Reference Section > Shape Library > Rectangular Shapes

The Parallelogram is a flat four sided plate whose top and bottom edges are parallel and the same length, and whose two slanted sides are parallel and the same length. It is sized by its edge lengths and its height rather than by an angle, which suits drawings dimensioned that way. All four corners can be rounded with one radius. Use it for skewed plates, gussets and spacers; with Side Length equal to Bottom Width it is a rhombus, and with Height equal to Side Length it is a rectangle.

It appears in the shapes library under Basic Shapes and Rectangular Shapes.

Insert point and orientation

The insert point is the bottom left corner. The bottom edge runs to the right along X for Bottom Width. The top edge is Height above it and is shifted to the right by √(Side Length² − Height²), so the shape always leans to the right. Mirroring X in the Transform properties flips the shape about the X axis. It then lies below the insert point and still leans to the right. To make it lean to the left, set Mirroring X to True and add 180° to Rotation; the insert point is then the bottom right corner.

With the default sizes the corners are at (0, 0), (100, 0), (155.9, 50) and (55.9, 50) mm, so the overall width of the part is about 155.9 mm. The bottom left and top right corners are the acute corners, about 41.8° with the defaults; the other two are obtuse.

Properties

Lengths are in the current units (mm or inches). The defaults shown are for a new shape; the inch defaults are used when the program is set to inches.

Property	Description	Default
Bottom Width	Length of the bottom edge along X. The top edge is the same length.	100 mm (4 in)
Side Length	True length of each slanted side, measured along the side from corner to corner (not its horizontal offset). It must be at least Height.	75 mm (3 in)
Height	Perpendicular distance along Y between the bottom and top edges. Together with Side Length it sets the slant: the acute corner angle is arcsin(Height / Side Length).	50 mm (2 in)
Fillet R	Radius applied to all four corners. 0 leaves the corners sharp.	0 (sharp)

The dimensions drawn on the shape are Side Length (along the left side), Bottom Width (below the bottom edge) and Height (vertical, beside the right side), measured between the sharp corners so they read the same with or without a fillet, plus Fillet R on the top right corner. The radius dimension is hidden when Fillet R is 0.

Limits

The property page shows Warning: Cannot build shape from these parameters when:

•Height is greater than Side Length. A slanted side cannot be shorter than the height it climbs.

•Fillet R is negative.

•Fillet R is too large: the fillets at the two ends of each side must fit within that side. Every side has one acute and one obtuse corner, which gives two limits. The two slanted sides need Fillet R ≤ Height / 2. The bottom and top edges need Fillet R ≤ Bottom Width × Height / (2 × Side Length). The largest radius is the smaller of the two. With the defaults that is the smaller of 25 mm and 33.3 mm, so 25 mm.

•Fillet R is above 0 and Height is 0, so the shape is flat and its corners turn back on themselves.

The other values are not checked. A negative Bottom Width builds the shape to the left of the insert point, so the insert point becomes the bottom right corner; a negative Height builds it below the insert point. A Bottom Width of 0 gives a single line with no area.

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.