PLine

Draws polyline lines, arcs, and splines (short for "polyline"). A polyline is a multi-segment entity that can contain lines, arcs, and have width.

Accessing the Command

command bar: pline

aliases: pl, polyline

menu bar: Draw | Polyline

toolbar: Draw |

: pline

Prompts you in the command bar:

Start of polyline: (Pick a point.)

Select start of polyline or [Follow] <Last point>: (Pick a point or enter an option.)

Set next point or [draw Arcs/Distance/Follow/Halfwidth/Width]: (Pick a point, or enter an option.)

Set next point or [draw Arcs/Distance/Follow/Halfwidth/Width/Undo]: (Pick a point, enter an option, or press Enter to exit.)

Set next point or [draw Arcs/Close/Distance/Follow/Halfwidth/Width/Undo]: (Pick a point, enter an option, or press Enter to exit.)

Command Options

Option	Description
Start of polyline	Specifies the start point of the polyline's first segment. Enter x,y,z coordinates, or pick a point in the drawing.
Last point	Starts the polyline at the last point picked in the drawing.
Next point	Specifies the next point (endpoint for the current segment). Each next-point becomes a vertex in the polyline.
Arc	Switches to arc-drawing mode; draws arc segments. Prompts you: Set end of arc or [draw Lines/Angle/CEnter/CLose/Direction/Halfwidth/Radius/Second point/Width/Undo] - pick a point or choose an option. Draw Lines: Switches to line-drawing mode; draws line segments. Angle: Sets the included angle of the arc segment. Prompts you: Included angle for segment (+ for ccw, - for cw) - enter a value. - type a value. Set end of arc or [Center/Radius] - pick point or choose an option. Center: Sets the center of the arc segment. Prompts you: Center point - pick a point. Set end of arc or [Angle/Length of chord] - pick a point or choose an option. Direction: Defines the direction of the tangent line in the start point of the arc. Prompts you: Direction from start - pick a point to define the direction of the tangent line. End of arc - pick a point. Second Point - prompts you to define the second point and endpoint of a 3-point arc. See also the Arc command.
Close	Closes the polyline. Sets the Closed = Yes property of the polyline. BricsCAD automatically draws a segment from the current next-point to the starting point.
Distance	Specifies the length and angle of the next segment; prompts you: Distance for segment - specify the length of the segment. Angle of segment - specify the angle of the segment. Distances are measured from the last vertex. Angles are measured counterclockwise from the positive x-axis.
Follow	Draws the next segment at the same angle; move the mouse to indicate the length.
Halfwidth	Specifies the halfwidth for the current segment, as well as all segments that follow -- until you change the width or halfwidth. You can specify different starting and ending halfwidths, which creates tapered segments; prompts you: Starting half-width - specify the width at the start end of the segment; enter a value, or pick two points in the drawing. Ending half-width - specify the width at the start end of the segment; enter a value, or pick two points in the drawing.
Width	Specifies the width for the current segment, as well as all segments that follow -- until you change the width or halfwidth. You can specify different starting and ending widths, which creates tapered segments; prompts you: Starting width - specify the width at the start end of the segment; enter a value, or pick two points in the drawing. Ending width - specify the width at the start end of the segment; enter a value, or pick two points in the drawing. When you specify 0 as the width, the polyline is drawn like a line.
Undo	Undoes (undraws) the last segment.

Grips Editing

Depending on the value of the GRIPS system variable polylines have grips on its endpoints and vertices and/or at the midpoint of each segment.

The value of GRIPS can be 0, 1 or 2

Value	Grips display
0	No grips
1	Endpoint grips only
2	Endpoint and midpoints grips

Polylines can be edited directly through grips:

Select the polyline. Notice that it has a square grip at each vertex (1) and a triangular grip at the midpoint of each segment (2).

Do one of the following:
Drag the midpoint grip of a line segment to move the segment.
Drag the midpoint grip of an arc segment to modify its radius.
Drag a vertex grip to move the selected vertex.
Splined polylines have a grip at each control point, which can be stretched:

Cubic or Quadratic splined polyline.

Curve fit splined polyline.

Procedures

Drawing polylines

Creating boundary polylines

Related Commands

3dPoly - draws polylines with x,y,z coordinates.

Boundary - creates a polyline that forms a boundary inside a closed area through a dialog box

-Boundary - creates a polyline boundary inside closed areas through the command bar.

ConvertPoly - converts lightweight polylines to classic polylines (2D polylines) and vice versa.

Helix - creates a 2D spiral or a 3D helix.

MLine - draws multilines.

PEdit - edits polylines.

Donut - draws fat circles out of polylines.

Polygon - draws regular polygons out of polylines.

Rectang - draws rectangles out of polylines.

Solid - draws solid-filled entities with 3 and 4 sides.

Trace - draws wide lines.