ORTHO Mode & Polar Tracking in AutoCAD

In the previous article, we learned about OSNAP. Next, in this article, we’ll learn about another important AutoCAD features: ORTHO Mode and Polar Tracking.

Let’s learn from the first one:

A. ORTHO Mode

ORTHO (Orthogonal Mode) has a function to constrain cursor movement to horizontal or vertical direction while executing commands.

An example of using this feature is when we want to create a horizontal straight line. Even though when we click the start and end points of the line, they are not exactly straight, as long as the ORTHO feature is ON, the line will always be straight.

Look at the illustration image below:

ORTHO is also very helpful for moving objects, copying objects or other operations orthogonally direction (vertical / horizontal).

ORTHO feature can be activated and deactivated by pressing the ORTHO button in the Status Bar, or by pressing the F8 key on the keyboard.

B. Polar Tracking

Polar Tracking feature has a function to restricts cursor movement to specified angles while executing a command.

This feature can be activated and deactivated by pressing the Polar Tracking button in the Status Bar, or by pressing the F10 key on the keyboard.

Polar tracking line will appear when we are creating lines, moving objects, rotating objects and in several other operations when the cursor movement is exactly in the polar interval.

We can set the polar tracking interval by clicking the dropdown on the right side of the polar tracking icon in the status bar, then select the polar tracking interval we need.

We can also add polar values that are not in the available intervals by right-clicking on the Polar Tracking icon in the status bar and choosing “Tracking Settings”. Then input the desired polar value in the “Additional angles” section.

Note: The ORTHO and Polar Tracking features cannot be active at the same time. When we enable the ORTHO feature, the Polar Tracking feature will automatically be disabled, and vice versa.