Tips for Object Snap in CAD

The Object Snap in CAD can help us draw or locate other graphics based on some characteristic points such as endpoint, midpoint, center of circle and intersection point. Object Snap is the most frequently used drawing tools in CAD and this post will talk about the FAQ and basic tips for Object Snap.

1.When snapping, the snap point would prompts “Unknown command”, for example, when snapping the intersection point, we get the following prompt:

Command: _int

Unknown command “int”. Press F1 for help.

The reason for this is simple: Snap is not a command, it’s just a tool that helps us and it is only available when the system prompts us to specify points. So if we are not executing any command and just click the Snap button or enter Snap option, we get such prompts, which is common in lower version of CAD version.

2. Setup and execution of Object Snap

Some designers tend to open all the Object Snap so that they don’t need to open and set up the snap option when they need them, which is not a good drawing habit. The cursor moves when drawing or editing and CAD would have a lot of calculations within the system, and the more options you set, the more calculations are needed, which would affect the performance of the system especially when the graphics are very complicated and dense.

I suggest only open the most commonly used ones such as endpoint, midpoint, intersection point and center of circle, we can call a command any time from the toolbar, SHIFT+RIGHT CLICK MENU, etc.

In higher version of CAD, there is no need to open all the snap mode since there is a drop-down menu in the bottom status bar.

3. How to control the sensitivity of snap

We can snap points when the cursor approaches the edge of the graphics, but how does this sensitivity work and how to control it?

This sensitivity can be controlled in the Option dialog box

4. How to switch between different points when we have snapped multiple points?

When the graphics are too dense, there might be several points that can be snapped, but we can only snap one point at a time, what if the point we snap is not what we want?

We can either zoom in the viewport or switch between points using TAB key.