The FILLET command is a fantastic tool to create rounded corners between two (2) line segments but may be more useful to you than you might think. In this blog post, I will share with you a workflow that speeds up the process extending, trimming, and joining two (2) line segments in one command sequence. This workflow works best on polylines rather than lines and arcs, as polylines will be joined together at the end of the workflow sequence.
Figure 1: Original State
Figure 1 above shows two polyline segments that needs to be extended and trimmed to each other, then joined together. Typically, I see users execute the EXTEND command to extend the segment on the right to the segment on the left. Once extended, the segment on the left is then trimmed to the segment that was extended on the right using the TRIM command. Once all segments have been extended and trimmed, a JOIN command will then be used to bring them all together.
Figure 2: Shift Not Held
Figure 3:Shift Held
Instead, next time you encounter this situation, use the FILLET command instead. Once you active the FILLET command, you will be asked to select the first object to be filleted. Select the first segment and you will be asked to select the second segment. Before selecting the second segment, hold the Shift key down on your keyboard then select the second object. This simple act of holding shift while selecting your second selection will default your radius value set in the FILLET command to zero, so you do not even need to worry about what the current radius value is set to. After selecting your second segment with the Shift key held down, you should be left with your segments extended, trimmed, and joined together (if polylines) all in one command sequence.
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