Drawing ellipses by center and radii

You can construct an ellipse by its center and its primary and secondary radii. You position the ellipse according to the angle between the primary radius and the x-axis.

The contextual edit bars

During drawing and when selected.

The contextual edit bar appearance may differ depending on the relations options you have set.

Relative Dx and Dy while repositioning the ellipse:

Attributes

• Primary radius. Appears as Primary in the contextual edit bar, and as r1 =... in the Data column in the tabular area.
• Secondary radius. Appears as Secondary in the contextual edit bar, and as r2 =... in the Data column in the tabular area.
• Angle. This is the angle between the Primary Radius and the x-axis. Appears as Angle in the contextual edit bar. For more info about how to use the Select Quadrant button , see Automatic computation of angles.
• Circumference Length. Appears in the Length column in the tabular area.
• Relative Dx and Dy. Appear on the contextual edit bar only while you are repositioning an ellipse by dragging. Dx and Dy are the relative horizontal or vertical offset distances between the original and the repositioned ellipse locations as projected on the coordinate axes. The Dx/Dy values are, respectively, the Ox/Oy coordinate position of the repositioned ellipse less the proportional Ox/Oy coordinate position of the original ellipse.
• Style. For more about styles, see Formatting styles, colors and templates.
• Id. A unique, system-generated object identification number. Appears in the Id column in the tabular area.

Control points

An ellipse defined by center and radii has three control points: the center and the end points of the primary and secondary radii. While you are drawing an ellipse by center and radii, the following pointers appear:

About to mark the center of the ellipse.

About to mark the end point of the primary radius.

About to mark the end point of the secondary radius and finish the ellipse.

Tabular presentation

When you have finished drawing an ellipse, its object type, Id number, circumference length, radii and style are recorded in the Objects tab in the tabular area.

The data in Objects tab in the tabular area is unavailable for direct editing.

To draw an ellipse by center and radii

1. Do any of the following:

• On the Objects toolbar, click Ellipse by Center and Radii .
• On the Objects menu, point to Ellipses, and then click Ellipse by Center and Radii.
• Press CTRL+D+E+C.

2. (Optional) Snap the center point of the ellipse that you are about to place to another object or point.
3. In the graphical area, click to draw the center point of the ellipse.
4. (Optional) Snap the end point of the primary radius of the ellipse that you are about to place, to another object or point.
5. To define the primary radius of the ellipse, do one of the following:

• Click where you want the end point of the primary radius to be.
• In the contextual edit bar, in Primary and Angle, enter respective values.

6. (Optional) Snap the end point of the secondary radius of the ellipse that you are about to place, to another object or point.
7. To define the secondary radius of the ellipse, do one of the following:

• In the graphical area, click where you want the end point of the secondary radius to be.
• In the contextual edit bar, in Secondary enter a value.

To modify an ellipse by changing its attributes

1. Select the ellipse.
2. In the contextual edit bar, enter the values that you want, and then press ENTER.

To reposition an ellipse by dragging

1. Select the ellipse.
2. Do any of the following:

• Drag the ellipse to where you want it to be.
• In the contextual edit bar, in Dx and Dy, enter offset distances relative to the original location of the ellipse, and then click.

NOTE: If the control points of the ellipse coincide with the control points of another objects — for example, when the ellipse is part of a design box or is connected to another object by its circumferential control points — Package Designer repositions the ellipse and modifies the connected objects depending on the direction and distance at which you drag the ellipse.