QCad User Reference Manual - Modification
Author: Andrew Mustun

QCad User Reference Manual

# 28. Modification

Modification tools allow the user to modify existing entities. This chapter is a brief overview over the modification tools of QCad (Figure 49).

Figure 49: The modification toolbar.

## 28.1. Move / Copy

CAD Toolbar:

Menu:

    Modify - Move / Copy

Hotkey:

    mv

Command:

    move, copy

Description:

Moves or copies entities. This tool can create a single or multiple copies of existing entities.

Procedure:

1. After starting the tool, the CAD toolbar shows the selection tools. Use them to select the entities you want to move or copy.
2. Click the right arrow button in the CAD toolbar to continue.
3. Set the reference point with the mouse or enter a coordinate in the command line.
4. Set the target point. To move the selected entities by a given amount, enter a relative coordinate. E.g. to move it 50 units to the right, enter `@50,0` in the command line.
5. The move dialog is displayed (Figure 50). To move the entities, choose "Delete Original", to copy them choose "Keep Original". You can also create a number of copies at once by choosing "Multiple Copies" and entering the number of copies in the text line below. Note that '9' will create 9 copies and keep the original - so there will be 10 instances of the selected entities in the end. The copies will have the same attributes and be on the same layer as the original entities. To change that default behavior, you can check "Use current attributes" or "Use current layer".
6. Click OK to move / copy the entities. The selected entities will be deselected automatically.

Figure 50: Move options dialog.

## 28.2. Rotate

CAD Toolbar:

Menu:

    Modify - Rotate

Hotkey:

    ro

Command:

    rotate

Description:

Rotates entities by a given angle around a given center. This tool can create single or multiple rotated copies of existing entities.

Procedure:

1. After starting the rotate tool, the CAD toolbar shows the selection tools. Use them to select the entities you want to rotate.
2. Click the right arrow button in the CAD toolbar to continue.
3. Set the center of the rotation with the mouse or enter a coordinate in the command line.
4. The rotate dialog is displayed (Figure 51). To rotate the entities without keeping the original entities, choose "Delete Original", to copy them choose "Keep Original". Finally you can create a number of rotated copies at once, by choosing "Multiple Copies" and entering the number of copies in the text line below. Note that '9' will create 9 copies and keep the original - so there will be 10 instances of the entities in the end. The copies will have the same attributes and be on the same layer as the original entities. To change that default behavior, you can check "Use current attributes" or "Use current layer".
5. Click OK to rotate the entities. The selected entities will be deselected automatically.

Figure 51: Rotate options dialog.

## 28.3. Scale

CAD Toolbar:

Menu:

    Modify - Scale

Scale:

    sz

Command:

    scale

Description:

Scales entities by a given factor towards a given center. This tool can create single or multiple copies of existing entities.

Procedure:

1. After starting the scale tool, the CAD toolbar shows the selection tools. Use them to select the entities you want to scale.
2. Click the right arrow button in the CAD toolbar to continue.
3. Set the center of the scaling with the mouse or enter a coordinate in the command line.
4. The scale dialog is displayed (Figure 52). To scale the entities without keeping the original entities, choose "Delete Original", to copy them choose "Keep Original". Finally you can create a number of scaled copies at once, by choosing "Multiple Copies" and entering the number of copies in the text line below. Note that '9' will create 9 copies and keep the original - so there will be 10 instances of the entities in the end. The copies will have the same attributes and be on the same layer as the original entities. To change that default behavior, you can check "Use current attributes" or "Use current layer".
5. Click OK to scale the entities. The selected entities will be deselected automatically.

Figure 52: Scale options dialog.

## 28.4. Mirror

CAD Toolbar:

Menu:

    Modify - Mirror

Hotkey:

    mi

Command:

    mirror

Description:

Mirrors entities along a given axis. This tool can create a mirrored copy of existing entities.

Procedure:

1. After starting the mirror tool, the CAD toolbar shows the selection tools. Use them to select the entities you want to mirror.
2. Click the right arrow button in the CAD toolbar to continue.
3. Set the first endpoint of the mirror axis with the mouse or enter a coordinate in the command line.
4. Set the second endpoint of the mirror axis.
5. The mirror dialog is displayed (Figure 53). To mirror the entities without keeping the original entities, choose "Delete Original", to copy them choose "Keep Original". The copy will have the same attributes and be on the same layer as the original entities. To change that default behavior, you can check "Use current attributes" or "Use current layer".
6. Click OK to mirror the entities. The selected entities will be deselected automatically.

Figure 53: Mirror options dialog.

## 28.5. Move and Rotate

CAD Toolbar:

Menu:

    Modify - Move and Rotate

Command:

    moverotate

Description:

Moves or copies and simultaneously rotates entities. This tool can create single or multiple copies of existing entities.

