How to use Object Snap in CAD?

Drawing with coordinates and grids ensures accuracy. But sometimes we’ll need some feature points of given graphics in the drawing. Coordinates of those feature points such as endpoint, midpoint, intersection point are unknown, nor are they on the grid points, then how can we locate those points? Don’t worry, with the Object Snap in CAD, we can easily locate to those feature points, it’s a commonly used drawing tool and therefore it’s very important to know how to set and use this tool, especially for beginners.

We have learned how to draw triangles by entering coordinates and other options in the Line command, you can still check this tutorial here. Suppose we are going to draw a line that connects the lower right angle of a triangle and the midpoint of the opposite side of the angle. We have already entered the coordinates of the lower right angle of the triangle and don’t want to enter again; We can’t get the midpoint through calculation, so it’s impossible to locate using coordinates. Let’s find out how Object Snap can help us with this!

1. Make sure the Object Snap in the bottom status bar is on, as shown in the following picture.

2. When we hover the cursor on the Object Snap button, we can see the prompt message: Object Snap(F3), which indicates that we can switch it on or off with F3. Enter L, press Enter to execute Line command.

3. Move the cursor to the lower right angle of the triangle, when the cursor approaches, we can see a green box, as shown in the following picture.

4. Click when the green box appears, the first point of the line is accurately located to the endpoint of the two lines.

5. Move the cursor to the midpoint of the opposite side, a green triangle would appear and indicates the midpoint, as shown in the following picture.

6. Click to specify the second point when the green triangle appears.

7. Press Space or Enter to finish Line command, as shown in the following picture.

OK, that’s how we use Object Snap. When we need to snap feature points of the objects and when those points are pretty close, we can use the Object Snap to help us snap points with a different box and prompt message to tell us what the point is.

Since we have already known what Object Snap is, we might as well explore more about what points are supported by Object Snap and how to customize the settings for the snap points.

Move the cursor to the Object Snap button and right click on it to open the Draft Settings dialog box, as you can see, the Object Snap tab control is right there, as shown in the following picture.

By default, the most commonly used such as Endpoint, Midpoint, Intersection are checked, and the mark for the snap type are shown before each option. GstarCAD provides more than ten Snap modes and you can try them one by one to see how each one works.

Conclusion: Object Snap is one of the most frequently used drawing tools that helps improve efficiency. After some time’s study and practice, we will know how to use and customize the settings very soon.