Drawing wipeouts

A wipeout is a polygonal area that hides the underlying entities using the current background color. Most commonly wipeouts are used to mask part of a drawing for clarity. For example, you may want to add text to a complicated part of a drawing. A wipeout could be used then to mask an area behind the text to increase the readability of the text.

The Frame option of the WIPEOUT command sets the value of the WIPEOUTFRAME system variable, which controls whether the wipe out outlines display or not, and whether they are printed or not.

Note: Wipeouts hide existing entities only. Use the Bring to front option of the DRAWORDER command to hide all entities.

The Wipeout tool is available on:

  • the Draw menu
  • the Draw toolbar
  • the Draw ribbon panel
  • the Draw tab of the No Selection Quad

General procedure

  1. Launch the WIPEOUT command.

    Prompts you: Specify start point or [Polyline/Frames]:

  2. Specify a point.

    Prompts you: Specify next point:

  3. Specify a point.

    Prompts you: Specify next point or [Undo]:

  4. Specify a point.

    Prompts you: Specify next point or [Undo/Close]:

  5. Do one of the following:
    • Keep specifying points.
    • Right click or choose Close to stop.

To create a wipeout from a polyline

  1. Launch the WIPEOUT command.

    Prompts you: Specify start point or [Polyline/Frames]:

  2. Choose the Polyline option.

    Prompts you: Select a closed polyline [selection options (?)]:

  3. Select a closed polyline, composed of line segments only.

    Prompts you: Delete selected polyline? [Yes/No] <No>:

  4. Do one of the following:
    • Press Enter to keep the polyline.
    • Choose Yes to delete the polyline.