Using Smart Mouse
Smart Mouse is a drawing aid that can help the cursor precisely snap to a point on another object when you are drawing, editing, or aligning objects. It can be turned on or off per Envision instance.
Enabling Smart Mouse
To turn Smart Mouse on, either:
Click Enable Smart Mouse from the Smart Mouse panel in the Layout tab of the Ribbon.
Select the Smart Mouse checkbox from the Show & Enable panel in the View tab of the Ribbon.
Press F9.
Using Smart Mouse
Ensure Smart Mouse is enabled.
Drag an object or an anchor point in the path edit mode toward the target constraints to which you want to snap it.
Release the mouse button when the target constraint that you want to snap it to is shown up. If you release the object as soon as the indicator appears, the object will snap to the detected point.
Disabling Smart Mouse
To turn Smart Mouse off, either:
Click Enable Smart Mouse highlighted in gray from the Smart Mouse panel in the Layout tab of the Ribbon.
Clear the Smart Mouse checkbox from the Show & Enable panel in the View tab of the Ribbon.
Press F9 while Smart Mouse is enabled.
Smart Mouse example
Anchor point of vector object and Center are selected for the snapping types. Detect the center of the object that you want to move and drag it toward the right lower anchor point of the square.
When the anchor point is detected, release the mouse button. The circular object’s center will snap to it.
Short video tutorial
Configuring Smart Mouse
Click Set Up Smart Mouse from the Smart Mouse panel in the Layout tab of the Ribbon.
Select the Smart Mouse On checkbox in the Smart Mouse Options dialog box.
Set other options as needed.
Click OK.
Smart Mouse properties
The Smart Mouse Options pop-up dialog provides the following properties of Smart Mouse for configuration:
Smart Mouse On: to enable Smart Mouse when selected and to disable Smart Mouse when cleared. When this checkbox is selected, the following properties can be changed.
Show snapping type indicators: to see the indicators at the snapping points as you hover over the object when selected. When this checkbox is selected, the related options get enabled.
Indicator color: to set a color of indicators from the pop-up color palette.
Indicator type:
Indicator Only: a small circle of the selected indicator color will be displayed.
With Symbols: a small circle of the selected indicator color will be displayed with a snapping type symbol.
With Names: a small circle of the selected indicator color will be displayed with a snapping type name.
Snapping radius: the number of pixels between 1 and 36 that define how close the mouse pointer approaches to an object before snapping points can be detected.
Snapping types: to enable and disable Smart Mouse snapping types. When Division of line segment is turned on, set the number of divisions between 2 and 10.
Select All: to enable all constraints.
Clear: to disable all constraints.
Smart Mouse snapping types
Smart Mouse snapping type | Snaps to | Example |
|---|---|---|
Anchor point of vector object | Any anchor points on vector objects including starting and ending points of open paths. |
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Center | The center of a line or object. |
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Division of line segment | Path segments as divided by the value in the number field. e.g. With a value of 3, the pointer will snap to each 1/3 point of a path segment. |
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Edge | Any edge or path of a vector object. |
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Quadrant | The four points of a circle, oval, or arc: 0°, 90°, 180°, and 270°. |
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Tangent | The edge of a circle, oval, arc, or Bezier curve that a line will touch, but not intersect. |
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Perpendicular | The 90° angle of a line segment. |
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Intersection | The geometric intersection of path segments. |
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