FlatCAM/manual/editor.rst

Geometry Editor
===============

Introduction
------------

The Geometry Editor is a drawing CAD that allows you to edit
FlatCAM Geometry Objects or create new ones from scratch. This
provides the ultimate flexibility by letting you specify precisely
and arbitrarily what you want your CNC router to do.

Creating New Geometry Objects
-----------------------------

To create a blank Geometry Object, simply click on the menu item
**Edit→New Geometry Object** or click the **New Blank Geometry** button on
the toolbar. A Geometry object with the name "New Geometry" will
be added to your project list.

.. image:: editor1.png
   :align: center

.. seealso::

   FlatCAM Shell command :ref:`new_geometry`


Editing Existing Geometry Objects
---------------------------------

To edit a Geometry Object, select it from the project list and
click on the menu item **Edit→Edit Geometry** or on the **Edit Geometry**
toolbar button.

This will make a copy of the selected object in the editor and
the editor toolbar buttons will become active.

Changes made to the geometry in the editor will not affect the
Geometry Object until the **Edit->Update Geometry** button or
**Update Geometry** toolbar button is clicked.
This replaces the geometry in the currently selected Geometry
Object (which can be different from which the editor copied its
contents originally) with the geometry in the editor.

Selecting Shapes
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When the **Selection Tool** is active in the toolbar (Hit ``Esc``), clicking on the
plot will select the nearest shape. If one shape is inside the other,
you might need to move the outer one to get to the inner one. This
behavior might be improved in the future.

Holding the ``Control`` key while clicking will add the nearest shape
to the set of selected objects.

Creating Shapes
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The shape creation tools in the editor are:

* Circle
* Arc
* Rectangle
* Polygon
* Path

.. image:: editor2.png
   :align: center

After clicking on the respective toolbar button, follow the instructions
on the status bar.

Shapes that do not require a fixed number of clicks to complete, like
polygons and paths, are complete by hitting the ``Space`` key.

Certain shape tools can have different options or modes. By hitting
`o` and/or `p` the tool will cycle through its options and/or modes.

.. seealso::

   The FlatCAM Shell commands :ref:`add_circle`, :ref:`add_poly` and :ref:`add_rect`,
   create shapes directly on a given Geometry Object.

Union
~~~~~

Clicking on the **Union** tool after selecting two or more shapes
will create a union. For closed shapes, their union is a polygon covering
the area that all the selected shapes encompassed. Unions of disjoint shapes
can still be created and is equivalent to grouping shapes.

.. image:: editor_union.png
   :align: center

.. seealso::

   The FlatCAM Shell command :ref:`geo_union` executes a union of
   all geometry in a Geometry object.

Moving and Copying
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The **Move** and **Copy** tools work on selected objects. As soon as the tool
is selected (On the toolbar or the ``m`` and ``c`` keys) the reference point
is set at the mouse pointer location. Clicking on the plot sets the target
location and finalizes the operation. An outline of the shapes is shown
while moving the mouse.

.. seealso::

   The FlatCAM Shell command :ref:`offset` will move (offset) all
   the geometry in a Geometry Object. This can also be done in
   the **Selected** panel for selected FlatCAM object.

Cancelling an operation
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hitting the ``Esc`` key cancels whatever tool/operation is active and
selects the **Selection Tool**.

Deleting selected shapes
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Selections are deleted by hitting the ``-`` sign key.

Other
~~~~~

.. seealso::

   The FlatCAM Shell command :ref:`scale` changes the size of the
   geometry in a Geometry Object.