The Ortho button is similar to the drafter's T-square. When Ortho is enabled, the cursor is restricted to move in 45-degree increments as you draw lines. When Ortho is disabled, lines can move freely. This button is located in the Work Area toolbar.
You can also use the Ortho button to establish vertical or horizontal alignments. Imposing orthogonal constraints allows you to draw more quickly. For example, you can create a series of perpendicular lines by turning on Ortho mode before you start drawing. Because the lines are constrained to be parallel to the horizontal and vertical axes, you know that the lines are perpendicular.
This example shows you how to draw a wall in a clockwise direction using the Ortho button to change angles.
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Make sure that you are in the Continuous wall mode.
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Click in the lower-left corner of the Floor Plan, as indicated by the X in the following figure.
The Edit Shape ribbon appears.
Make sure the Ortho button is activated in the Work Area toolbar. When activated, the Ortho button has a yellow background.
Move the pointer up and down and left and right. Notice that you can change angles by 45-degree increments. -
In the Edit Shape ribbon, click Draw Using Front Dimension.
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Move the pointer upward and extend the first wall's length to 120" and the angle to 90 degrees (look at the Placement box to verify the length and angle). The measurements do not have to be accurate for this exercise. Click to confirm.
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Move the pointer up and to the right and extend the second wall's length to 90" and the angle to 135 degrees. Click to confirm.
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Move the pointer down and to the right and extend the third wall's length to 90" and the angle to 90 degrees. Click to confirm.
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Move the pointer downward and extend the fourth wall's length to 120" and the angle to 135 degrees. Click to confirm.
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Press ESC to finish adding walls. The following figure shows the result.
Example - draw walls in free mode