Power Trim
Press and drag across sketch pieces to cut each one away at its crossings. Every piece your stroke crosses loses the stretch you crossed, from the nearest crossing on one side to the nearest crossing on the other. It is the fast way to clean up the ends of lines that run past each other.
What you get: every piece your stroke crossed loses the stretch it crossed, each new end tied to the piece that cut it, and a message such as "Trimmed." One Undo puts it all back.
When to Use It
- Clean up the overhanging ends at the corners of a box built from long lines
- Cut several pieces away in one stroke
- Turn a circle into an arc by taking part of it away
Step by Step
- Open a sketch on a plane or a face (see Planes and Faces). Sketching is part of modeling, which comes with the Pro plans.
- On the Sketch tab, click Trim. In the flyout, click Power Trim.
- Press on empty paper beside the pieces you want to cut and drag across them. The stroke is drawn in red while you drag.
- Release. Each piece the stroke crossed loses the stretch it crossed.
- Drag again for more, or press Esc to end the tool. Click Select to go back to picking.
Options
- A click without a drag trims the one piece nearest the click, the same as Trim to Closest.
- Lines, arcs and circles all trim. A circle becomes an arc on the same center and radius. The sides of a rectangle, polygon or polyline are each a piece of their own once you trim them: the shape is split into single sides that stay tied end to end.
- Construction geometry counts as a crossing like any other piece, so a dashed line can cut a piece back. Pieces that are references to the part's own edges are never trimmed.
Tips and What to Expect
- A piece nothing crosses goes whole.
- A new end made by the cut is tied to the piece that cut it, so it stays there as the sketch changes. See Relations.
- Relations and sizes that belonged to a stretch that is gone go with it. Relations that hold at any length, such as Horizontal, stay. A typed length is dropped, since the piece is now a different length. Relations that sat on a point of a cut piece, such as a line standing on it, follow the point to the stretch it is on. A message after the cut says how many sizes or relations it let go.
- One Undo takes back the whole stroke with all its new ties. If a tie would over define the sketch, a message says the new end was left free.
- A stroke across nothing says The stroke crossed nothing to trim.
- Press Help while Power Trim is armed to open this page.
Common Mistakes and Messages
- "The stroke crossed nothing to trim. Drag across a line, arc or circle." The stroke missed every piece. Start it on empty paper beside the pieces and drag right across them.
- "Nothing there to trim. Click a line, arc or circle." A click without a drag landed on empty paper. Click on the piece itself, or drag across it.
- "Trimmed, but 1 of the new ties were refused: they would over define the sketch." The trim was made, but a new end was left free. Add the relation by hand if you need it. See Relations.
- A whole piece went. Nothing crossed it, so there was no crossing to stop at. Press Ctrl+Z, draw a line across it where it should end, and trim again.