Back to the Drawing Board • Draw Help

Ellipse

The documentation on this page applies to Version 4 of Back to the Drawing Board.

The Ellipse tool is used to draw ellipses. Ellipses are created in standard position inscribed in a rectangle. They can be rotated and resized by moving thier axis points in edit. Elliptical arcs can be created from ellipses by changing the included angle in properties.

The options described below can be found in the bottom app bar or in the control panel.

The Layer option selects the layer on which new objects are created. Selecting a layer also selects the default color, line type, and line thickness used to draw the object. These properties can be overridden using the Properties tool. Layers are also used to logically group objects within the drawing. Layers can be created, modified, and hidden in the Layer definitions settings panel.

The Construct option determines how the points that you enter are used to define the object being created. In this case there are three ways that you can define an ellipse:

Box: The ellipse is inscribed in a rectangle defined by two opposite corners. The axis angle is 0°.
Axis: The ellipse is defined by locating the ends of the major axis; the minor axis length is determined by the Major:minor ratio value set in Size & angles below.
Center & size: The ellipse is defined by locating its center point and entering values for its Major axis length, Major:minor ratio, and Axis angle in Size & angles below.

The Fill pattern option shows the fill options dialog, which allows you to select the pattern and color (if any) that will be used to fill the object. The dialog includes the following controls:

The Fill color menu specifies the color that is used to fill the object. The options are as follows:

No fill: The object is not filled
Use layer color: The object is filled using the color property of the object's layer
Use outline color: The object is filled using the color of the object's outline
Select a new color: An explicit color is selected for the fill using the Color Picker
[Recent colors...]: Choose from a list of colors that were recently selected in the Color Picker

The Pattern menu specifies the vector "cross hatch" pattern that is used to fill the object. If the Solid pattern is selected, the object will be filled with a solid color.

The Pattern scale value specifies the scale for vector patterns. This option is not available when the Solid pattern is selected.

The Pattern angle value specifies the rotation angle in degrees for vector patterns. This option is not available when the Solid pattern is selected.

The Size & Angles option allows you to specify explicit values for various properties of the ellipse. The properties that are enabled depend on the current construct option.

Major axis length: Specifies the length of the ellipse's major axis. This property is only enabled for the Center & size construct option.
Major:minor ratio: Specifies the ratio between the length of the major axis and minor axis. This property is enabled for the Axis and Center & size construct options.
Axis angle: Specifies the angle of the major axis in degrees counter-clockwise from horizontal. This property is only enabled for the Center & size construct option.
Start angle: Specifies the start angle for eliptical arcs in degrees counter-clockwise from horizontal. This property is enabled when the included angle is less than 360°.
Included angle: Specifies the included angle for eliptical arcs in degrees counter-clockwise from horizontal. This property is always enabled. When this value is less than 360°, elliptical arcs will be drawn instead of full ellipses, regardless of the construct option.

The Edit Last option gives you an opportunity to modify the points used to define the last object created without leaving the current tool. This can be especially useful when using touch input because touch is an inherently imprecise way to locate points. You can use the arrow keys on the keyboard or control panel to fine-tune the location of each point. When you finish editing the object (by deselecting it) you will return to the current tool.