Most real areas are not rectangles. The polygon tool draws any outline one corner at a time, and doubles as the point editor afterwards.
Draw one
- Press G or click Polygon on the tool rail.
- Click where the first corner goes. Move, and a line follows the pointer showing its length.
- Click each corner in turn, around the outline.
- Finish by clicking the first point again, or press Enter once you have three or more. Esc abandons the draft.
The polygon is selected and takes the altitude and fill set for new shapes.
Edit the points
Select any area — a polygon, but also a rectangle or a freehand shape — and press G again. Its points show as handles:
- Drag a handle to move that point.
- Click an edge to add a point there.
- ⌥-click a point (Alt-click) to remove it. Its neighbours close the gap.
- Click an end point of an open line to keep drawing from it.
- Esc leaves the point editor.
Snapping applies to every one of these, so a boundary can be walked in exact metres.
Two more things the outline can do
With an area selected, two buttons appear on the rail:
- Open into line drops the closing segment, so the area becomes a line with the same corners.
- Close into area joins the loose ends of a line back into a filled area.
Tips
- Zoom in (scroll) before placing fine detail; the tool follows the pointer at any zoom.
- A polygon with many points can be tidied later: Simplify in the sidebar drops the ones that barely change the line.
Next
Sketch freehand, then simplify — the pencil, for when a curve is easier to draw than to click.