Using polar tracking

Polar tracking allows you to make geometries at any angle you want. To activate polar tracking, click on its icon in the status bar, as in the following screenshot. You can also activate polar tracking by pressing the F10 function key on your keyboard:

When polar tracking is active, it will automatically deactivate ortho mode.

1. Start the Line command again by selecting its command, L
2. Click at a point in the drawing area and move your cursor in the horizontal or vertical direction.
3. You will notice a green tracking vector when the cursor is horizontal or vertical and this will help you to restrict the line to a horizontal and vertical direction:

But this is not all. In this case, you can assign a different angle to polar tracking mode and it will start restricting your lines to those angles.

1. To change the angle of polar tracking, click on the small arrow right beside the polar tracking icon.
2. When the angle menu shows up select the angle that you want to choose.
3. By default, 90 and its multiples will be selected, but we will change this to 30 and its multiples, as shown in the following screenshot:

4. You can select any other angle value as well, if you want to, from the list.

After making your selection, move your cursor again to the drawing area and now you will find a green tracking vector after an interval of every 30 degrees or at every angle that is a multiple of 30 degrees as shown in the following figure:

These status bar options allow you to make geometries. To make drawings, we will use a combination of these status bar tools as and when needed.

So, now that we know the methods for making simple line drawings with precision in AutoCAD, we will move on to learning about other geometries, such as circles, arcs, and polygons.