Grid & snapping
Draw precisely with the engineering grid and snap targets.
Snapping locks your cursor onto meaningful points so geometry lines up exactly. Combined with the grid, it makes precise drawing fast.
The grid
An optional engineering grid overlays the canvas as a visual reference. Toggle it in Preferences under Canvas.
Snapping
While drawing or moving entities, Vellum highlights snap candidates as you move the cursor. Open snap settings from the status bar to choose which targets are active — each toggle shows the symbol it draws on canvas.
Snap symbols
Every snap kind draws one symbol, and that symbol means the same thing everywhere — while drawing, while editing vertices, and while moving a selection. The shapes follow drafting convention, so they read the same as in CAD.
Snapping while moving
Dragging a selection snaps too: any of its vertices can land on endpoints, midpoints, intersections, or a segment's face — never on another member of the same selection. Extension and alignment guides appear when a corner lines up with existing geometry, and when a corner aligns horizontally with one vertex and vertically with another, both guides show and the corner locks onto the composed point.
Hold Alt to suppress snapping mid-drag, or toggle it from the status bar when you need to place a point freely without it jumping to a nearby target.