Find out how to use I-Borders and we’ll explain I-lines along the way.
Just like connection lines, I-Borders are smart:
If you move an I-Border, everything within, on, or snapped to it will move along.
Primary use is to indicate physical boundaries like an enclosure or the edges of a manifold.
Use it also as a design tool to combine multiple components to move them efficiently as one while creating your project.
How to summon + draw
You summon an I-Border by the icon in the sidebar, or right click and select ‘I-Border’. Then simply draw a rectangular I-Border with your mouse and left click to finalize. The I-Border changes from blue to red.
How to snap onto I-Border
When snapping on ports onto the I-Border, the line interrupts to take in the port so it really becomes part of it. This works the same for directional valves and sandwiches, or in this case joined ones: Simply bring them towards the edge and they will snap onto the I-Border.
How to resize I-Border
To resize an I-Border:
Left click anywhere on its line to select
Wait plus click again to lock to your cursor
Resize as needed
Click once more to finalize its new measures
How to lock and unlock I-Border
Besides snapping ports or valves to I-Borders, you can also lock two or more I-Borders together:
Simply move one I-Border to another and they’ll automatically lock.
However, once locked, they act as one when you either move or resize one of them.
To move or resize separately you first need to unlock them.
To unlock them:
Select one I-Border,
Then select ‘release I-Border from other I-Border’.
Drag the selected I-Border to its new position.
And left click to confirm.
Option in properties window
Now let’s have a look at the properties.
Double click on a I-Border to open the properties window.
Here you can add information like an item number, manufacturer and Description, say a manifold.
The item number appears here in the canvas and the added information will also appear in the Bill of Materials.
If you’re using I-Borders only to combine components, you might like the ‘hide in output’ option. Select it and your I-Borders won’t come up in your prints.
How to draw and group I-Lines
You probably won’t use this function as much as I-Borders but it’s a solution when you’re in need of a line to snap some ports to.
You can also create non-rectangular odd shapes and sizes (as shown in the above video).
It looks like an I-border now... But to move it as a whole you need to group the I-lines together first. And beware, Like an I-Border, you can snap certain components to it. Even when grouped together, components inside won’t move along.
How to resize I-Lines: stretch function
Last, resizing works slightly different than resizing a standard I-Border, you’ll be needing the stretch function:
Start with dragging a box from right to left to select the edge you wish to resize.
Then right click that edge and select the stretch function, or use its short key [Shift + S].
Now click on the selected edge again, drag it to its new position and finally, left click to secure.
We hope this was a useful tutorial.
To learn more, please watch our other tutorials.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact our team or visit support.