Boolean Operations

Toolbar / Icon:

Add-on:

QCAD Professional

Menu:

Draw > Polyline > Boolean Operations

Shortcut:

O, W

Commands:

polylineboolean | ow

Description

Performs a boolean operation on selected closed polylines. This can be used to combine two polylines (union), to intersect them or to subtract a polyline from another (difference).

Usage

1. Select one or multiple closed polylines to unify or intersect. Alternatively, select the polylines from which you want to subtract another polyline
2. Start this tool.
3. Choose the desired boolean operation in the options toolbar:
   • Intersection (AND): The result is the intersection of all selected polylines. This is a polyline around the area that all polylines have in common.
   • Union (OR): The result is the union of all selected polylines. This is a polyline that contains all the selected polylines.
   • Difference (NOT): The result is the difference between the union of all selected polylines and the polylines chosen in the next step.
   • Exclusive or (XOR): The result is the set of polylines around the area covered by only one original polyline.
4. If you have chosen the difference mode, choose the polylines to subtract from the selection.
5. Choose if holes should be detected automatically. With this option, smaller contours inside other, larger contours are considered to be holes.
6. When working with large sets of polylines, switch off the automatic preview to avoid delays while the preview is being updated.
7. Click the green tick mark apply button in the options toolbar to apply the operation.
8. The selected polylines are still selected, so they can be easily deleted now if desired. The result is added to the current layer.