How to Draw Rays in BricsCAD

Quick answer: A ray is a line that starts at a point and extends to infinity in one direction. Because it’s infinite, it isn’t counted as part of the drawing extents, so it won’t affect what Zoom Extents frames. Rays, along with infinite lines (XLINE), are sometimes called construction lines, since they’re often used as references for creating other entities.

What Makes Rays Different

Unlike an ordinary line segment, a ray has no defined endpoint, it extends infinitely from its start point in whichever direction you specify. Because of that, BricsCAD doesn’t factor rays into the drawing’s extents calculation at all.

Finding the Ray Tool

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

Drawing Rays: General Procedure

1. Launch RAY.
2. Specify the start point. The ray displays dynamically.
3. Specify the direction. The ray is created, and the next one displays dynamically from that same start point.
4. Optionally keep specifying directions to draw a whole series of rays, all starting from the same point.
5. Right-click to stop.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will a ray affect what shows up when I use Zoom Extents? No, rays aren’t calculated as part of the drawing extents, since they extend to infinity.

Can I draw more than one ray from the same starting point? Yes, after specifying the first ray’s direction, keep specifying additional directions to add more rays from that same point, right-click when you’re done.

What’s the difference between a ray and an infinite line (XLINE)? A ray extends to infinity in one direction only, from a defined start point. An infinite line extends in both directions.

Why are rays sometimes called construction lines? Because they’re often used purely as references for creating other entities, rather than as part of the finished drawing itself.