Operation Manual

Working with precision | 97
Working with precision
Precision is essential when you work with technical graphics. With Corel DESIGNER, you can create precise objects and position them
accurately by using gravity snapping, constrain keys, dynamic guides, and object coordinates.
When you draw or modify objects, gravitysnapping lets you specify the exact placement of a point. If you want to constrain an object to a
particular shape as you draw, or control the angle of lines, you can use constrain keys.For example, when drawing a rectangle, you can use
constrain keys so that the rectangle is drawn as a square.
You can use these features for all drawing and editing operations. For example, before rotating an object, you can snap the center point to
the corner of another object and then rotate the object around that point.
Dynamic guides, which are temporary guidelines that you can display from eligible snap points in objects, help you draw and position
objects with precision. In addition, you can draw and modify objects by specifying object coordinates.
This section contains the following topics:
• “Using gravity snapping” (page 97)
• “Using dynamic guides” (page 100)
• “Using alignment guides” (page 106)
• “Using constrain keys” (page 109)
• “Using object coordinates” (page 110)
Using gravity snapping
Gravity snapping is the attraction of the pointer to a snap point. Snap points are precise mathematical drawing coordinates. When the
pointer approaches a snap point, the gravity source of the snap point is highlighted. The highlighting identifies the snap point as the target
that the pointer will snap to. Snap points are also known as “gravity-snapping candidates.”
The gravity field of each snap point has a radius of 10 screen pixels (not document pixels) by default. When the pointer enters a gravity
field, a gravity source indicator appears around the point, and the name of the gravity source appears on the screen. You can turn gravity
snapping on and off.
Gravity shortcut keys let you activate a single type of gravity snap. By default, gravity shortcut keys are the first letters in the names of gravity-
snapping candidates. When you hold down a gravity shortcut key, all other gravity snap points become inactive. For example, if you hold
down the M key, only the Midpoint gravity snap point is active.