Full Ellipse

Draw an ellipse.

This function allows you to draw an ellipse by entering the centre point, semi-major axis and semi-minor axis.

An ellipse can be modified into an elliptical arc by editing the start and end angles in the Properties Bar, as they are the same entity type.

Procedure

1. You are prompted to:

Indicate centre of ellipse

2. Position the cursor over the desired centre position and click or press [Enter].  

3. You are prompted to:

Indicate semi-major axis of ellipse

A line rubberbands showing the semi-major axis.

4. Position the cursor on the endpoint for the semi-major axis of the ellipse, and then click or press [Enter]. You can jump to the desired point or use the snaps.  

5. You are prompted to:

6. The ellipse is shown and you can drag it to the desired position for the semi-minor axis.  The direction of the semi-minor axis is calculated as the cross product of the drawing plane normal and the major axis vector, therefore only the length of the semi-minor axis is required. The distance of the cursor from the major axis is used for graphical input.

7. Position the cursor on the point for the semi-minor axis of the ellipse, and then click or press [Enter]. You can jump to the desired point or use the snaps to arrive at the desired position. The ellipse is now set.

8. The function repeats and you can continue to draw the next ellipse.  

9. You can also click in the text box, or press [Tab] to move into the text box, and then type in the required measurement for the semi-minor axis.

10. Click Enter or press [Enter] to insert the ellipse and set it in position.

11. You can also use the direction arrow keys to give the major and minor axes a direction and measurement.

12. Right-click and select Quit to end the function. Alternatively, press [Esc].