Snap Options
Snap makes the pointer jump to useful places while you draw or drag: ends, middles, centers, crossings and more. The Snap button on the Sketch tab opens the list, with one box for each kind. Your choices are kept in this browser.
When to Use It
- Land a line exactly on the end of another line
- Draw level, upright or parallel lines without measuring
- Turn snapping off while you place something loosely
- Draw on the grid, or at set angles
Step by Step
- Open a sketch (see Planes and Faces).
- Click Snap on the Sketch tab. The Sketch snaps panel opens. The button is lit while snapping is on.
- Tick the kinds you want and untick the ones you do not. The change applies at once.
- Draw or drag. When the pointer is near a snap, a small mark shows where it will land.
- Close the panel with the X or Esc. Your choices stay.
Every Option
- Enable snapping: the master switch. Untick it and no snap applies; the other boxes keep their setting.
- Snap to model geometry: snaps to the edges and points of the part under the sketch
- End points and sketch points: the ends and corners of sketch pieces, and sketch points
- Center points: the centers of circles and arcs, and holes
- Mid-points: the middle of a line
- Quadrant points: the four points at the top, bottom, left and right of a circle
- Intersections: where two pieces cross
- Nearest: the closest place on a sketch line, a circle or a part edge. It works only when no named point is near
- Tangent: while drawing a line, a place on a circle or a hole where the line from its start touches it with no kink. Arcs are not offered
- Perpendicular: while drawing a line, the place on a straight sketch line or part edge where the new line meets it at a right angle. It must fall on the piece itself, not past its end
- Parallel: while drawing a line, locks it parallel to a straight sketch line when you come within about 3 degrees of it
- Horizontal/vertical lines: while drawing a line, locks it level or upright when you come within about 3 degrees
- Horizontal/vertical to points: lines the pointer up level or upright with an existing point
- Length: while drawing, rounds the length to a round number in your display unit, sized to the zoom. When a grid spacing is set (View, Grid), that spacing is the step
- Grid intersections: snaps to the crossings of the grid, when the grid is shown (View, Grid). Off by default.
- Angle: snaps the line to steps of the Snap angle below, when you come within about 6 degrees of a step. Off by default.
- Snap angle: the step in degrees, more than 0 and at most 90. The start value is 45.
Point snaps win over line snaps. The direction snaps and the length snap apply to where a line's end goes while you draw it.
Hold Ctrl for Angle Steps
Without Ctrl the line draws free. Hold Ctrl while drawing a line and its angle locks to 15 degree steps: level, upright, 30, 45, 60 and so on.
Related Settings
Under Edit on the Sketch tab, Add relations while drawing turns a snap into a kept relation: snapping a line's end to another end, a midpoint or the origin ties it there (see Edit Menu and Relations).
Common Problems
- The pointer will not land where I want: it may be snapping to something near. Zoom in, or untick the kind that is pulling it.
- Grid snap does nothing: the grid must be shown (View, Grid) and Grid intersections ticked.
- My choices are gone: they are kept in this browser. A private window or cleared site data starts from the defaults.