Snap/Ortho

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The Snap/Ortho page of the View Options dialog box allows you to disable display of object types and metal levels.This page allows you to control the definition of the snap grid (the points to which the cursor will move), and how objects will be snapped. It also defines the limitations of how objects are created and moved in ortho mode. See the appropriate section below for a more detailed explanation.

Grid Snap

The Grid Snap section of the dialog box allows you to define the snap grid when editing your circuit. This affects such things as the placement of vertices when creating polygons, the placement of polygons when moving them, where polygons can be divided, selecting box size or selecting a clipping area. Note that the snap grid is only used to control selection and placement of points in your circuit if the snap grid is on.

Tool Bar Button: 

NOTE: The grid snap setting does not affect the size or location of your subsections.

On: Select this check box if you wish to snap to the grid. The direction in which the snap applies is determined by which radio button to the right is selected. See below for details.

If you clear this checkbox, grid snap is turned off and selected coordinates are exactly at the cursor position and are not changed to conform to the snap grid. This actually means all coordinates snap to the nearest pixel.

X and Y: Selecting this radio button causes the snap to work in both the x and y direction. This control is only enabled if grid snap is on.

X Only: Selecting this radio button turns off  the snap in the y-direction. This option allows you to snap in the x-direction only. This control is only enabled if grid snap is on.

Y Only: Selecting this radio button turns off  the snap in the x-direction. This option allows you to snap in the y-direction only. This control is only enabled if grid snap is on.

You select one of the following radio buttons to select your grid snap type:

Cell Size: Default option. Sets the snap coordinates to match the cell grid. If the cell size is changed and this option is in effect, the snap coordinates change to match the new cell grid. The current cell size is displayed to the right of the radio button.

Divide Cell: Sets the snap coordinates to match a subdivision of cell size. Enter the number of divisions per cell in the Divisions field.

Custom: Any arbitrary snap grid can be specified by entering the desired values in the X and Y Custom text boxes. Use this option if, for example, you want to create or move a polygon with all coordinates snapped to the nearest micron.

Ortho

On: Select this check box if you wish to use ortho mode.When in orthogonal mode, the movement of an object is limited to moving at multiples of the angle selected in the drop list below. If this checkbox is cleared, ortho mode is turned off and objects may be moved freely in any direction.

Tool Bar Button: 

Multiples of drop list: This drop list allows you to select an angle which controls how objects are created and moved when in Orthogonal mode. When in orthogonal mode, the movement of an object is limited to moving at multiples of the angle selected from this drop list. For example, if 45 degrees is selected, then an object may be moved in the horizontal plane (0 degrees), in the vertical plane (90 degrees) and along an axis of 45 degrees as shown below. Available angles are 90, 45, 30, 22.5, and 5. The default is 45.

Object snap on: Select this checkbox if you wish to use object snap. This will affect your editing in a number of ways, but the largest impact is on the creation, editing and moving of polygons. Such actions as clipping, setting the box size and dividing polygons are also affected. When object snap is on, points selected while carrying out an editing command are snapped to existing objects. For example, when you are drawing new polygons or when you are in edit points mode and moving a vertex of a polygon, your cursor will snap to an existing object. This is useful when trying to ensure that there is no gap between polygons when you are using a fine resolution grid or that polygons are positioned correctly relative to each other. If both grid snap and object snap are on, object snap takes precedence. This setting is "on" by default in a new project. If you wish the Object Snap to default to off, you may do so by using a setting in the Sonnet Initialization file.