SmartTrack and Guides

Tools > Options > Modeling Aids > SmartTrack and Guides

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SmartTrack

SmartTrack™ is a system of temporary reference lines and points that is drawn in the Rhino viewport using implicit relationships among various 3-D points, other geometry in space, and the coordinate axes' directions.

Temporary infinite lines (tracking lines) and points (smart points) are available to object snaps very much like real lines and points. You can snap to intersections of the tracking lines, perpendiculars, and directly to smart points as well as intersections of tracking lines and real curves. The tracking lines and smart points are displayed for the duration of a command.

You can add or 'capture' new points as needed up to the current maximum after which the oldest smart points disappear as new ones are added. Captured smart points can be cleared at any time if they are not proving useful.

Capture smart points

Automatically (For End, Point, Mid, Cen, and Vertex only)

Capture smart points automatically by hovering briefly over an object snap point.

Manually (For the rest)

Tap Ctrl (CMD) once to place a manual smart point anywhere in space.

This makes it easy to for example to place smart points along curves.
Tap Ctrl (CMD) twice to clear all smart points.

Note

Captured smart points are drawn in their own color and styles: gray with a cross for captured, but not currently active points (that is they are not sending out any tracking lines), and blue for active smart points.
Tracking lines are drawn once a smart point is captured and the cursor is in a predictable relation with the captured point(s).
In this case, predictable means that the cursor is along or near an ortho line through the point, at or near the intersection between ortho lines from two smart points. Ortho tracking lines pay attention to the OrthoAngle setting.
When a single smart point is highlighted and you see the ortho cursor with a distance, type a distance or Enter relative coordinates to place a point relative to the active smart point.

SmartTrack options

SmartTrack™ options manage settings for SmartTrack.

General

Enable SmartTrack and guides

Toggles SmartTrack and guides on and off.

Smart point activation delay ___ milliseconds

Hover time, in milliseconds, for a smart point to be captured.

Max number of smart points

The maximum number of smart points held at any one time.

Appearance

Dotted lines

Sets the tracking line style to dotted.

Line color

Sets tracking line color.

Tan and perp line color

Sets tangent and perpendicular tracking lines color.

Point color

Sets the captured but inactive smart points color.

Active point color

Sets the active smart points color.

Guide color

Sets the color for construction guide lines.

Behavior

Implied From

When a single Smart point is active, you will see the cursor tooltip with a distance. You can either type a distance or enter relative coordinates (e.g. @10,5) to place a point relative to the active smart point.

When a distance is typed, press Alt + Enter to constraint the distance from the last picked point.

Example 1

Start the Polyline command.
Place some points.
With Point object snap on, hover over one of the previous polyline vertices (or any other snap) to wake up a smart point and pull the cursor away along an ortho tracking line.
You should see the cursor tooltip telling you a distance from the Smart point and an angle.
Type a single number and press Enter to place the next point on the polyline that number of units away from the Smart Point in the direction you are pulling along the tracking line.
Type rx,y,z then the r will make the point relative to the active smart point.
This only works along a tracking line from a single active smart point.

Example 2

Start the Polyline command.
Place some points.
With Point object snap on, hover over one of the previous polyline vertices (or any other snap) to wake up a smart point and pull the cursor away along an ortho tracking line.
You should see the cursor tooltip telling you a distance from the Smart point and an angle.
Type a single number and press Alt +Enter to activate distance constraint for the next pick.
Without the Alt key, the pick will be finalized number units away from the active smart point rather than the last point picked.

Smart ortho

When turned on, the last picked point becomes a smart point. When the cursor is near an ortho direction, a tracking line displays for the cursor to move along.

Smart tangents and perpendiculars

When turned on, the last point picked on a curve becomes a smart point. When the cursor is near a tangent or perpendicular direction, a tracking line displays for the cursor to move along.

Example

Enable the end object snap.
Draw a curve or a polyline.
When you snap to a curve end, you can see the smart tangent tracking line.

Example

Enable Smart tangents and perpendiculars.
Draw a polyline.
Every time you click, a smart point is generated at the current end point of the polyline.
Snap to a curve end, the ortho tracking line appears.

Parallels

Turns on and off the ability to draw parallel tracking lines.

Smart tangents and perpendiculars is required for Parallels to work.

Example

Enable Parallels.
Snap to a curve end and another point with a different type of object snap.
You will see the parallel tracking line (when the mouse cursor is close to the parallel tracking line).

Semi-permanent points

Toggles the retaining of captured points for the duration of a command as opposed to discarding them after each mouse click. For example, when you use the Copy command, clicking the mouse to place an object does not clear the existing smart points.

Smart point at CPlane origin

The active viewport construction plane origin is automatically tagged as a smart point, making it possible to snap to it, and snap to ortho lines radiating from it.

Display cursor crosshairs

Toggles the display of full-screen crosshairs.

Restore Defaults

Restores the default system values. All custom appearance settings will be lost.

Related commands

AddGuide

Toolbar	Menu
Curve Tools Tools	Not on menus.

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Curve Tools

Tools

Not on menus.

The AddGuide command adds temporary infinite lines to assist drawings. The infinite lines are called "guides" in Rhino. Other applications may call them "construction lines" or "reference lines." Guides are only visible while you are picking a point in the viewport. When they are visible, Near and Intersection object snaps are automatically enabled.