Bezier

Modified by Jason Howie on Feb 18, 2015
Contents

Parent page: Schematic Objects

A placed Bezier curve.

Summary

A Bezier curve is a non-electrical drawing primitive. It is a free-form curved line that can be placed on a schematic sheet. The curve is defined by a series of vertex points that 'pull' the line into a curved shape.

Availability

Beziers are available for placement in both Schematic and Schematic Library Editors:

  • Schematic Editor - click Home | Graphical Elements |  from the main menus.
  • Schematic Library Editor - click Home | Place |  from the main menus.

Placement

After launching the command, the cursor will change to a cross-hair and you will enter Bezier placement mode. Placement is made by performing the following sequence of actions:

  1. Click or press Enter to anchor the starting point for the curve.
  2. Move the cursor and click or press Enter to place a series of vertex points to define the curve. As you move the cursor the curve will be continually redrawn to indicate how it would look if you placed a vertex at the cursor position.
  3. After placing the final vertex point, right-click or press Esc to complete placement of the curve.
  4. Continue placing further Bezier curves, or right-click or press Esc to exit placement mode.

The minimum number of vertices required to define a bezier curve is 4 points. After 4 clicks the Bezier no longer appears attached to the cursor, however, if you continue to click then the last vertex on the just-defined Bezier will be used as the first vertex on the next Bezier. If you right-click once after finishing the first 4-point Bezier you will terminate the current Bezier placement, but remain in Bezier placement mode ready to start a new one. 

Additional actions that can be performed during placement are:

  • Press the Tab key to access an associated properties dialog, from where properties for the Bezier can be changed on-the-fly.
  • Press the Alt key to constrain the direction of movement to the horizontal or vertical axis, depending on the initial direction of movement.

While attributes can be modified during placement (Tab to bring up associated properties dialog), bear in mind that these will become the default settings for further placement.

Graphical Editing

This method of editing allows you to select a placed Bezier object directly in the workspace and change its size and/or shape, graphically.

When a Bezier object is selected, the following editing handles are available:

A selected Bezier curve.

  • Click and drag an editing handle to "bend" the curve.
  • Click anywhere on the Bezier – away from editing handles – and drag to reposition it. While dragging, the Bezier can be rotated (Spacebar/Shift+Spacebar) or mirrored (X or Y keys to mirror along the X-axis or Y-axis respectively).

An object that has its Locked property enabled cannot be selected or graphically edited. Double click on the locked object directly and disable the Locked property, to graphically edit the object.

Non-Graphical Editing

The following methods of non-graphical editing are available:

Via an Associated Properties Dialog

Dialog page: Bezier

This method of editing uses the Bezier dialog to modify the properties of a Bezier object.

The Bezier dialog.

The dialog can be accessed during placement by pressing the Tab key.

After placement, the dialog can be accessed in one of the following ways:

  • Double-clicking on the placed Bezier curve.
  • Placing the cursor over the Bezier curve, right-clicking and choosing Properties from the context menu.

Via an Inspector Panel

Panel pages: SCH Inspector, SCHLIB Inspector

An Inspector panel enables the designer to interrogate and edit the properties of one or more design objects in the active document. Used in conjunction with the Find Similar Objects dialog, the panel can be used to make changes to multiple objects of the same kind, from one convenient location.

Notes

  1. A Bezier object must have at least four vertices to form a curve.

 

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