The basic building blocks of Adage drawings are lines, points, areas, and text. Lines have a variety of patterns and widths; areas can be filled with colour and patterns; and there is a set of points, some of which are small versions of drawing elements such as circles and squares. Some output devices support slightly more complex elements such as circles and rectangles.
The basic elements are built into more complex elements in a hierarchical fashion. A rectangle can be defined as a closed polygon which in turn can be broken up into a set of line segments. An architectural element for a washing machine might comprise polygons and circle arcs. A drawing is composed of elements realized on a composition frame which is rendered on a page. Modification and transformation operations are provided. These include rotation, scaling and translation.
Function specific to interaction is provided. Examples include snapping points to a grid and restricting vector angles.