The spirit of this application is to reproduce simply on a computer what you can do with a ruler/compass, and make the process light and simple. If what you try to do feels hard, you are on the right webpage! The video tutorials section can also help.
FAQs
- I'm lost, where should I start?
- Check out the video tutorials.
If that's not enough, a lot happens on the list on the left hand side. Double-click on "Movable point" then click on the big zone to place your point. For other constructions (line, circle, ...) it is the same: double-click what you want to build and follow the instructions in the zone at the top. - I don't understand how this works. I'm trying to draw a circle for instance but I'm blocked.
- In the spirit of "doing everything with a ruler and a compass", to draw a circle you need a center and a size. Double click on "Circle by its center and point on the circle". You will be asked to build or select the first point, which will be the center of your circle, then a second point, which will be some point on your future circle. That's it!
You can now move the center or the point of the circle. - I would just like to delete a point but it deletes much more
- Everything that depends on an element will be deleted if the original element is. If for instance you draw a circle and then a tangent to that circle, deleting the circle will also delete the tangent. This is reasonable since the tangent is not "well defined" any longer.
At deletion time, everything in red that depends on your selection will be deleted if you click the "ok to delete" button.
If you are just trying to hide "construction lines", see the next question.
Note: in the inspector zone, you have a "dependency" property on most objects. In the case of the tangent to a circle, the circle will be a dependency of the tangent. It means that the tangent cannot exist without that circle. - How to erase "construction lines"?
- You can select the elements you want (points, lines, ...) and mark them as "Hidden" by going on the menu Selection -gt; Mark hidden.
- Can we use coordinates?
- Yes! Despite the application originally being for "ruler and compass constructions", you can define points, circles, lines... by their coordinates / equations.
You can modify coordinates or equations in the inspector. You can only do so for objects that you would be able to move with the mouse. - Keyboard shortcuts
- Escape to cancel a construction or a selection.
Space to build what is selected in the elements list on the left (instead of double-clicking).
Tab to select the next item, useful if many points are close one to another. - Selection
- Click on a point/line/... to select it or click on nothing to cancel the selection.
A right click will bring you to its parameters in the inspector on the right. - Interact with your elements
- You can move non constrained points. For instance a "new Point" can be moved freely while a "point on a lin" can be moved along that line. When you move a point everything else will be redrawn. If you built a circle by a center, and tangents to that circle, then moving the center will move the circle and the tangents.
If you wish to move an element such as a triangle, use the "select many" and "drag many" technics desribed below. - Select many
- Hold down the Command ⌘ key to select many elements, in the drawing zone or in the constructions zone on the right.
- Rectangular selection
- Hold down the Option ⌥ key to start a rectangular selection with your mouse (hold down the left click with the mouse as you move it), or select the rectangular selection tool in the toolbar, at the top right corner of the window.
You can combine the rectangular selection with the Select many, as long as you hold down the Command ⌘ key. - Move many
- If you have selected only non constrained points you can move them altogether. Use Select many to select them, and hold down the Command ⌘ key as you move one point, so as to move all selected points together.
- Zoom
- Scroll to zoom.
- Move the whole drawing
- Click on nothing, keep the mouse button down and move the mouse to move the whole sketch.
- How do colors work?
- There is the default color (white in dark mode, black otherwise), and a custom color. You can choose to start all new elements with one or the other from the menu.
You can select elements and apply one of those colors to all, from the menu Selection -> apply default or custom color. You can also use the inspector to change the color property: double click the color box of the element or press the 'Default' button to come back to the default color.
If you Mac is recent and supports dark mode, the default color is white for the dark mode and black for the light mode. - Simple Transformations
- You can transform elements individually, for instance rotate a line by 30°. You can then change that value of 30° in the inspector to 40°.
To transform a line, in the list on the left, under Line -> Transformation, choose "Rotation" and follow the instructions.
If you need to apply the same rotattion to a circle and to a line, you would need to change the angle twice if you need to. You can use more complex transformations to do that only once. - Elaborated Transformations
- You can have transformations that apply to many elements at the same time. The upside is that changing the parameters of that transformation once will impact all elements.
In the list on the left, under 'Transformations', choose 'New from rotation' then follow the instructions. You will have to choose an element to rotate (a line in our exemple) and the center and the angle of the rotation.
To apply the transformation to a circle, in the list on the left, under 'Transformation' choose "Apply to existing element" and select a circle, then the transformation. Heads up: you will need to choose the transformation in the list in the right, since it is an abstract object that is not drawn.
You can use elaborated transformations to chain simple transformations; see below. - Can I chain transformations?
- Yes! Create an elaborated transformation (see above). In the inspector of that transformation, click the "Chain transformation" button and follow the instructions to add an individual transformation to the chain.
You can combine a rotation with a translation or an homotethic. There is no limit on the number of simple transformations in the chain. - Why are some points larger than others?
- Unconstrained points, that you can move, are larger so that you can differentiate them from others that can't move freely, such as the intersection of 2 lines.
You can choose to not have larger points in the "Sketch" menu. - How can I copy & paste ?
- Copy & paste doesn't exist yet, it is yet to be defined. If you copy the intersection point of 2 lines, should you copy the 2 lines? A lot of questions are still not answered.
In the meantime, you can make a translation of many elements at the same time, and hide certain elements as construction lines. Please let us know if that helps. - How to choose between 2 intersections?
- A line and a circle intersect in 2 points. It is hard for the app to know which one you are interested in. If you move the line, you might see your intersection "jump" from one place to another. Fortunately you can change back in the inspector which intersection you want, so that if it changes as you are moving elements around you don't have to rebuild everything.
