Trim, Break, Split
Purpose
Three tools of the family Trim shorten or divide existing elements — without drawing new geometry:
- Trim shortens an element at its nearest intersection with other elements. The piece you click stays; the piece beyond the intersection is removed.
- Break removes the clicked piece between two intersections (or from the intersection to the end). The rest stays as one or two elements.
- Split divides an element at a freely chosen position into two pieces — no intersections needed.
All three work on lines, circles, arcs, splines, ellipses and elliptical arcs; Split additionally on polylines. Rectangles cannot be divided as a whole — explode them first.
Access
- Ribbon: group Modify, split button Trim (1); the triangle opens Break (2) and Split (3).
- Classic toolbar: group Edit, family with drop-down triangle (1).
- Keys: T Trim, B Break.
- Command search : Trim, Break, Split.
Trim
Trim One click is enough. The instruction bar says Click the side that should be KEPT: you click the element where it should remain. The program looks for the intersection nearest to the click and shortens the element there — the side with the click stays, the other one disappears.
For a circle or an ellipse Trim needs at least two intersections (At least 2 intersections needed); the arc between the two intersections that contains the click remains. The status line reports Line trimmed, Circle trimmed, Arc trimmed etc. Without an intersection nothing happens (No intersections found).
Trim always shortens one element only. If two lines should form a clean corner together, use Trim two elements.
Break
Break Break is the counterpart: Click the line segment to be removed. The piece between the two intersections left and right of the click is taken out; if the click lies before the first or after the last intersection, the end piece is removed.
A line without intersections is removed as a whole by Break — saving the detour via Delete. For circles and arcs the remainder becomes an arc (Circle broken, Arc trimmed). Closed splines must be split first (Closed spline: please split it first (W)).
Split
Split Split runs in two clicks:
- Click the element — it is chosen and highlighted; the status line reports Line chosen — click the split position (ESC = cancel).
- Click the split position — the element is divided there (Line split at (x, y) → 2 pieces). For a line the perpendicular foot of the click counts, for arc and spline the click position, for a polyline the clicked segment (all vertices are kept).
A circle needs two split positions: the first click chooses it and sets the first position, the second click the second one (Circle: click the second split position (ESC = cancel)); two arcs result. Likewise for the ellipse. A closed spline becomes an open spline at the click position (Closed spline opened at (x, y)).
No split happens at an endpoint, arc end or polyline corner (The split position lies on an endpoint — not split); rectangles are rejected (Rectangles cannot be split — explode them into lines first).
Options and relations
- All three tools stay active after the operation; Esc ends them.
- Dimensions attached to the shortened element follow its new endpoints; hatches are re-bounded.
- A weld at an endpoint that disappears by trimming is released.
- Elements on hidden or locked layers are not hit.
Related commands
- Trim or extend one / two elements — shorten or extend to the intersection
- Explode — break rectangle, polyline, spline into lines
- Delete