How to Draw Freehand Sketches in BricsCAD

Quick answer: A freehand sketch is a series of straight line segments, created as either individual line entities or a single polyline. Crucially, a sketch line isn’t actually added to your drawing until you explicitly “write” or save it, so you can sketch, erase, and adjust freely before committing anything.

What a Freehand Sketch Is

SKPOLY determines whether your sketch becomes a chain of connected individual lines, or a single polyline instead.

Segment Length and Accuracy

SKETCHINC sets the length of each line segment in your sketch. A smaller increment produces a more accurate sketch, but at the cost of a larger file size, more segments means more data.

Finding the Sketch Tool

The Draw menu, the Draw toolbar, or the Draw ribbon panel.

Sketching: General Procedure

1. Launch SKETCH. You’re prompted for the length of sketch line segments.
2. Either press Enter to accept the current length, type a new value, or click two points to define it graphically. The cursor becomes a pencil tool, and you’re prompted with several options: Erase, Connect, save and eXit, Quit no save, or Record (save).
3. Click to start sketching; as you move the cursor, the line displays in light green.
4. Optionally click to stop sketching, then click again to resume.
5. Optionally choose Erase. The cursor becomes an erase tool; move it to the end of a sketch line to start erasing, then click to stop erasing and resume sketching.
6. Optionally choose Record (save) to save your sketch lines so far while continuing to sketch.
7. Choose save and eXit to save everything and finish, or Quit no save to discard the sketch entirely.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does a sketch line become part of my drawing as soon as I draw it? No, it stays unwritten until you save it, either partway through with Record (save), or at the end with save and eXit. Choosing Quit no save discards it entirely.

Should I use a very small SKETCHINC value for maximum accuracy? It depends on your priorities. A smaller value gives a more accurate sketch, but increases file size since more segments get recorded.

Can I erase part of a sketch while I’m still drawing it? Yes, choose the Erase option, move the cursor to the end of a sketch line to erase, then click again to stop erasing and resume sketching normally.

Will my sketch become individual line entities or one polyline? That depends on SKPOLY. Set accordingly before or during sketching to get whichever you need.