Chamfer, break, lengthen and stretch

Chamfer, Break, Lengthen and Stretch sit beside Trim and Extend on the left rail. They work on the lines, polylines, arcs and circles you drew, in plan and in a section, an elevation or a callout window.

Chamfer

  1. Click Chamfer, then type distance 1. Tab for distance 2, or for an angle measured from the first line. Leave distance 2 empty and it matches distance 1; leave both at nothing and the two lines meet in a sharp corner.
  2. Click the first line, then the second. Each line keeps the end you clicked nearest to, and a line that stopped short is extended to the cut. Two edges of one polyline chamfer the corner between them.

Break

  1. Click Break.
  2. Click the first break point on a line, polyline, arc or circle, then the second. The stretch between them is removed. Hold Alt and click once to break at a single point with no gap.

A circle takes two points and becomes the arc that runs from the second point round to the first, counter-clockwise. A closed polyline opens at the break.

Lengthen

  1. Click Lengthen. Type a change in length, a factor (1.5 gives 150%) or a total length, or type nothing to drag the end.
  2. Click near the end of a line, arc or open polyline. With a typed value it changes at once; without one, click again where the end should go.

An arc lengthens along its own curve: its radius stays and its sweep grows or shrinks. An open polyline lengthens at its end segment, along that segment's own direction, and a factor or a total counts the length of the whole polyline.

Stretch

  1. Click Stretch.
  2. Click two corners of a window round the ends you want to move, then a base point and a new point.

Ends inside the window move and the rest stay put. A shape wholly inside moves as it is, a circle moves when its centre is inside, and an arc with one end moved keeps its included angle, so its radius changes to suit. Text moves when its insertion point is inside the window, a leader or a revision cloud moves the points inside it, a hatch moves the corners inside, and a dimension moves the measured points inside while keeping its offset. A locked line, or one on a locked layer, is left alone and a message says so.

While you place Stretch's new point, or drag a Lengthen end, Arrow Right holds the move on the red axis and Arrow Left on the green, as in Axis locks. The lock lets go when the edit is made.