Layout Tools
Find it: press the tool's button on the Layout palette.
-
Grid (rectangular grid)
-
Angle (concentric grid)
-
Snap Target
The Grid
and Angle
layout tools work essentially the same
way; they provide regularly-spaced reference points for the Snap
Target. When you place the target (or source) marker on a construction
tool, it snaps to the reference points of the tool. For the Grid, these
points are the intersection of the two perpendicular sets of lines. For
the Angle tool, these points are the intersections of the rings with
the spokes.

Snapping house models to grid.
To lay out some objects along fixed grid points or along a circle, put
the target in the correct spot on the appropriate layout tool and move
each object to it.
Each tool has interactive handles for rotating, translating, and
changing the layout (click the links above to see an explanatory
diagram):
-
Drag the grid surface to translate it in the current plane. The Grid
tool constrains this to translate in increments of the division size.
Press Ctrl to unconstrain.
-
The upright stick in the middle translates perpendicular to the plane.
-
The round knobs rotate the grid out of its plane (tilting the grid).
Both grids constrain the tilting to preset angle increments; press Ctrl
to unconstrain and tilt the grid in a smooth motion.
-
The ring in the middle rotates in the plane. This is also contrained to
fixed increments unless you press Ctrl.
-
The rectangular handle is for scaling. The Grid tool scales by
increasing the number of divisions (if Ctrl is not pressed)
or by the division size (if Ctrl is pressed). The Angle tool
has two scale handles: one for rings and one for sectors. The ring
handle increases the number of rings if the Ctrl key is
pressed and the size of rings if it isn't. Since the number and size of
sectors are complementary, the sector handle changes both. If you press Ctrl,
the change is not constrained to increments of the current increment
angle.
Double-clicking either tool brings up a panel for direct type-in
editing of the tool size and layout.
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