2004

Draw Curved Objects | 281
Create Arc Polylines
When you draw arc segments in a polyline, the first point of the arc is the
endpoint of the previous segment. You can specify the angle, center point,
direction, or radius of the arc. You can also complete the arc by specifying a
second point and an endpoint.
Create Closed Polylines
You can draw a closed polyline to create a polygon. To close a polyline,
specify the starting point of the last side of the object, enter c (Close), and
press
ENTER.
Create Wide Polylines
You can draw polylines of various widths by using the Width and Halfwidth
options. You can set the width of individual segments and make them taper
gradually from one width to another. These options become available after
you specify a starting point for the polyline.
The Width and Halfwidth options set the width of the next polyline seg-
ments you draw. Zero (0) width produces a thin line. Widths greater than
zero produce wide lines, which are filled if Fill mode is on and outlined if Fill
mode is off. The Halfwidth option sets width by specifying the distance from
the center of the wide polyline to an outside edge.
Ta p e r
When you use the Width option, AutoCAD prompts for both a starting and
an ending width. By entering different values, you can taper the polyline.
The starting and ending points of wide polyline segments are in the center
of the line. Intersections of adjacent wide segments are usually beveled. How-
ever, AutoCAD does not bevel nontangent arc segments, acute angles, or
segments that use a dash-dot linetype.
Create Polylines from the Boundaries of Objects
You can create a polyline from the boundaries of overlapping objects that
form a closed area. A polyline created using the boundary method is a sepa-
rate object, distinct from the objects used to create it. You can edit it using
the same methods used to edit other polylines.
To expedite the boundary selection process in large or complex drawings,
you can specify a group of boundary candidates, called a boundary set. You
create this set by selecting the objects you want AutoCAD to examine as it
defines the boundary.
varying width uniform width