Curved walls

Any wall can be a circular arc. Curved walls are exact: lengths, room areas and door positions are measured along the real curve, not a set of short straight pieces.

Before you start

• A wall drawn on the plan (with the Room or Wall tool) and edit access to the design.

Curve a wall on the plan

1. With Select (V), click a wall.
2. Drag the small round curve handle just beside the middle of the wall. The wall bends as you drag and a tag shows how far it bows and its radius.
3. With snapping on, the bow snaps to half grid steps and back to Straight when you drag the handle onto the wall.

Type an exact curve

1. Select the wall and find Shape in the inspector.
2. Choose Curved. The wall bows away from the room it belongs to, by an eighth of its length.
3. Under Set the curve by, pick How far it bows (the distance from the middle of the curve to the straight line between the corners) or Radius (to the wall's centreline). Type a length in any format, for example 600 mm, 2', or 3.2 m.
4. Bows toward switches the curve to the other side (Side A or Side B, the same sides as the wall finishes).
5. Choose Straight to flatten it again.

Limits

• A wall can bend up to a half circle: it can bow out at most half the straight distance between its corners. The radius must be at least half that distance.
• A curve can't cross or touch another wall or corner. If it would, the change is refused and nothing is lost: use a gentler curve or bend it the other way.
• Very short, thick walls can bend less, because the inside face of the curve needs a positive radius.

What follows the curve

• Length in the inspector is the length along the curve. Typing a new length keeps the same shape and scales the wall.
• Room areas include the curved part exactly (gross to the centreline, net to the inside face of the curve).
• Doors, windows and niches are placed by distance along the curve. A door or window is a straight unit set across the curve; its width is measured along the curve.
• Corners are mitred cleanly where a curved wall meets straight ones.
• Drawing a straight wall across a curved one joins them at the crossing, and the curved pieces keep the original arc.
• 3D, PDF, PNG and SVG exports draw the arc. DXF exports both faces of a curved wall as true arcs (bulged polylines) so CAD measures them exactly.

Good to know

• Dragging the corners of a curved wall keeps how far it bows. If the corners come too close for that curve, it is flattened to a half circle.
• Roofs follow the straight line between a curved wall's corners.