Working with Lines

Lines of any length and direction are added to a rendering by drawing them with the mouse. Lines are used purely for display and have no impact on the functionality of an object.

To add a line to a rendering:

  1. Click the Add line button or right-click the object name in the Rendering Tree and select Add line from the context menu. The cursor changes to a crosshair to show where the line will be drawn.
  2. Click and drag to draw the line.
  3. Release the mouse button to stop drawing.
Line properties, including line type, color, length and connections, are edited in the Properties List pane. The editable properties specific to lines are:
  • Pen width
  • Line type
  • Length - horizontal
  • Length - vertical
  • Line color

Right click a line in the Rendering Tree or in the Display Area to access the following options:

  • Add scaling: Displays scaling options. Symbols and lines can be set to scale, but only in reference to one or more parameters. They cannot be set to scale to other symbols or lines.
  • Add symbol: Adds a new symbol to the bottom of the tree and appends it to the far right side of the rendering. For more information, see Working with Symbols.
  • Add line: Adds a new line element to the bottom of the rendering tree and turns the cursor into a ‘+’ for a drawing a line in your rendering. For more information, see Working with Lines.
  • Delete: Deletes the selected element.

Lines can also be configured in the Rendering Editor so that they scale to the size of a parameter in the rendering. The division object is an example. Here the rendering is configured so that the horizontal size of the line increases as the parameters above and below the line increase in width. See Scaling Symbols and Lines for a detailed description of how to set the scaling for a symbol.