Other Line Drawing Options

Parallel Line:

Suppose I draw a Line:


If I want to draw a line parallel to this line at a distance of 20mm to its left, how do I do it? Use: Line -> Line parallel to given line and at given offset. Select side by clicking to the left of the line. In the offset box, specify offset as 20. And you get a parallel line.

Note: Even if the distance in the screen-shot does not appear to be 20 mm, it is actually 20mm when fed to the CNC machine. The distance on the screen is not in mm and moreover, it is scaled, so you will never feel it as 20 mm.

Perpendicular Line:

Similarly, if I want to draw a perpendicular to a given line how do I do it?
Select: Line ->Line perpendicular to given line and from given point.

Select the line to which you want to draw perpendicular and the point from which you want perpendicular.



















Line Tangent to two circles:

Suppose I have two circles on my screen:


If I want to draw a line tangent to both these circles, I select: Line->Line Tangent To Two Circles/Arcs.

After that I select the two circles. Then a line is

drawn in Green tangent to both the circles.

And a dialog box pops-up in the bottom-right

corner of the Drawing Screen, saying "Is it OK?"

and two buttons: Yes, No.

This means that there are more than one possible lines which are tangent to two circles.




If I click No, then another possible line is

drawn in Green which is tangent to both the

circles. Again the dialog box is shown asking for

whether this is the Line you wanted or show

you the next possible line.






Now if I click Yes, this line is made final and now

the Dialog Box disappears. The circles become

Green again. This indicates end of the operation.












I have just drawn all the possible lines (4 lines in all) which are tangent to the two circles: