Circle Tan Tan Radius ( Drawing Editor )

Tool summary :

  • Draws a circle that is tangent at two points to lines, circles, construction lines, or construction circles that you select. On the Circle Setup window, you can specify the circle's radius or diameter.

Also see :

page 1 | contents | objects > circles > | objects -- circles | xxx add | circles & ellipses

   Step-by-step instructions :

These instructions assume that you are using a 3-button mouse, that the User and Site Options > General > " Point location target " is set to ' Fancy ' ( ), and that you use mouse bindings similar to those shown in the following illustrations.

Before using this tool:

  • Optional: On the Layer Panel, select the layer you want to add the circle to. This step is optional because you can change the drawing layer on the Circle Setup window.
  • Optional: Unshorten a member detail before adding a circle if you want Detail Members to later be able to correctly preserve ' User-created ' annotations. Unshortening also ensures that measurement tools such as Dimension Add or Ruler or Construction Line Add using BSCL reliably produce precise and consistent results.
1 . Invoke Circle Tan Tan Radius.
2 . Place the mouse pointer ( ) so the target ( ) is at a point on a line, circle, construction line, or construction circle. When a white line indicating tangency appears on that object, left-click ( Locate ). In this illustration, a construction line is selected.
3 . Place the mouse pointer ( ) so the target ( ) is at a 2nd point on another line, circle, construction line, or construction circle. When a white line indicating tangency appears on that object, left-click ( Locate ). In this illustration, a circle is selected.

4 . The Circle Setup window opens so that you can set the " Radius " of the circle. Alternatively, you can set its " Diameter ."

5 . Left-click ( Locate ) another object to add a similar circle. Or right-click ( Return ) if you are done.

Note 1: To invoke Circle Tan Tan Radius :

Method 1 : Click the Circle Tan Tan Radius icon. The icon can be taken from the group named ' Objects -- Circles ' and placed on a toolbar (classic) or the ribbon (lightning).

Method 2 : If " Drawing Editor layout style " is ' Classic ', you can use the menu system to choose Objects > Circles > Add Tan Tan Radius .

Method 3, 4 or 5 : Circle Tan Tan Radius can also be invoked using a keyboard shortcut , the context menu , or a mode . For the ' Lightning ' layout style, configuration of the interface is done using Customize Interface .

Note 2: Right-click ( Return ) in steps 2 or 5 ends the operation.

step 2 & 5 bindings

Note 3: Selecting parallel lines or parallel construction lines steps 2 and 3 will produce unpredictable results.

Note 4: In steps 2 and 3, the location of the selected points determines that location of hte to-be-placed circle.

In step 3, selecting point 2a creates circle a, while selecting point 2b creates circle b. If point 1 (added in step 2) had been placed above the horizontal construction line, a circle would be created above the line and not below it.

Note 5: Any circles added using this procedure can be instantly removed (one at a time, in reverse-order of their addition) by using Undo .

page 1 | contents | objects > circles > | objects -- circles | xxx add | circles & ellipses | top

   Other tools for adding circles or ellipses :

For adding circles:

Methods for adding ellipses:

For adding a circle or ellipse:

page 1 | contents | objects > circles > | objects -- circles | xxx add | circles & ellipses | top