Circle cannot be created

Symptoms

If one or more of these match what you are seeing, you are on the right page.

• •Dragging produces nothing visible
• •The shape appears as a ring, a pie slice or a partial arc
• •The result is an ellipse when you wanted a circle
• •The circle grows from the wrong point

Causes and fixes

Ordered from most to least likely. Work down the list — each cause is paired with what to do about it.

1. 1

   Inner radius is set to its maximum.

   Inner radius creates a donut, expressed as a proportion of the outer radius. At 0 the shape is solid; at 1 there is no shape left to see. Reset it to 0.

2. 2

   Start and end angles have been left from a previous arc.

   A circle can be configured as a partial arc with Start Angle and End Angle, in Open, Chord or Pie mode. Set the range back to a full sweep to restore a complete ellipse.

3. 3

   Shift or Alt is being held.

   Shift constrains to a perfect circle; Alt draws outward from the centre. Release whichever modifier is producing the result you did not want.

4. 4

   A different tool is active.

   Press C, or pick the circle icon in the toolbar, before dragging.

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