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Polyline tool

Draw connected line, arc, and bezier segments.

The Polyline tool (L) is the workhorse for linework. A polyline is a chain of segments that can mix straight lines, arcs, and beziers.

Drawing

  1. 1
    Start

    Press L and click to place the first point.

  2. 2
    Add points

    Click to add each subsequent vertex. A live preview follows the cursor.

  3. 3
    Finish

    Press Enter to finish an open polyline, or click the start point to close it. Press Esc to cancel.

Segment types

While drawing, switch the next segment's type on the fly:

Straight line segmentL
Arc segmentA
Bezier segmentB
Arc modes (radius / midpoint / endpoint)RME
Flip arc directionF
Toggle symmetric bezier handlesS
Type exact lengths and angles

While placing the next point, type a length (10), length and angle (12@45), or slope (8@-3%). Press Enter to commit. See Typed input while drawing for the full reference.

After drawing, you can still convert any straight segment to an arc with Shift+A using the Select tool.

Close an open polyline later

Select a finished open polyline, then right-click and choose Close Polyline to turn it into a closed polygon. See the right-click menu.

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