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Grid and Redraw

Two buttons on the View tab of the ribbon: Grid, in the Grid group, and Redraw, in the View group.

Grid

The grid is a floor of lines through the model's origin. It helps you judge size and position, and a sketch can snap to its crossings.

How to Start It

Click Grid. A small window opens under the button. The button stays lit while the grid is shown.

The Settings

  • Show grid: ticks the grid on or off.
  • Spacing: the gap between lines. Type it in any unit, for example 1 in, 1/2 in or 25 mm. A bare number uses the unit in the box beside it. Leave it empty (or type auto) and the grid is sized to the part.
  • Unit: the unit that the Spacing box is read in. It starts as your display unit.

Under the settings a note says what you have: that lines run through the origin, and when the lines are very close, that only every so-manyth line is drawn so the grid does not turn into a blur.

Step by Step: A Quarter-Inch Grid

  1. Click Grid.
  2. Make sure Show grid is ticked.
  3. Click in Spacing and type 1/4.
  4. Set Unit to in.
  5. Press Enter (or click away). The grid redraws at one quarter inch.
  6. Close the window with the X, Esc, or by clicking elsewhere.

Snap to the Grid in a Sketch

While you sketch, turn on Snap, Grid intersections in the Snap options. Your picks then land on the crossings. See Line, Circle, Rectangle, Arc, and Construction.

What Is Remembered

The grid belongs to the model. It is saved with the model when you save to your account. The grid you set last is also the grid new models start with.

Tips and Common Problems

  • A message says to type a spacing more than 0. Zero and negative values are refused. Leave it empty for automatic.
  • The grid is not there. Check Show grid. For a flat drawing the grid starts off.
  • The lines look sparse or too many. Set the spacing yourself. If it is tiny, the note tells you how many lines are skipped.

Redraw

Redraw draws the part and the screen again, without changing anything. It has its own page: Redraw. In short: click it when something looks stale after you resize the window or move it to another monitor.

Redraw

Redraw draws the part and the screen again from the model as it stands. Nothing is undone and nothing in the model changes.

How to Start It

Click Redraw on the View tab of the ribbon. A message says Redrawn.

Step by Step

  1. Notice something that looks stale: a faint outline left behind, a size preview that did not clear, or a display that looks wrong after resizing the window or moving it to another monitor.
  2. Click Redraw.
  3. The viewer puts away every passing overlay, such as a size preview or a lit step in the Model tree.
  4. If you are modeling, it rebuilds the part from the steps in the History and redraws the Model tree, your marks and the open sketch.

What It Does Not Do

  • It does not undo anything, and it does not touch the History.
  • It does not change the view direction or zoom. Use Fit for that.

Tips and Common Problems

  • A message says a body is missing and to use Redraw. Click Redraw and the part is rebuilt from its steps.
  • The picture is blank after a window change. Click Redraw once. If it stays blank, reload the page. Saved work is kept.
  • It takes a moment on a large model. While modeling it asks the modeling engine for the part again, so a big part takes a second or two.

Related Pages

Open the viewer

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