Parallel lines

Module(s): Draft + 3D Modeling

You can use the Parallel Lines tool to draw lines parallel to an element.

To draw a line parallel to an element (e.g., line, circle or curve)

1. Click Parallel Lines (How).
   

   Activate Parallel Lines in one of the following ways

   • Menu bar: Create Draft

   • Toolbar: Basic Tools Draft flyout
   • Palette: Tools Create area in the following module(s):

   Draft

2. Click the line, circle or curve to which you want to draw parallel lines.

   Note: To create a line parallel to a (part of an) ellipse, you can specify the mode for creating lines parallel to ellipses in the Input Options:
   Ellipticity, Radius or Spline.

3. To draw a parallel line through the tangency points of a circle or an ellipse, click Tangent in the input options, then click the circle or ellipse and select the required parallel line.
4. Enter the offset in one of the following ways:
   • Click in the workspace.
   • Enter the offset, side and number of parallel lines.
     Note: You can specify the offset as positive or negative.
     Note: When you enter the offset to the new parallel line(s) as a numeric value, this offset is always applied to the last parallel line drawn, even when you enter several parallel lines in one go.

Examples

Note: In the case of freehand lines, the geometry may make it impossible to draw parallel lines beyond a certain distance. In the case of splines, parallel lines can only be approximated as it is mathematically impossible to create exact parallels. To optimize the result, control points are added to the spline.