Working with a Line Object on a Draftsman Document in Altium Designer

Parent page: Draftsman Objects

A placed Line object

Summary

A Line is a graphic object that can be placed on a Draftsman document sheet. A Line object can be used to manually create custom graphics, as well as to create templates for items such as an information table, which contains specific data about the document itself.

Availability

Lines are available for placement in the Draftsman Editor as follows:

• Choose the Place » Line command from the main menu (Place Line).
• Click the  button in the graphic objects drop-down on the Active Bar located at the top of the design space. Click and hold an Active Bar button to access other related commands. Once a command has been used, it will become the topmost item on that section of the Active Bar.
  
• Right-click in the drawing design space then select Place » Line from the context menu.
• Click the entry in the graphic objects drop-down menu () on the Drawing Annotations toolbar (View » Toolbars » Drawing Annotations to enable).

Placement

After launching the command, the cursor will change to a cross-hair and the editor will enter line placement mode. Placement is made by performing the following actions:

1. Click to define the starting position of the line.
2. Move the cursor to set the length and angle the line then click again to complete placement.
3. Continue placing further lines, or right-click or press Esc to exit the placement mode.

Graphical Editing

The graphical method of editing allows a placed line object to be selected in the design space and moved or its start/end point locations changed.

When a Line object is selected, editing handles/nodes become available at its start and end points.

A selected Line.

• Click and drag the Line graphic to reposition it on the drawing document.
• Click and drag a start or finish point node to alter the Line's position, angle or length.

Non-Graphical Editing

Properties page: Line Properties

The non-graphical method of editing a Line is available in the Draftsman Properties panel, which provides editable property fields for the item that is currently selected in the design space.

The Properties panel when a Line object is selected.

To open the Properties panel and access the properties of a placed Line:

• After selecting the Line object, select the Properties panel from the Panels button at the bottom right of the design space or select View » Panels » Properties from the main menus.
• Double-click on the Line graphic.
• Right-click on the Line then select Item Properties from the context menu.

If the Properties panel is already active, click on the Line graphic to access its properties in the panel.

Editing Multiple Objects

The Properties panel supports multiple object editing, where the property settings that are identical in all currently selected objects can be modified.