Basic shapes of the LayoutEditor are path, box, polygon, and text. There are several tools to convert between these shapes. These tools are located in the properties dialog of the shape. To convert a set of shapes in one step there are convert features located under mainmenu/utilities/convert utilities. These tools will convert all selected shapes in one step.
Selected polygons with a rectangular shape are converted to a box. Are other shapes are untouched.
Paths, boxes, and text elements are converted polygons. A conversion of paths and text elements is only possible in the case a width is set to these elements. The appearance will not change. This feature is very useful to make text visible in mask design, as text is often ignored in the photomask fabrication.
Selected box and polygon elements are converted to a circle. The circle is fitted best possible in the existing points. The circle angle resolution from the setup dialog is used for the resulting circle.
Selected boxes, polygons, and paths are converted to paths with its outline. Holes in polygons will get a separate path.
Selected paths will be spat into a single path for each path segment. So it is an inverse function of a path merge.
All selected path elements having an identical start and endpoint are converted to a polygon. All other paths are not changed. If you have separate path elements for the edge using the draw/merge feature before the conversion to a polygon.