See Also
The background of an oneline diagram can display added lines, polylines, and filled polygons among other items.
Edit Mode
To add a new background line, first go to the Draw ribbon tab and select Background > Background Line from the Individual Insert ribbon group. Then to draw a series of straight line segments on the background, follow these steps:
- Position the mouse cursor where you want the series to begin and click and release the left mouse button.
- Move the mouse to the desired termination point of the first line segment. A straight segment will follow your mouse movements. Click and release the left mouse button to complete the line segment and prepare for drawing the next line segment, or double-click if this line segment is the last segment you wish to draw.
To draw a freehand shape rather than a series of straight line segments, click and hold the left mouse button where you would like the freehand shape to begin and drag the mouse to trace the shape you desire (while holding the left mouse button down). Release the left mouse button to complete the section of the freehand shape you have been drawing. At this point, you can add either another freehand section or a straight line segment. When you have finished drawing in the background, double click the mouse button.
Note that background display objects composed of straight line segments display significantly faster than lines drawn freehand. Lines draw freehand (holding down mouse button) leave a vertex point at every point on the screen, where a line composed of straight-line segments (left-clicking only where you want a vertex point) takes considerably less effort for the PC to draw.
To change the color, line thickness, and fill color associated with the line, make use of the tools in the Formatting ribbon group.
To change the shape of the line, first left-click on the line to select it. This causes handles to appear at each vertex. You can then move any vertex by holding the left mouse button down and dragging the vertex to a new location. To remove a vertex, hold down the CTRL key and then click the vertex you would like to delete. To add a vertex, hold down the CTRL key and then click on the line where you would like to add a vertex. Note that freehand lines are nothing more than a continuous series of vertices.