Create and Edit Circles

Use the Circles tool to create circles for geometry construction, edit free circles, and create/toggle filled circles (for example, disk surfaces).

New circles are organized in the same component as the entity where the center point is placed.

When there is ambiguity, the Circles tool switches between possible inferred normals.

  1. From the Geometry ribbon, Shapes tool group, click the Circles tool.


    Figure 1.
  2. Draw a circle.
    1. Left-click on geometry or in space to create the circle's center point.
    2. Move your mouse to draw the circle's radius.
    3. Left-click to create the circle.
    Tip: Hold Ctrl to draw the circle's diameter.
  3. Modify the size and location of the circle in the following ways:
    • Edit the diameter in the microdialog and press Enter.
    • Click in the microdialog to translate and rotate the circle using the Move tool.
    • Click in the microdialog to fill the shape.
  4. Double-click on a free circle to edit its dimensions.


Figure 2.
Tip:
  • Clicking over a free line in space creates a circle on the line, normal to the line direction. Clicking over a line on top of a surface creates a circle on the line, but normal to the surface. Clicking in empty space creates a circle aligned with global coordinates.
  • Use snap points to snap to predefined points on your model such as end, middle, center, and intersection points.

Circles Tool

An overview of the Circles tool.



Figure 3.

Use the Circles tool to create circles for geometry construction, edit free circles, and create/toggle filled circles (for example, disk surfaces).

Access
Go to Geometry > Shapes > Circles.

Keyboard Shortcuts and Mouse Controls

To do this Press
Draw diameter instead of radius Ctrl + Left Mouse Click
Edit circle Double-Click
Snap to alternate orientation Tab