How every KAD drawing tool behaves — starting and finishing a drawing, correcting a mistake, where new points get their height, and how snapping helps. The tools themselves are in Points, Lines, Polygons and Circles, KAD Text and Roads and Ramps.
The top of the KAD toolbar sets what the next drawing looks like.
| Control | Default | What it sets |
|---|---|---|
| Elevation Z | 200 | The height of new points when nothing is snapped. Remembered in this browser |
| KAD Color | Grey #777777 |
Colour of new points, lines and shapes. A change mid-drawing colours the points that follow |
| Point and Line Size | 1 | Line width and point size. Any positive number |
| Circle Radius (m) | 10 | Radius of the next circle |
Each time you start drawing, Kirra makes one new entity, and every click adds to it — more
points to a point set, more vertices to a line, more circles to a circle set. It is named after
its type, for example lineObject3_a3k7.
The first time you draw in a session, Kirra asks Choose Drawing Layer: “Pick an existing layer or create a new one. New drawings go to this layer. You can change layers later in the TreeView.”
You are not asked again while an active layer is set. See Layer Organisation.
| Do this | While drawing |
|---|---|
| Right-click the canvas | Finishes the current drawing — “Entity finished. Click to start new …”. The tool stays on |
| Right-click again (nothing in progress) | Turns the drawing tool off — “Drawing tools cancelled” |
| Escape | The same as right-click. A second Escape straight away also returns to the Select Pointer |
| Backspace or Delete | Removes the last point of the current drawing |
| Ctrl+Z (Cmd+Z) | Undoes the last point placed — one press per point. Ctrl+Y or Ctrl+Shift+Z redoes |
There is no double-click to finish — use right-click or Escape.
Note: Backspace is not an undo step. Ctrl+Z is.
A line needs 2 points and a polygon 3. If you finish with fewer, Invalid Entity asks what to do — for example “Polygons require at least 3 points. Do you want to discard this single point or convert to a point object?” Click Convert to keep it as a simpler type, or Discard. A drawing with no points at all is dropped without asking.
Kirra decides the Z of each point in this order:
In 3D the click is projected onto a level plane at Elevation Z, unless a snap or a work plane takes over.
With Snap on (top bar), each click jumps to the nearest thing within the snap radius: hole collars, grades and toes, drawing vertices — including the drawing you are making — points along lines and polygon edges (with their height worked out along the line), and surface points. The status line says what you snapped to, for example “Snapped to …”. Hidden and locked items are never snapped to. See Selection & Snapping.
After the first point, a small readout follows the cursor with Dist: (metres) and Brg: (degrees) from the last point, and a dashed line shows the next segment.
Right-click the Add KAD Points, Add KAD Line or Add KAD Polygon button to choose how each click places a point — on the cursor, between two clicks, or at a set distance and bearing. See Placement modes.