Procedure:

1. After starting the move and rotate tool, the CAD toolbar shows the selection tools. Use them to select the entities you want to move or copy.
2. Click the right arrow button in the CAD toolbar to continue.
3. Enter the rotation angle in the options toolbar or use the command `angle`, `ang` or `a` in the command line.
4. Set the reference point with the mouse or enter a coordinate in the command line.
5. Set the target point. To move the selected entities by a given amount, e.g. by 50 to the right, enter `@50,0` in the command line. In Figure 54, the two reference points are labeled. The rotation angle in the example is 15 degrees and the number of copies four. This results in a total rotation angle of 60 degrees.
6. The move and rotate dialog is displayed (Figure 55). To move the entities, choose "Delete Original", to copy them choose "Keep Original". Finally you can create a number of copies at once, by choosing "Multiple Copies" and entering the number of copies in the text line below. Note that '9' will create 9 copies and keep the original - so there will be 10 instances of the entities in the end. The copies will have the same attributes and be on the same layer as the original entities. To change that default behavior, you can check "Use current attributes" or "Use current layer".
7. Click OK to move and rotate the entities. The selected entities will be deselected automatically.

Figure 54: Move and Rotate reference point (4.) and target point (5.).

Figure 55: Move and Rotate options dialog.

## 28.6. Rotate and Counter-rotate (Rotate Two)

CAD Toolbar:

Menu:

    Modify - Rotate Two

Command:

    rotate2

Description:

Rotates and counter-rotates entities. This tool can create single or multiple copies of existing entities. This tool can be useful to rotate objects around a center without rotating the objects themselves.

Procedure:

1. After starting the rotate 2 tool, the CAD toolbar shows the selection tools. Use them to select the entities you want to move or copy.
2. Click the right arrow button in the CAD toolbar to continue.
3. Set the center for the main rotation with the mouse or enter a coordinate in the command line.
4. Set the center of the rotation for the individual objects. The second center is rotated together with the entities around the first center (Figure 56).
5. The rotate 2 dialog is displayed (Figure 57). To move the entities, choose "Delete Original", to copy them choose "Keep Original". Finally you can create a number of copies at once, by choosing "Multiple Copies" and entering the number of copies in the text line below. Note that '7' will create 7 copies and keep the original - so there will be 8 instances of the entities in the end (8 instances evenly distributed over the full circle in the example). The copies will have the same attributes and be on the same layer as the original entities. To change that default behavior, you can check "Use current attributes" or "Use current layer".
6. Click OK to move and rotate the entities. The selected entities will be deselected automatically.

Figure 56: Rotate around two centers, an absolute center (3.) and a relative center (4.).

Figure 57: Rotate two options dialog.

## 28.7. Trim / Extend

CAD Toolbar:

Menu:

    Modify - Trim

Hotkey:

    xt

Command:

    trim, extend

Description:

Trims or extends a line or arc to meet another entity (Figure 58).

Figure 58: With the trim tool, the line at the left can be easily shortened to meet the arc.

Procedure:

1. Choose the limiting entity to which one or more other entities need to be trimmed.
2. Choose the entities that you want to trim to the limiting entity. Often there are two possibilities for the entity to be trimmed. In Figure 58 you might want the top part of the line to stay and the lower part to disappear. In that case you would have to click the trim entity at the upper part. You always need to pick the part of the entity that you want to stay.
3. Right click twice or press Escape twice to stop the tool.

## 28.8. Trim Two Entities

CAD Toolbar:

Menu:

    Modify - Trim Two

Hotkey:

    tm

Command:

    trim2

Description:

Trims or extends two line or arc entities at once to meet each other at their intersection point (Figure 59).

Figure 59: With the second trim tool, the line and the arc can both be trimmed to build an edge in one step.

Procedure:

1. Choose the first entity to be trimmed to an edge.
2. Choose the second entity to be trimmed to an edge.
3. Right click twice or press Escape twice to stop the tool.

## 28.9. Lengthen

CAD Toolbar:

Menu:

    Modify - Lengthen

Command:

    lengthen, trimamount

Options Toolbar:

Description:

The lengthen command can be used to either lengthen or shorten lines or arcs by a given amount without the use of limiting entities.

Figure 60: The lengthen tool lets you trim an entity by a given amount.

Procedure:

1. Enter the distance you want to lengthen an entity by in the options toolbar. A positive value lengthens the entity, while a negative value shortens it. E.g. a value of '5' will lengthen the chosen entity by 5 units.
2. Choose the entity to be lengthened or shortened somewhere close to the end you want to modify.
3. Right click twice or press Escape twice to stop the tool.

## 28.10. Stretch

CAD Toolbar:

Menu:

    Modify - Stretch

Hotkey:

    ss

Command:

    stretch

Description:

Stretches contours. This can also be decribed as moving all endpoints within a given window.

Figure 61: The stretch tool lets you lengthen or shorten complex constructions with little effort.

Procedure:

1. Set the first corner of the stretch window.
2. Set the second corner of the stretch window.
3. Set the reference point for the translation using the mouse or enter a coordinate in the command line.
4. Set the target point.

