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Node: <a name="Polygon%20Objects">Polygon Objects</a>,
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Next: <a rel="next" accesskey="n" href="Text-Objects.html#Text%20Objects">Text Objects</a>,
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Previous: <a rel="previous" accesskey="p" href="Arc-Objects.html#Arc%20Objects">Arc Objects</a>,
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Up: <a rel="up" accesskey="u" href="Intro.html#Intro">Intro</a>
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<h3 class="section">Polygons</h3>
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<p>Sometimes it's useful to fill large areas with solid copper.
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The way to do this is with polygons.
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Polygons can be created in either the polygon mode or the rectangle mode.
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In the polygon mode, you'll have to define each corner of the polygon
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with a mouse click (<em>Btn1</em>). When the last point is clicked
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exactly on top of the starting point, the polygon is finished.
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Since this can be hard to do, the <em>Shift-P</em> key will enter the
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final point for you, closing the polygon.
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If the 45 degree angle restriction is turned on
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and you try to close the polygon when it is not possible, you'll get a
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warning instead. If you haven't finished entering a polygon, but want to
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undo one (or more) of the points that you've already defined, use the
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undo command (<em>U</em> key).
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<p>With the rectangle tool, defining
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the two diagonally opposite corners is sufficient, but of course the resulting
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polygon is a rectangle.
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Like lines, a polygon can by edited by deleting, inserting and moving the points
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that define it. Pins and vias <em>always</em> clear through polygons without
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touching them when first positioned. You must add a thermal with the thermal
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tool in order to connect pins and vias to polygons. Thermals can be added and removed by
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clicking <em>Btn1</em> with the thermal tool over the pin or via.
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The thermal tool always
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places a thermal to polygons on the active layer, so if the tool doesn't
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seem to work, it's probably because the polygon you want to touch is not
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<p><code>Pcb</code> is capable of handling complex polygons, but
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using a number of simpler ones improves performance of the connection tracing code.
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You also must be careful not to create polygons that touch or overlap themselves.
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The fabricated board may not look the way you expect if you violate this
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principle. It is always ok to have two (or more) polygons touch or overlap
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each other, but not for points within the same polygon to do so.
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<p>The great advantage to this new polygon behavior is that simple or complex ground
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and/or power planes can be easily made with polygons and seen on the screen.
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If you don't want this auto-clearance behavior, or you load a layout created by
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an early version of <code>Pcb</code>, the old behavior
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(shorts to all piercing pins and vias) is available. A <code>ChangeSize</code>
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operation (<em>S</em> key) toggles a polygon between the new and old polygon/pin
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removed
doc/pcb.html/Polygon-Objects.html
