How to Extend Entities in BricsCAD

Quick answer: EXTEND extends entities to a boundary defined by one or more other entities. Worth knowing right away: holding Shift while selecting an entity trims it by the boundary instead of extending it, the same command handles both.

What Can Be Extended and What Can Serve as a Boundary

Extendable entities: arcs, lines, 2D polylines, and rays.

Boundary entities: arcs, circles, ellipses, lines, splines, polylines, rays, infinite lines, and layout viewports.

Handling Non-Coplanar Boundaries

With EDGEMODE on, entities extend to an implied edge of the boundary entities, useful when a boundary entity doesn’t physically reach far enough on its own. If the boundary entity isn’t in the same plane as the entity you’re extending, PROJMODE controls how the intersection gets calculated: project to the XY plane of the current UCS, project to the current view plane, or true 3D mode with no projection at all.

Extending Entities

1. Launch EXTEND. You’re prompted to select boundary entities, or press Enter to select all.
2. Select a boundary entity; the count in the set displays, and you’re prompted to select more.
3. Select more, or press Enter to stop. You’re prompted to select an entity to extend, shift-select to trim instead, or choose Fence, Crossing, Edge mode, Projection, or eRase.
4. Select an entity; it extends to the boundary. You’re prompted again, now with Undo also available.
5. Select more entities, or press Enter to stop.

Things Worth Knowing

• Any entities already selected when you launch EXTEND are automatically used as boundary entities.
• Hold Shift while selecting an entity to trim it by the boundary instead of extending it.
• Use Fence or Crossing selection to select several entities to extend at once.
• If you select an entity near an end that can’t actually reach any boundary entity, the command aborts.
• QUICK mode makes every object in the drawing automatically act as a boundary edge, without needing to select boundaries first.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I trim an entity while running the EXTEND command, without switching commands? Yes, hold Shift while selecting the entity, this trims it by the boundary instead of extending it.

What happens if I try to extend an entity that can’t reach any boundary? The command aborts if you select near an end that can’t make a valid extension.

Do I need to select boundary entities first, or can they already be selected? Either works, entities already selected when you launch EXTEND are automatically treated as boundary entities.

How do I extend to a boundary entity that’s too short to actually reach the entity I’m extending? Turn on EDGEMODE, which extends to an implied edge of the boundary entity, even beyond its actual physical length.