Lines and Polylines

Draw polyline

Sketch > Draw > Line

With this function you draw a polyline of straight lines and arcs. The Sketching Tool is started for this purpose.

 

  1. Select the start point of the polyline.
  2. Select the end point of the first line.
  3. Then select the following points.

With the middle mouse button you can start a new polyline (in the same 3-D sketch) at any time without having to restart the function. Right-click to activate a context menu with further options.

Tips

Connect arc

Instead of using the Arc function in the context menu, you can also click the last point again when drawing a polyline to connect an arc.

Select direction

With the Select direction function in the context menu you can determine the direction of the next line. This also works for drawing arcs. In this way you can also draw line segments as shown in the image below.

(1) first line, (2) select direction (right-click), (3) determine direction, (4) select last end point, (5) draw arc, (6) select end point of arc, (7) draw next lines

 

Tangential connection

Any line can also be connected tangentially. To do this, however, the Last line option must be active for the angle reference.

Continuing to draw vertically and tangentially on a line

You can also continue drawing vertically or tangentially in the middle of a line. To do this, simply select a point on the line with a point option (e.g. O, M, QP) as the first point and set the angle reference to Last line.

 

For 3-D sketches you can change the drawing plane before the point / line selection.

 

Clicking opens a pull-down menu with further functions for tangents.

Draw tangent between 2 edges

Sketch > Draw > Line > Between 2 edges

With this function you draw a line tangent to two edges that exist in your drawing.

 

Four possible tangents to a circle (1) and an arc (2)

 

In a 3-D sketch the two edges must lie in the same drawing plane.

Draw tangent to surface

Sketch > Draw > Line > To surface

With this function you draw a tangent to a surface.

  1. Specify the start point of the tangent.
  2. Identify the surface. If there are several possible tangents, HiCAD also requests the specification of another point. Use the starting point to determine a circle on the surface:
  3. Cylinder, Cone
    Intersection with the plane through the identified point with axis as normal vector.
  4. Sphere, Torus
    Intersection with the plane through the last point, additional point and centre point.

Former functions

With HiCAD 2021 SP1 the Sketching Tools for planar sketches and 3-D sketches have been combined. In this context, functions that are now covered by the sketcher as well as rarely needed functions are no longer available.

Former

New

Free, New polyline

Draw polyline in the mode Free

Continue polyline

Draw polyline

Tangent, Point - Edge

Draw polyline, Autopilot Tangential point T, grid mode

Tangent, Angle-Circle-Length

-

Tangent, Edge

Draw polyline, Autopilot Tangential point T, grid mode

Line bisector

Draw polyline

Perpendicular to edge

For circles and straight lines:
 Draw polyline, Autopilot Perpendicular base point F

For other line types:
 Draw polyline, Point option: Perpendicular base point F in the point menu

Angle bisector

Draw polyline, HCM constraint Equal angle - needs to be assigned manually

Vertical to 2 lines

Draw polyline with the help of auxiliary geometries and HCM constraints

Vertical to surface, via point

Draw polyline, function Perpendicular to surface FF

 

Sketch Functions (3-D) • Sketching Tool for Planar Sketches (3-D) • Sketching Tool for 3-D Sketches (3-D)