QCAD.org Forum

Can someone explain to me the functions of the grid in Qcad please?

Hi Jim
Imagine you are drawing something out on a piece of paper and you need some guidelines to help with the drawing, well if the paper is a blank sheet you may want to use a ruler to add some lines - or you could instead use a piece of graph paper which is pretty much what the grid is like in QCAD and it can be set in metric or imperial spacing.

I use the grid often, I find it helps with keeping things aligned and so on, turn it on or off as needed.

Thanks for the explanation Fred. I will no doubt find a use for it, like you describe.
I find that it gets in the way sometimes though!

Jim.Thompson wrote:I find that it gets in the way sometimes though!

Yes it can if you don't need it, but if you just hit the grid button to turn on and off as you need it it becomes a useful tool instead!

Thanks for the explanation Clive.
However, when I turn it off, the cursor still jumps in small steps in a grid pattern, as if the grid function is operational behind the selection.
I have found this happens in other programs too, like LibreCad.

Jim.Thompson wrote: ...when I turn it off, the cursor still jumps in small steps in a grid pattern, as if the grid function is operational behind the selection.

What Clive has mention is to make the Grid visible or invisible. It doesn't has any affect on the grid function itself. What means an enable snap to grid will still work even if the Grid is invisible.

It sounds to me that you enabled the Auto Snap function for Grid points below Application Preferences.
Un-tick this option and it will no longer snap to the grid. This makes sense if you only use the Grid snap occasionally ... like me. I have everything ticked in Auto Snap except the Grid Points. If I need a snap to a Grid Point I have to turn it on manually below Menu / Snap / Grid or for more convenience in a Tool Bar ...
Note: If you use the Snap to Grid manually it will turn off the Auto Snap - like all other manually chosen Snaps. To go back to Auto snap just click it ... and the Snap to grid will automatically be turned off.