Sketch Boolean & Bridge

Updated v2.4.3

At a glance

Cut, Join, and Intersect closed sketch profiles — true arcs restored in the result
Bridge welds islands together or slots through material with one click
Auto Union/Cut from what the bridge crosses: joins separate pieces, cuts within one
A long bridge cuts every band of material it crosses — one click down a whole letter
Mode setting overrules it: Auto, Union, or Cut
Shift + wheel rotates the bridge, pausing at 0/90/180/270
Space + wheel scales it proportionally; Shift + < / > steps 5°
Width, Height, and Rotation take unit-aware expressions and are remembered

Closed profiles in a sketch can be combined directly — no round-trip through another workspace. Both tools run on the same fast geometry engine as plasma toolpaths, and both hand back true arcs: results are re-fit to clean arc geometry, not left as chains of tiny line segments.

Boolean

Select two or more closed profiles and pick Cut, Join, or Intersect. Cut subtracts the later selections from the first, Join welds everything into one outline, Intersect keeps only the overlap. Islands are handled correctly — a profile with holes stays a profile with holes.

Bridge

Bridge places a small rectangle that joins or slots closed contours — the classic use is keeping the center of a letter attached before cutting, or tying two separate outlines into one part.

Move the cursor and the rectangle follows with a live preview: green when the click will work, red when it won't, with a floating label telling you exactly what you're about to get:

Union — the bridge spans a gap between two separate pieces: clicking welds them together with a solid tab of material. Bridging the island in the middle of an o out to the material around it is the classic case.
Cut — the bridge stays within one piece: clicking slots straight through, splitting the outline where the rectangle crosses it.

The choice comes from the material along the bridge's whole length, not one spot, so a long bridge cuts every band of material it crosses in a single click — drag one down the stem of a lowercase e and both bands either side of the counter are slotted at once.

When your intent differs from what the shape suggests, the dialog's Mode setting overrules it: Auto (the default), Union, or Cut. The preview label marks a forced mode so you always know what the click will do. Mode returns to Auto each time you pick up the tool.

Size and angle are all on-canvas, matching the Design workspace's Bridge:

Shift + mouse wheel rotates the rectangle, pausing at 0°, 90°, 180°, and 270° as you sweep past so squaring up is effortless. Shift + < / > steps 5° at a time.
Space + mouse wheel grows or shrinks the bridge proportionally.
The dialog's Width, Height, and Rotation fields take unit-aware expressions (10mm, 1/2, (5+3)in), and all three values are remembered for the next bridge.

The tool stays active after each click, so you can walk down a row of letters bridging each one — Finish or Escape ends it.

← PreviousModify Tools Next →Selection Modes