2D Floorplans

Canvas Features and Options

Canvas Features
The Canvas Grid On the canvas you can see an arrangement of little dots, these make up a placement grid. You can alter the spacing between the grid points from View > Grid Settings on the menu bar at the top of the page. Objects you draw can be aligned with this grid. Right Click on the canvas and either put the tick next to Snap To Grid or remove the tick, this switches on and off the Snap To Grid feature. If snap to grid is on and the space between the dots is 2 mm then the shape being moved will jump every 2 mm if the Snap to grid is off the shape can be moved in really small measurements. You can also show or hide the canvas grid by Right Clicking on the canvas and either put the tick next to Show Grid or remove the tick, this displays or hides the grid. The Canvas Guide Lines On the canvas you can see an arrangement of lines, these make up the canvas Guide Lines. You can alter the spacing between the Guide Lines from View > Guide Line Settings on the menu bar at the top of the page. The guide lines also have default settings that depend on the scale selected. Objects you draw can be aligned with the guide lines. Right Click on the canvas and either put the tick next to Snap To Guidelines or remove the tick, this switches on and off the Snap To Guideline feature. There is more flexibility in the guidelines in comparison with the snap to grid feature. The guide lines will only snap to if your object is close enough to the line. You can also show or hide the Guide Lines by Right Clicking on the canvas and either put the tick next to Show Guidelines or remove the tick, this displays or hides the lines.

Canvas Scale All measurements on the canvas are expressed in Millimetres. E.g. 1000mm = 1 meter. If the canvas scale is set to 1:50 then each Guideline box would represent 1 Square meter, if you change the scale to 1:100 the Guidelines will re-adjust themselves to keep the 1 Square meter to one Guideline box. Selecting the scale also automatically adjusts the default wall/line widths. And the scale is set by selected from the dropdown selector on the Drawing Objects Side Tab.
External Wall Size 4 / 11 Point Internal Wall Size 3 / 8 Point

1:50 Scale
Size 3 / 8 Point

Size 2 / 5 Point

1:100 Scale

Size 2 / 5 Point

Size 1 / 2 Point

1:200 Scale

Size 1 / 2 Point

Size 0 / 0 Point

1:300 Scale

Canvas Co-ordinates
All co-ordinates are measured from the top left corner of the canvas or the object the co-ordinates are also colour coded, the values are shown on the Drawing Objects side tab Blue H Position (Horizontal position) V Position (Vertical Position)

This represents the location of the mouse pointer in relation to the top & Left of the canvas

Mouse Pointer at this location

The H position & V Position values change as you move the mouse, giving you constant mouse location feedback.

Green H Line Length (Horizontal Line length) V Line Length (Vertical Line Length)

This represents the length of the line being drawn and the value is displayed from when the mouse is first clicked this would be 0 and then to the point where the mouse is released would be the length value, in the example below this is 1300

Start Point 0

End Point 1300

The same happens if you are drawing a vertical line or a diagonal line. The H Line Length & V Line Length values change as you move the mouse, giving you constant Line Length feedback.

Red Object Width Object Height

This represents the Height & width of the selected object.

Clicking on an object will select it

When you first click on the object the values are displayed, when you resize an object/shape the values change as you move the mouse giving you constant size values feedback.

Rotating Shapes All shapes and imported objects (pictures etc) can be rotated. There are two methods for rotating objects Select the object or group of objects and right click. The popup menu will appear and from Rotate option you can select the value to be rotated in degrees.

Select from the menu the value to rotate

Objects Rotated 45 deg.

Alternatively you can use free rotate. Select the object or group of objects and click the Rotate button on the tool bar. The Rotate Object Button.

1. Select Object 2. Click Rotate Button 3. Green Handles Appear Around The Shape

Place The Mouse Over One Of The Handles And Move The Mouse Up/Down Or Left/Right To Rotate As Required Note The New Position Outline As You Rotate.

New Shape Position. To Revert Back To Normal Select Mode Click The Select Button On The Tool Bar.

Line Options There is a number of formatting option available for Lines & Shapes. Select the Line to format and right click. From the menu move your mouse to Line There are two Options Options Arrows

Options open the Line Style popup window and you can choose: The line colour The line Thickness (Weight) The Style Of The Line (Dashed) Make Your Selection And Click OK

The No Outline option is for shapes like rectangles this allows you to have a shape filled with colour or a picture and have no outline (border) Arrows opens the Arrows popup window and you can choose an arrow head of various styles for the beginning & end of the line.

Make Your Selection And Click OK

Fill Options There is a number of Fill options available for Shapes. Select the shape to fill and right click. From the menu move your mouse to Fill There are Four Options Colour Shade Pattern Texture

Colour will show a standard windows colour selection palette. Selecting A Colour From The Palette Will Fill Your Shape Or Group Of Shapes With The Colour Selected

Shade will show the shape colour gradient window.

Selecting A Shade Will Fill Your Shape Or Group Of Shapes With The Shade Selected

Pattern will allow you to fill a shape with one of the pre-defined patterns Choose The Pattern And Click OK. The Selected Shape Or Group Of Shapes Will Be Filled In With The Selected Pattern.

The Colour For The Pattern Can Be Set Here

Points to note about patterns. You must remove the Tick out of Solid (default is ticked) and there must be no tick in the No Fill option Texture will allow you to fill a shape with one of the pre-defined Textures Choose A Texture And Click OK. The Selected Shape Or Group Of Shapes Will Be Filled In With The Selected Texture.

Shadow Options There are number of Shadow options available for Shapes. Select the shape to create a shadow for and right click. From the menu move your mouse to Shadow There are Two Options Options Lens Effects

Options will allow you to create a shadow for the selected shape. Select The Type Of Shadow And The Shadow Colour And Click OK

Moving The Slider Bars Determines The Position of The Shadow

Points to note about Shadows. You must remove the Tick out of No Shadow (default is ticked) Shadow Lens Effects allows you to format the applied shadow (for example make the shadow transparent) Select The Required Lens Effect From The Dropdown Select The Effect Percentage On The Slider Bar Click OK

Canvas Zoom You can zoom in and out of the canvas. There are two methods for zooming the canvas. On the Menu at the top of the screen select View > Page > Zoom From Zoom Select either Zoom In, Zoom Out or a percentage value. You can also select fit the canvas to the page, the screen width, the screen height and the selected object

Canvas Zoom Slider Alternatively use the mouse and drag the Canvas Zoom slider on the Drawing objects Side tab. You can also centre the canvas on screen and alter the page orientation Centre the canvas on the screen regardless of the zoom setting. Set the page orientation as landscape. Set the page orientation as portrait.

The Status Bar At the bottom of the screen there is a status bar that indicates the following. The Currently Selected Object. The Last Button Pressed On The Tool Bar The Last Template object Selected The Current Screen Res/Size Auto Backup (On or Off) The Date The Time.