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POLYGON

CompleteChecked against Musa CAD 0.8.0Verified

Draw a regular polygon by centre or by one edge.

Type
POLYGON or POL
On the ribbon
  • Home › Draw › Rectangle › Polygon
  • Home › Draw (slide-out) › Polygon

What it asks first

Command line
Command: POLYGON
Enter number of sides <4>:

Read from Musa CAD 0.8.0 itself (musacad --dump-wiki-data), so these facts always match the release this wiki is built for (0.8.0).

POLYGON draws a regular polygon: a shape whose sides are all the same length, such as a hexagon for a nut. The polygon is one closed polyline.

How it works

Section titled “How it works”

Type POL and press Enter. Give the number of sides, then the centre. Next, choose whether the size you give reaches the corners (Inscribed) or the middle of the sides (Circumscribed). Then give that size.

Command line
Command: POL
Enter number of sides <4>: 6
Specify center of polygon or [Edge]: 0,0
Enter an option [Inscribed in circle/Circumscribed about circle] <I>: Enter
Specify radius of circle: 20
Polygon created.
Three blue hexagons. Inscribed: a hexagon whose corners touch a grey circle of radius 20 around it. Circumscribed: a larger hexagon whose sides touch a grey circle of radius 20 inside it. Edge: a hexagon standing on a bottom edge whose ends are marked 1 on the left and 2 on the right.
The same radius 20 used Inscribed and Circumscribed, and a polygon built on an edge.
Plotted by Musa CAD 0.8.0 from the example drawing cmd-polygon.musaDownload the drawing

Options

Section titled “Options”
OptionWhat it does
Edge (E)Instead of the centre, give the two ends of one side: Specify first endpoint of edge: and Specify second endpoint of edge:. Looking from the first point to the second, the polygon is built on your left. Give the points from left to right to build it above the edge.
Inscribed in circle (I)The radius is the distance from the centre to each corner. The polygon fits inside a circle of that radius.
Circumscribed about circle (C)The radius is the distance from the centre to the middle of each side. The polygon fits around a circle of that radius. For a hexagon 20 across its flats, type a radius of 10.
Enter at Enter number of sidesKeeps the number shown, which is the last one you used.

Typing or clicking the radius

Section titled “Typing or clicking the radius”
  • If you type the radius, the polygon stands on a flat bottom edge.
  • If you click a point, the point sets both the size and the turn. With Inscribed, a corner lands on the point. With Circumscribed, the middle of a side does.

Good to know

Section titled “Good to know”
  • A polygon can have 3 to 1024 sides. Any other number is refused with Requires an integer between 3 and 1024.
  • The number of sides and your Inscribed or Circumscribed choice are kept until you close Musa CAD. Pressing Enter at the Inscribed or Circumscribed question keeps your last choice, but the prompt always shows <I>. Type I or C when you want to be sure.
  • A radius of 0 or less is refused with The radius must be greater than zero. Two edge ends at the same place are refused with The two edge endpoints must differ.
  • The result is a closed polyline. To work on its sides as separate lines, use EXPLODE.
  • Esc cancels the command. Nothing is drawn.

Compared with AutoCAD

Section titled “Compared with AutoCAD”

POLYGON follows AutoCAD’s two ways of sizing a polygon: about a centre, Inscribed or Circumscribed, or by one edge. As in AutoCAD, a typed radius stands it on a flat bottom edge.

Next

Section titled “Next”
  • Draw a rectangle with RECTANG.
  • Draw the circle a polygon fits in with CIRCLE.
  • Change the polyline later with PEDIT.