## 28.11. Bevel

CAD Toolbar:

Menu:

    Modify - Bevel

Hotkey:

    ch

Command:

    bevel, chamfer

Options Toolbar:

Description:

Bevels a corner shaped by two entities. Optionally, the edge entities of the corner can be trimmed automatically to fit the new shape.

Figure 62: The bevel tool with trimming enabled.

Procedure:

1. Enter the geometry of the bevel in the options toolbar. 'Distance 1' is the distance the bevel line will have from the (imaginary) intersection of the two edges (10 in the example shown). 'Distance 2' is the same distance for the second edge (20 in the example shown).
2. Check 'Trim' if you want to trim the entities automatically. If the option is disabled, the two entities will remain untouched.
3. Choose the first edge entity (a line or an arc).
4. Choose the second entity.

## 28.12. Round

CAD Toolbar:

Menu:

    Modify - Round

Hotkey:

    rn

Command:

    round

Options Toolbar:

Description:

Rounds the corner of a contour. Optionally, the edge entities of the corner can be trimmed automatically to fit the new shape.

Figure 63: The round tool with trimming enabled.

Procedure:

1. Enter the radius of the rounding in the options toolbar.
2. Check 'Trim' if you want to trim the entities automatically. If the option is disabled, the two corner entities will remain untouched.
3. Choose the first edge entity (a line or arc).
4. Choose the second entity.

## 28.13. Divide

CAD Toolbar:

Menu:

    Modify - Divide

Hotkey:

    di

Command:

    divide

Description:

Divides entities into two separate entities.

Procedure:

1. Choose the entity you want to divide.
2. Set the dividing point using the mouse. The dividing point is usually the intersection point with another entity. Choose the intersection snap mode to automatically snap to intersections.

## 28.14. Divide Two

CAD Toolbar:

Menu:

    Modify - Divide 2

Hotkey:

    d2

Command:

    divide2

Description:

Divides entities by cutting out a segment that is limited by intersecting entities.

Procedure:

1. Choose the entity you want to divide by clicking the segment you want to cut out. The segment is removed.

## 28.15. Properties

CAD Toolbar:

Menu:

    Modify - Properties

Hotkey:

    pr

Command:

    properties

Description:

Modify the attributes and geometry of entities in a dialog. Depending on the entity type, different dialogs are presented to modify important attributes and the geometry of the entity.

Procedure:

1. Click the entity to modify.
2. Change the attributes or geometry values
3. Click OK

## 28.16. Attributes

CAD Toolbar:

Menu:

    Modify - Attributes

Hotkey:

    at

Command:

    attributes

Description:

Modify the attributes of a selection of entities.

Procedure:

1. After starting the tool, the CAD toolbar shows the selection tools. Use them to select the entities for which you want to change the attributes.
2. Click the right arrow button in the CAD toolbar to continue.
3. In the dialog shown, change only those attributes that you want to become the same for all selected entities. E.g. if you set the color to blue, all selected entities will become blue but their line width, layer and line style will remain untouched.

## 28.17. Deleting Entities

CAD Toolbar:

Menu:

    Modify - Delete

Hotkey:

    er

Command:

    delete, erase

Description:

Deletes entities.

Procedure:

1. After starting the tool, the CAD toolbar shows the selection tools. Use them to select the entities you want to remove from the drawing.
2. Click the right arrow button in the CAD toolbar to continue. The selected entities will be deleted.

## 28.18. Exploding Groups

CAD Toolbar:

Menu:

    Modify - Explode

Hotkey:

    xp, ex

Command:

    explode

Description:

Converts blocks, polylines, texts, dimensions and hatches into basic atomic entities. Dimensions are split into lines, arrows and the text as still one entity. Texts are split into lines and arcs.
To split everything into atomic entities, use the command twice for all entities.

Procedure:

1. After starting the tool, the CAD toolbar shows the selection tools. Use them to select the entities you want to explode.
2. Click the right arrow button in the CAD toolbar to continue.

## 28.19. Explode Text into Letters

CAD Toolbar:

Menu:

    Modify - Explode Text into Letters

Command:

    explodetext

Description:

Converts text entities into several smaller text entities, each containing one letter of the original text.

Procedure:

1. After starting the tool, the CAD toolbar shows the selection tools. Use them to select the text entities you want to explode into letters.
2. Click the right arrow button in the CAD toolbar to continue.

## 28.20. Edit Text

CAD Toolbar:

Menu:

    Modify - Modify Text

Hotkey:

    pr

Command:

    properties

Description:

This function is equivalent to 'Modify, Properties' for text entities.

## 28.21. Bring to Front / Send to Back

CAD Toolbar:

Menu:

    Modify - Bring to Front

    Modify - Send to Back

Command:

    tofront

    toback

Description:

Changes the order in which entities are displayed. Use these functions to bring entities into the foreground if they are hidden behind images, solid fills or other entities or to send entities that are hiding other entities into the background.

Procedure:

1. After starting the tool, the CAD toolbar shows the selection tools. Use them to select the entities you want to bring into the foreground / send into the background.
2. Click the right arrow button in the CAD toolbar to continue.