Draw Toolbar
The Draw Toolbar is at the top of the Draw Page and contains several tools and features to help you easily work with your project.
The toolbar contains the following options:
- Edit the label of the currently selected gear.
- Lock the currently selected gear from further edits (and unlock it).
- Remove the currently selected gear from the drawing.
- Layer dropdown to view the active layer when nothing is selected, or to view the selected gear’s layer when a gear is selected. You can change the active layer and the current selection’s layer from this dropdown.
- Add layer button to quickly add a new layer to your drawing.
- Zoom in and out of the drawing.
- Zoom to fit the drawing.
- Draw a Gear Group in the drawing. Learn more here.
- Draw a text box in the drawing.
- Print the drawing to a PDF.
- Export the drawing to JPG, PNG, and Pro users can export SVG.
- Change the grid size.
- Toggle the grid on and off.
- Toggle the snap lines on and off.
- Enable or disable the Smart Routing feature for connections.
And finally, it displays the name of the selected gear.
Edit Label
By clicking this button with a selected gear item, you will be presented with a dialog to edit the label of the gear item.
Locking and Unlocking Gear
By clicking this button with a selected gear item, you can toggle the lock state of the gear item. When locked, the gear item cannot be modified, including being moved around on the drawing, until the gear item is unlocked.
Removing Gear
The trash can icon allows you to remove the selected gear item from the drawing. It will still be available in the My Gear Pane where you can fully remove it.
Layers
When you have nothing selected, this will show the current layer, where new gear will be added. When you have a gear item selected, this will show the layer the gear item is on and allow you to change it to a new layer.
You can add a layer by clicking the + button. A colour and name will automatically be generated for the new layer, which can be edited from the Layer Manager.
Zooming
You can zoom in and out of the drawing by clicking the magnifying glass icons. You can also use your mouse
wheel, or the Ctrl+= and Ctrl+- keyboard shortcuts.
You can zoom to fit the drawing by clicking the Zoom to Fit button or by pressing Z on your
keyboard.
Gear Groups
Allows you to toggle Gear Group Drawing Mode on and off. To learn more about Gear Groups, see the Gear Groups page.
Text Boxes
Allows you to toggle Text Box Drawing Mode on and off. To learn more about Text Boxes, see the Text Boxes page.
Printing and Exporting
GearConnect offers several options for printing and exporting your drawing:
- Print: Print the drawing to a PDF, and adds a title block to the bottom right of the drawing.
- Export: Export the drawing to a variety of formats, including JPG, PNG, and SVG (Pro feature).
Grid Size
You can change the grid size by changing the number in the Grid Size input box. This must be a number between 1 and 99. The grid size is used when moving gear items around the drawing, including connections, labels, and snap lines.
You can toggle the grid on and off by clicking the Show Grid button.
Snap Lines
By default, snap lines are enabled to easily align gear items to other gear items. You can toggle snap lines on and off by clicking the Disable Snap Lines or Enable Snap Lines button.
Smart Routing
One of the unique features of GearConnect is the Smart Routing feature. In most drawing applications, you need to manually adjust connections and lines to avoid gear and obstacles. With Smart Routing, connections will automatically route around gear items and other obstacles.
There are times when smart routing can not find a path, such as when gear items are too close together. In these times, the connection will fall back to a simple straight line. You can toggle Smart Routing on and off by clicking the Disable Smart Connection Routing or Enable Smart Connection Routing button in the Draw Toolbar.