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Draw Rectangle Form

Draw Rectangle

Draw Circle Icon

Rectangles can be created by using the Draw Polyline tool or using the Draw Rectangle Tool. The Draw Rectangle Tool allows rectangles to be created interactively with the cursor and Quick Keys or by entering the exact coordinates, type of corners (square, internal or external radius) and Width and Height using typed input.

Note: Pressing the Space-bar re-opens the last vector creation form you used. This is very useful when using other forms in between each shape you create.

Interactive - Cursor

The quickest and simplest way to draw a rectangle is:

Note:

Holding Alt and dragging creates a rectangle from the middle point.

Holding Ctrl and dragging creates a square.

As the cursor is dragged across the screen so the XY size is dynamically updated. The increments will depend upon your snap radius and the job size.

Quick Keys

Instead of releasing the left mouse button when you have dragged your shape to the required size, you can also type exact values during the dragging process and set properties precisely.

Default

By default, two values separated by a comma, will be used to set width and height of your rectangle. One value will create a square with that side length. While you are dragging out the rectangle corner, type Width Value,Height ValueEnter or Side Length,Enter to create a rectangle with the specified width and height.

Example

Keys Result
1,2.5Enter Creates rectangle with a width of 1 and a height of 2.5.

Specifying Further Properties

By using specific letter keys after your value, you can also indicate precisely which property it relates to.

Quick Keys Result
ValueX Creates a rectangle at the current dragged height, but with the width set to the entered value.
ValueY Creates a rectangle at the current dragged width, but with the height set to the entered value.
ValueRValueX Creates a rectangle with a radius (R) and width (X) set by the two entered values, but using the currently dragged height.
ValueRValueY Creates a rectangle with a radius (R) and height (Y) set by the two entered values, but using the currently dragged width.
ValueWValueH Creates a rectangle with a specified width (W) and height (H). No radiused corners.
ValueRValueWValueH Create a rectangle with radius (R), width (W) and height (H) all specified by the entered values.

Note: When specifying multiple properties with quick keys, it is still important that they are entered in the order indicated in the table above.

Examples

Keys Result
1X Current dragged height with width (X) of 1.
1Y Current dragged width and height (Y) of 1.
0.1R1X A corner radius (R) of 0.1, a width (X) of 1 and the current dragged height.
0.1R1Y A corner radius (R) of 0.1, a height (Y) of 1 and the current dragged width.
1W2H A width (W) of 1 and height (H) of 2, no corner radius.
0.1R1W2H A corner radius (R) of 0.1, width (W) of 1 and height (H) of 2

Note: These key combinations must be pressed whilst dragging with the mouse to create the rectangle.

Exact Size

Rectangles can also be drawn by entering the required XY origin point with the Width and Height of the rectangle.

Corner Type

Corners of the rectangle can be Square, Radiused Externally or Radiused Internally.

Edit

To modify another rectangle without closing the form hold a Shift key down and select the next rectangle.

If you hold a Shift key down and select an object that isn't a rectangle (so if you click text or a polyline, for example) a Rectangle will be created as a bounding box of the clicked object:

Star Boundary
Holding a Shift key down and clicking
the Star creates the bounding rectangle.
Note: When the Draw Rectangle form is opened with a selection (that is not a single horizontal or vertical line) the form properties will be set to the bounding box of that selection (which may contain multiple objects).
Just click Create to draw the bounding box.
You could then offset his box to have an even boundary around the selection.

Close the form

To finish drawing with the tool, you can: