Creation tools: references
Reference
A reference entity provides some support to the construction of the geometry without being taken into consideration during the mesh and solving operations. These entities are of the « NO_EXIST » type.
There are several modes of creation of a « Reference » entity :
- Point of reference
- Line of reference defined between two points of reference (procedure of creation identical to a segment of a polyline)
| Reference line | Reference point |
|---|---|
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Access / Cursor
The different accesses and the personalized cursor for this mode of creation are presented in the following table:
| Type | Access | Cursor | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reference point | By icon:  |
|
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| By menu: | |||
| Reference line | By icon: 
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| By menu: | |||
When do we use them?
The entities of reference can be used :
- During the construction of a symmetry in relation to a point of reference
- During the construction of a symmetry in relation to a line of reference
- During the construction of a circular repetition in relation to a point of reference
- During a rotation motion in relation to a reference point
- During a scaling in relation to a reference point
- Automatically, for the creation of an arc 2 points with centre point or a circle center + radius, the centre point is a reference point (if this is not an already existing point)
Some rules
The entities of reference coexist with the standard entities « Point » and « Line ».
Certain coexistence rules have been set :
- The standard point has priority over the point of reference
- Upon the creation of a line of reference starting from a / or finishing on a standard point, the latter remains a standard point
- Upon the creation of a polyline/rectangle/arc/circle starting from a / or finishing on a point of reference, the latter is transformed into a standard point
- The line of reference can be created or displaced as a superposition to a line that is « standard » or « of reference » without operating the correction of superposition of the lines
- The point of reference can be created or disposed as a superimposition to a line that is « standard » or « of reference » without causing the fragmenting of the line
- The entities of reference are not affected by the actions of correction (intersection, superimposition)