Drawing tools

The drawing tools are the same everywhere in Atrium: the assembly editor, the 0D editor, the 1D cross-section editor and the tool profile editor. They all take points the same way. If you haven't read Drawing and point input yet, start there.

#Lines and shapes

The Line and Shape buttons each have several types. Clicking a button starts the type you used last, even after you restart Atrium. All types appear as icons in the options bar below the toolbar, and you switch between them there. Neither button has a drop-down menu.

You can also switch the type of the next segment while you draw. A single path can mix lines, arcs and splines.

#Shapes in cross-sections and tool profiles

The Shape button from the assembly and 0D editors is also in the 1D cross-section editor and the tool profile editor (rectangles, circles, polygon, slot). It uses the same options bar, the same steps and the same typed input (for example, 40,20 for a rectangle).

• A finished shape becomes lines and arcs on that sketch.
• Its corners weld to existing points.
• The shape stays selected after you create it.
• Pressing Esc partway through creates nothing.

#Arc start/end/radius

This arc is one of the Line types in every editor, alongside the 3-point arc, Tangent arc and Radius/angle arc.

1. From the previous point, click the end of the arc first.
2. The arc bulges as you move the pointer, and its radius shows next to the pointer.
3. Click to create that arc, or type a radius and press Enter. The pointer sets which side the arc bulges toward.

• A negative radius gives the major arc.
• If the radius is less than half the distance between the two ends, you get a semicircle.
• The first Esc removes only the end point you placed.

#Offset (O)

Offset is one tool across all editors. In the cross-section and tool profile editors it sits next to Trim and Extend. In the assembly and 0D editors it sits next to Shape, where it offsets free shapes and sketched shapes.

What gets offset:

• If lines are selected, only those lines are offset. In an assembly, this includes selected edges of a shape.
• If nothing is selected, clicking a line picks up the whole chain connected to it.

Distance and side:

• The pointer shows the distance and side, and the offset passes through the point you click. Snaps to other objects work too.
• If you type a number, that's the distance. The pointer sets the side.
• Pressing Enter without a number reuses the last distance.

Each run creates one offset and ends the tool. The new copy stays selected.

#Offset options

The options are in the bar below the toolbar, and your choices carry over to the next time you offset:

Click the active cap again to turn it off. This bar has the same options as Rhino's Offset command.

#Offset keys

#Join (J)

Join merges collinear lines only. The point between them is removed, and the two lines become one. Three segments in a row also become one line.

Join leaves these alone:

• Lines that meet at an angle, and arcs
• Points where three lines meet
• Points that have a formula or an anchor

A single undo reverts the whole join.

#Trim

Trim works the way it does in Rhino:

1. Click the cutting lines or arcs, then press Enter.
2. Click the segment you want to remove.

• Only that segment, between the nearest cuts on either side, is removed. A line crossed by two cutters loses its middle, and the two outer pieces remain.
• If the segment has a cut on one side only, it's removed from that cut to the end of the line.
• Each cutter is also trimmed by the other cutters.

#Dimensions

Dimension is one button in every editor: 0D, assembly, 1D cross-section and tool profile. Clicking the button starts the type you used last. All types are in the options bar below the toolbar: horizontal, vertical, aligned, angular, radius and diameter.

• Snaps, Backspace and Esc work as they do in the other tools.
• Click a dimension to select it, and press Delete to remove it.
• Dimensions are saved with the document.

#Copy and paste

Ctrl + C and Ctrl + V work in every editor. Whatever is selected gets copied:

• Lines in the cross-section and tool profile editors
• Shapes and solids in the 0D editor
• Free shapes in an assembly

Wherever you paste, the pasted geometry lands in its original position and stays selected, so you can move it with M. Everything is copied in millimeters, so your display unit doesn't matter.

#Between editors

The latest copy wins. If you copy in Atrium and then press Ctrl + C in Rhino, Ctrl + V pastes the Rhino objects.

#Within an assembly

In an assembly, Ctrl + C and Ctrl + V copy the selected components, groups and free shapes in place, just like a regular copy (edge banding and processes included). The copies stay selected so you can move them with M.

#Between assemblies

Press Ctrl + C in one assembly and Ctrl + V in another. Components and groups arrive in the same positions and look exactly as they did, with their edge banding, holes, grooves, pockets and materials.

• Formulas linked to the source assembly's inputs become plain numbers.
• Array copies become separate parts.
• An assembly that contains the target assembly can't be pasted into it. No assembly can contain itself.

#Solids and Rhino geometry in assemblies

In an assembly, anything that comes from Rhino (or a solid copied from the 0D editor) behaves like a dropped STEP file:

• Solids and surfaces open a new 0D editor.
• Curves on their own open the 1D cross-section editor.

When you save, the part goes back into that assembly.

#Paste from Rhino

Press Ctrl + C in Rhino and Ctrl + V in Atrium. Solids and surfaces come in exact (NURBS, not meshes), and units are converted to millimeters automatically. For details, including the Bond Rhino plugin and dropping STEP files, see Rhino and STEP files.

#Curves from edges

Select edges of a free shape (hold Ctrl + Shift; see Selection) and click the Curve badge. Atrium creates a new free line or polyline from those edges, one for each continuous chain. The original shape stays in place.

#Deleting an edge

Select one or more edges of a free shape with Ctrl + Shift and press Delete. Only those edges are removed:

• A closed shape opens at that point.
• An open path splits in two.
• If you selected every edge, the whole shape is deleted.

#Text and labels

To write text on a part, or to add labels and callouts, see Text, labels and callouts.