Note: The Coordinates Palette is not visible by default. To show it, choose its name from the Window > Palettes menu.
Use the context menu to display this palette in horizontal/vertical or extended/compact form.
From left to right, the Coordinates Palette contains the following controls:
•User Origin: Resets the zero point to a user-defined location. Click this button and place the Origin anywhere on the Floor Plan.
Note: To return the User Origin to the Project Origin, double-click the User Origin button.
For more information, see Origins.
•Set Rotated Grid: Click Rotated Grid button, then draw a vector on the Floor Plan to specify the angle of the rotated grid. Note: To return to the ‘normal’ grid, use the Grid Switch button.
•Switch Orthogonal/Rotated Grid: Select the Rotated Grid option to switch to the rotated grid or the Normal Grid option to switch to the horizontal/vertical grid.
•Grid Snap: Select one of these three options to control Grid Snapping:
-Grid Snapping OFF
-Snapping to the Snap Grid
-Snapping to the Construction Grid
For more information, see Snap to Grid.
•Absolute/Relative: Switch the delta button ON to display and enter relative X and Y coordinates (for Cartesian coordinates) and radial/angle coordinates (for polar coordinates).
Absolute values show the horizontal, vertical, radial and angular distance of the cursor from the Project Origin or a User Origin but never from an Edit Origin.
Relative values show the horizontal, vertical, radial and angular position of the cursor relative either to the Project Origin, to a User Origin before any element is begun, or to an Edit Origin once a drafting or editing process is under way.
In general, viewing Absolute Cartesian and Relative Polar coordinates provides the most information, and is the most useful under normal circumstances.
•Gravity: Optionally, choose to place elements atop Slabs, Meshes, Shells and Roofs.
See Gravity.
•Elevation: The “z” field in the Coordinates Palette displays the elevation at which elements will be placed. The pop-up lets you define the reference level from which this value should be measured: the Project Zero, the current Story (or in 3D, the User Origin), or one of the optional Reference Levels defined in Options > Project Preferences > Reference Levels.
See Reference Levels Preferences.
