Reference Section > Shape Library > Basic Shapes

The Angle Edged Rectangle is a rectangle whose top edge is cut at an angle instead of square. The left side and the bottom edge meet at a right angle, and so do the bottom edge and the right side. The top edge runs from the top of the left side down (or up) at the Edge Angle to the top of the right side. The result is a right-angled trapezoid – a plate with one angled edge.

It appears in the shapes library under Basic Shapes. It has no aliases (older shape names).

Insert point and orientation

The insert point is the bottom left corner of the shape. The outline is a closed path of four straight sides, built from the insert point in this order:

•up the left side, from the insert point for the full Height along Y

•across the top edge, from the top of the left side to the top of the right side

•down the right side, to the bottom right corner at the height of the bottom edge

•back along the bottom edge to the insert point, along X for the Width

The height of the right side is Height – Width × tan(Edge Angle). With the defaults this is 125 – 75 × tan 30° = 81.7 mm (in inch units, 5 – 3 × tan 30° = 3.27").

Properties

Property	Description	Default
Width	Length of the bottom edge, along X from the insert point (mm or inch). It is also the horizontal distance the Edge Angle acts over.	75 mm (3")
Height	Height of the left side, along Y from the insert point (mm or inch). This is the full height at the left; the right side is shorter or taller depending on the Edge Angle.	125 mm (5")
Edge Angle	Angle of the top edge below horizontal, measured at the top left corner (degrees). A positive angle slopes the edge down to the right, so the right side is shorter than the left. A negative angle slopes it up, so the right side is taller. 0 gives a plain rectangle. Limited to –90° to +90° on the property page.	30°

The dimensions drawn on the shape are the Height (left side), the Width (bottom edge) and the Edge Angle (at the top left corner).

Limits and errors

The shape does not check its values against each other, and it does not report an error for any combination of the three properties. Keep them within these limits:

•For a positive Edge Angle, Width × tan(Edge Angle) must be less than Height. If it is larger, the top right corner falls below the bottom edge, the sloped edge crosses the bottom edge and the outline crosses itself, so it is not a valid part outline. If it is equal, the right side has zero height and the shape is a right-angled triangle.

•For a negative Edge Angle there is no height limit. The right side is then Height + Width × tan(–Edge Angle) tall.

•Angles close to ±90° make the sloped edge very steep, so the right side is extremely short or tall. At exactly ±90° the tangent is effectively infinite, so the top right corner is placed an enormous distance above or below the part. The property page accepts exactly ±90°; use an angle short of 90°.

•The property page sets no minimum or maximum for Width or Height. A Width or Height of 0 collapses the outline (a Width of 0 leaves a line along the left side), and no error is shown, so check the values before cutting.

If building the outline raises an exception, the shape is drawn as a broken-shape marker at its insert point, and the property page shows the red banner Warning: Cannot build shape from these parameters. No value of Width, Height or Edge Angle makes this shape's own code raise an exception, so this banner is not expected from these three properties.

Every 2D shape also has the Transform properties (Base X, Base Y, Rotation, Scale, Mirroring X) and the Polar Array properties, listed after the shape's own properties.