Using the Smart Mouse

Using the Smart Mouse

Using the Smart Mouse

Smart Mouse is a drawing aid that can help the cursor precisely snap to a point on another object when you are drawing, editing, or aligning objects.

Smart Mouse can be turned on or off per Envision instance.

 

When Smart Mouse and Snap to Grid are turned on, Smart Mouse will be suppressed automatically and will not work.

 

To Use Smart Mouse

  1. Do one of the following:

  • Click Enable Smart Mouse from the Smart Mouse panel in the Layout tab of the Ribbon.

  • Select the Smart Mouse checkbox from the Show & Enable panel in the View tab of the Ribbon.

  • Press F9.

  1. Drag an object or an anchor point in the path edit mode toward the target constraints to which you want to snap it.

  2. Release the mouse button when the target constraint that you want to snap it to is shown up.

If you release the object as soon as the indicator appears, the object will snap to the detected point.

When you want to ignore Smart Mouse temporarily, after you start dragging, press the Tab key to continue to drag.

 

To Disable Smart Snaps

Do one of the following:

  • Click Enable Smart Mouse (highlighted in gray) from the Smart Mouse panel in the Layout tab of the Ribbon.

  • Deselect the Smart Mouse checkbox from the Show & Enable panel in the View tab of the Ribbon.

  • Press F4 while Smart Mouse is enabled.

     

Example of Smart Mouse

 

Anchor point of vector object and Center are selected for the snapping types. Detect the center of the object that you want to move and drag it toward the right lower anchor point of the square.

When the anchor point is detected, release the mouse button. The circular object’s center will snap to it.

To Set the Smart Mouse Options

  1. Click Set Up Smart Mouse from the Smart Mouse panel in the Layout tab of the Ribbon.

  2. Select the Smart Mouse On checkbox in the Smart Mouse Options dialog box.

  3. Set other options as needed.

  4. Click OK.

 

The most effective use of Smart Mouse is to turn on as few snapping types as possible to achieve your desired operation

 

Smart Mouse Options

Options

Description

Smart Mouse On

Select this checkbox to enable Smart Mouse. Deselect this to disable Smart Mouse. When this checkbox is selected, the following options can be changed.

Show snapping type indicators

Select this checkbox when you want to see the indicators at the snapping points as you hover over the object. When this checkbox is selected, the related options get enabled.

Indicator color

Select a color of indicators from the pop-up color palette.

Indicator type

Select one from the following:

Indicator Only – a small circle of the selected indicator color will be displayed.

With Symbols – a small circle of the selected indicator color will be displayed with a snapping type symbol.

With Names – a small circle of the selected indicator color will be displayed with a snapping type name.

Snapping radius

Set the number of pixels between 1 and 36 how close the mouse pointer approaches to an object before snapping points can be detected.

Snapping types

Click each icon to toggle it on or off. When Division of line segment is turned on, set the number of divisions between 2 and 10.

Select All

Click this button to enable all constraints.

Clear

Click this button to disable all constraints.

 

Snapping Types

Type

Snaps to:

 

Anchor point of
vector object

Any anchor points on vector objects including starting and ending points of open paths.

Center

The center of a line or object.

Division of line segment

Path segments as divided by the value in the number field. e.g. With a value of 3, the pointer will snap to each 1/3 point of a path segment.

Edge

Any edge or path of a vector object.

Quadrant

The four points of a circle, oval, or arc: 0°, 90°, 180°, and 270°.

Tangent

The edge of a circle, oval, arc, or Bezier curve that a line will touch, but not intersect.

Perpendicular

The 90° angle of a line segment.

Intersection

The geometric intersection of path segments.

 

By default, Smart Mouse will only detect snapping points on the current layer. If you want Smart Mouse to detect snapping points across layers, enable Select Across Visible Layers in Select drop-down list from the Navigate panel in the Home tab of the Ribbon.

 

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