2D Polygon Tool

The 2D Polygon tool creates open and closed polygons with single lines. Polygons can have as few as three vertices or as many as 32,767 vertices. The 2D Polygon tool can also automatically create polygons by filling or outlining existing geometry, to easily annotate a drawing graphically by outlining, filling, or texturing (with an image or gradient fill) the new polygons.

Three modes are available.

 

Mode	Description
Polygon from Vertices	Creates a polygon by clicking to set each vertex
Polygon from Inner Boundary	Creates a polygon out of existing geometry by clicking within the boundary of a 2D object
Polygon from Outer Boundary	Creates a polygon out of the outer boundary of existing geometry by defining geometry with a lasso marquee

Creating Single-line 2D Polygons

 

To create a single-line 2D polygon:

 

1.	Click the 2D Polygon tool from the Basic palette, and select Polygon from Vertices from the Tool bar.

2.	Click to set the polyline’s start point (first vertex).

3.	Click at each vertex.

4.	Double-click at the final vertex to end an open polygon, or click at the starting vertex (a point cue displays) to end a closed polygon (the first and last vertex are automatically joined).

Creating a Polygon from an Inner Boundary

The 2D Polygon tool can create a new polygon based on the inner boundary of existing geometry. Existing geometry refers to visible 2D objects in the active layer or the viewport cache of a hidden-line rendered viewport in Edit Annotation mode. The stacking order of 2D objects does not apply; objects that are overlapped by other objects can still have their boundaries considered. If the object is a polyline (open or closed), a polygon with holes, or is curved, a polyline is created instead of a polygon.

Polygons cannot be created from symbols. Convert the symbol to a group, and then ungroup.

 

To create a 2D polygon from the inner boundary of existing geometry:

1.	Switch to 2D view by selecting View > Standard Views > Top/Plan.

2.	Click the 2D Polygon tool from the Basic palette, and select Polygon from Inner Boundary from the Tool bar.

If desired, set the attributes in the Attributes palette (fill style, pen style, line and line endpoint style). The attributes of the polygon can also be specified after creation.

3.	Click on an object to create a polygon based on the inner boundary of the 2D object. Alternatively, press the Option key (Macintosh) or the Alt key (Windows) while clicking to create a polygon based on the 2D object and any other additional selected objects.

When creating a polygon from a selection with the Option/Alt key pressed, the attributes of the bottom selected object are applied to the new polygon, and the original selected objects are combined to form the new polygon. This is similar to the Add Surface command described in Add Surface.

To speed up the polygon fill for complex images, zoom in on the area first.

Creating a Polygon from an Outer Boundary

The 2D Polygon tool can create a polygon based on the outer boundary of existing geometry. Existing geometry refers to visible 2D objects in the active layer or the viewport cache of a hidden-line rendered viewport in Edit Annotation mode. The stacking order of 2D objects does not apply; objects that are overlapped by other objects can still have their boundaries considered. If the object is a polyline (open or closed), a polygon with holes, or is curved, a polyline is created instead of a polygon.

Polygons cannot be created from symbols. Convert the symbol to a group, and then ungroup.

 

To create a 2D polygon from the outer boundary of existing geometry:

1.	Switch to 2D view by selecting View > Standard Views > Top/Plan.

2.	Click the 2D Polygon tool from the Basic palette, and select Polygon from Outer Boundary from the Tool bar.

If desired, set the attributes in the Attributes palette (fill style, pen style, line and line endpoint style). The attributes of the polygon can also be specified after creation.

3.

Click in the drawing and drag to create the lasso marquee. A polygon is created based on the outer boundary of any 2D objects completely enclosed within the marquee. Alternatively, press the Option key (Macintosh) or Alt key (Windows) while creating the marquee, and the polygon is based on the outer boundary of any 2D objects that are encountered by the marquee.

Creating Boundary Polygons in a Hidden Line Rendered Viewport

The creation of polygons based on the inner and outer boundaries of existing geometry is very useful for graphically annotating the elements of a sheet layer viewport that is rendered with hidden line rendering. (Sheet layer viewports are described in Presenting Drawings with Sheet Layer Viewports.)

 

To create a 2D polygon from the inner/outer boundary of existing geometry in a viewport:

1.	Create a sheet layer viewport from a design layer as described in Creating a Sheet Layer Viewport from a Design Layer.

2.	For the Rendering mode of the viewport, select Hidden Line. Update the viewport rendering by clicking Update from the Object Info palette.

3.	Edit the viewport in annotation mode by selecting Modify > Edit Viewport.

The Edit Viewport dialog box opens. Select Annotations and Display Viewport Cache.

4.	Click OK to enter viewport annotation mode.

5.	Click the 2D Polygon tool from the Basic palette, and select Polygon from Inner Boundary or Polygon from Outer Boundary from the Tool bar.

If desired, set the attributes in the Attributes palette to the desired fill settings (Fill Style, Pen Style, Line and Line Endpoint Style). The attributes of the polygon can also be specified after creation.

Apply an image fill to the polygon to simulate a texture (see Image Attributes).

6.

Because the viewport is rendered with hidden line and the viewport cache is used for annotations, any of the objects in the drawing can be used as the basis for new polygons. If in Polygon from Inner Boundary mode, click the paint bucket cursor on the desired drawing objects. If in Polygon from Outer Boundary mode, create a lasso marquee to include the desired objects. A 2D polygon is created based on the inner or outer boundary of the geometry.

The 2D Polygon tool works on 2D objects in the design layer. It does not apply to 2D objects or annotations that have been added to the sheet layer.

7.	Click Exit Viewport Annotation at the top right corner of the drawing window to return to the sheet layer.

An alert dialog box may ask if keeping the viewport cache is necessary. The viewport cache can be removed, if desired, as it is no longer necessary for creating the polygons.