Grid Dialog

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# 2.12.2 Grid Dialog

The Grid dialog, displayed by Change Grid on the View (Section 2.12) menu, specifies the origin, angle and other parameters of the Snap Grid. The Snap Grid can sbe used to snap the position of the cursor during the Curve (Section 2.1.2), Circle (Section 2.1.1), Cornu (Section 2.1.2.6), Modify (Section 2.2.8), Straight (Section 2.1.6), Draw (Section 2.3) and Turntable (Section 2.1.9) commands.

The Grid dialog contains controls affecting the horizontal and vertical snap grid lines. Each dimension can be independently controlled.

  The Spacing value specifies the distance between major grid lines, which are drawn as solid lines on the layout. The value of the distance is entered in either inches or centimeters depending on the value of the Units setting in Options->Preferencecs (Section 2.10.7) menu.

  The Divisions value adds the minor Grid lines between the major Grid lines, which are drawn as a series of dots on the layout. Specifying a value of 0 or 1 as the division value removes the minor grid lines.

  The Grid can be enabled or disabled in each dimension via the Enable check box. The action of snapping is secondary to Magnetic Snap if enabled, and is suppressed if Alt is held.

  The X and Y coordinates relate to the anchor point of the X and Y Axis. Default values for X and Y are zero (0). Entering a value of one for X causes the Main grid line on the Drawing Canvas to shift left one unit. Entering a value of two causes the Main grid line to shift by two units and so on. The Y axis is affected in the similar manner except the grid moves down rather than left.

  Negative values can be used for X and Y values. Using such cause the Main Grid to shift right for the X Axis and up for the Y Axis.

  The A coordinate relates to the Angle of grid rotation. The default value for this coordinate is zero. Entering a value greater than 0 and less than 90 will cause the Main Grid to rotate clockwise by the number of degrees entered. Entering a negative value causes the grid to rotate counter-clockwise.

The origin and angle of the Grid can be adjusted directly or by dragging on the layout. Left+Drag moves the origin of the Grid, and Right+Drag rotates the grid. Shift+Right-Click (Section 3.4) displays a pop-up menu allowing rotation of the grid by various predefined angles.

Whether the Snap Grid is drawn is controlled by the Show check-box. Also, if the layout is Zoomed Out (Section 2.12.4) the minor and major grid lines may be too close together to be drawn. The minimum pixel distance between grid lines is controlled by the Min Grid Spacing value on the Preferences (Section 2.10.7) dialog.

Note: on slow machines drawing the Grid can take noticeable time. Performance can be improved by selecting a larger value for Min Grid Spacing.

Grid Buttons on the Tool-bar (Section 3.1) can be used to Enable/Disable and to Show/Hide the Snap Grid.