grids window. To choose either option, click the Rename or Delete button after choosing the drawing grid.