SIMPLIFY command

Simplifies entities.

BricsCAD Lite; BricsCAD Pro; BricsCAD Mechanical; BricsCAD BIM

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Description

Reduces the number of vertices of polylines, splines and non-associative hatches with geometry boundaries represented by polylines, without changing their general shape.

Note: Simplified entities are easier to manipulate and can significantly reduce file size.

Method

Running the command opens the Command Context panel for choosing the command settings.

  1. Description
  2. Entities
  3. Settings
  4. Simplify

Entities

Here you can toggle between the options to select the entities that will be simplified.

Select entities in the drawing
This option allows you to select entities in the drawing by clicking on them.
Entire drawing
All entities in the drawing are selected to be simplified.

Settings

Specifies the settings and tolerances on how the entities should be simplified. The two different options, Reduce vertices and Smoothen, can be toggled on or off.

Note: Polylines that contain arcs are never simplified.
Reduce vertices
Reduces the number of vertices by combining segments. There are two modes to reduce vertices:
  1. Deviation mode: removes vertices that fall inside the Maximum deviation to convert segments into a single straight segment. This method is available for lw/2d polylines and splines.
    Maximum deviation
    Specifies the maximum arc's length between each two adjacent vertices and maximum arc's angle between each two adjacent vertices.
  2. Distance mode: removes vertices, if the variation in angle between the segments is smaller than Maximum angle, to convert segments into a single straight segment, shorter than Maximum distance. This method is available for lw/2d polylines, hatches and 3d polylines.
    Maximum angle
    Specifies the maximum change (angle) in a direction between each two consecutive segments to straighten.
    Maximum distance
    Specifies the maximum distance between non-collinear vertices to straighten.
Smoothen
Controls whether consecutive straight segments (at least three), of which the endpoints lie on an arc, are replaced by a bulged polyline segment.
Maximum angle
Specifies the maximum arc's variation in angle between each two adjacent segments.
Maximum distance
Specifies the maximum arc's length between each two adjacent vertices.
Minimum number of vertices per arc
Specifies the minimum number of vertices per arc.

Simplify

After clicking Simplify, the panel shows a new screen:

The entities that can be simplified according to the settings are listed here. You can uncheck the entities that should not be simplified. A preview of the simplified entities is shown in the model space when the entities are checked on.

Click Back to edit the settings or click Finish to simplify the selected entities and close the command.

Options within the command line

Apply
Applies the settings on the selected entities.
Finish
Closes the command.
Back
Goes back to the options overview.
change Input selection
Change the selected entities.
Note: The options here are similar to those found in the command context panel's Entities section.
change Settings
Allows you to change the settings of the Reduce vertices and Smoothen modes through the command line.
Note: The options here are similar to those found in the command context panel's Settings section.