Node
Node edits individual points. Drag a point to move it, click a straight side to add a point there, click an arc or a circle to split it in two, and press Delete to remove a point. Relations and dimensions keep holding while you drag. It is in Advanced on the Sketch tab.
When to Use It
- Pull one corner of a drawn shape to a new place
- Add a corner part way along a side
- Split an arc or a circle into two arcs, so each part can be trimmed, sized or used on its own
- Remove a corner from an outline
- Pick two points, or a point and a line, to tie them together
Step by Step
- Open a sketch with something drawn in it.
- Click Advanced on the Sketch tab, then Node, or press N. Small handles show on the pieces.
- Move a point: press on a handle and drag. It follows the pointer and snaps as set in Snap Options. Release to drop it. The point stays selected.
- Add a point: click on a straight side, away from its handles. A new point is made exactly there and the side becomes two.
- Split an arc or a circle: click on it, away from its handles. See Splitting an Arc or a Circle below.
- Remove a point: click its handle so it is chosen, then press Delete.
- Press Esc or click Select to leave the tool.
What Each Handle Does
- Line, polygon, rectangle corner: moves that corner. A rectangle that has a corner moved is no longer treated as a plain rectangle.
- Circle center: moves the whole circle. Circle rim (four handles): changes the radius.
- Arc: its two ends and the point it passes through. Each can be moved.
- Combined outline: each joint, and the through point of each arc side.
- Construction line: its two ends.
Splitting an Arc or a Circle
- An arc becomes two arcs that meet exactly where you clicked. The first part keeps the arc's start and every relation and dimension on it. The second part takes the far end, with the relations on that end (a line joined there, a Tangent there, a point held there). The two parts are tied with Coincident where they meet and Concentric, so they stay one arc when either is dragged or resized, and a Radius on the first part sizes both.
- A circle becomes two half arcs, split where you clicked and at the point opposite. The first half keeps the circle's relations and dimensions. A Diameter becomes a Radius of the same size, since an arc has a radius; a formula on that Diameter is halved, so it still gives the same circle. If the formula of another dimension reads that Diameter by name (see Equations), the circle is not split, because that formula would then read half the number: edit that formula first. The halves are joined at both ends with Coincident, and run on smoothly where you clicked with Tangent, so they stay one circle.
- A point held on the arc or the circle (Point on circle) goes with the part it sits on.
- What no longer holds once the arc is in two is let go and the message says how many: a distance between the arc's own two ends, and its Arc angle.
- The split points are free to slide along the circle until you dimension them, so a circle that was fully defined is not after a split.
- One Undo takes back the split with its relations.
- Construction arcs and circles split the same way and stay construction. An edge of the part brought in with Convert Entities is not split (the message says what to do). A sketch point is never split. A click on an arc side of a combined outline does nothing: right-click the outline with Select and choose Break apart first.
- The click must be away from the handles: on a circle the center and the four rim handles, on an arc its two ends and its through point. A click on a handle picks the handle. Where a line crosses an arc or a circle, the click goes to whichever of the two is nearer the pointer.
Points and Relations
- Hold Shift and click a second point (or a line) with a point chosen, then rest the mouse: the bar offers the point relations, such as Coincident, Horizontal, Vertical and Midpoint (see Relations). The first piece's point stays and the second moves to meet it.
- If the relations on a piece cannot follow a drag, the piece stays at the last place they could hold it. A drag never turns a piece red.
Tips
- One Undo takes back a whole drag.
- A click on a straight side adds a point; a click on an arc or a circle splits it into two arcs. An arc gets no extra point of its own: it is always its two ends and one through point.
- Use Select, not Node, to move whole pieces (see Select).
Common Problems
- Delete says a circle has no removable points: delete the whole circle with Select instead.
- Delete says a profile needs at least three points: a closed shape cannot go below three corners, and a line cannot go below two. Delete the whole piece with Select.
- Deleting a point of an arc or construction line removed the whole piece: an arc needs three points and a line needs two, so taking one away removes the piece.
- That is too near an end of the arc: the click was almost on an end, which would leave a part of no length. Click part way along the arc.
- A circle's Diameter is read by a formula: another dimension's formula uses the Diameter by name. Open Equations and change that formula, for example to use a Radius times 2, then split the circle.
- A combined outline will not let a point go: right-click it with Select and choose Break apart first.