Should I Make The Move To Chief From Vectorworks


gwheckendorn
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Have you tried that Kilgore? When you do, be sure to start w/ a single non-orthogonal line. If you can get it to work using drag/tab, clue me in please & I'll be forever grateful.

This is a very good question.  It is not super clear on how to do this if I understand what Jim is saying.

 

But,  if you select a non-orthogonal line,  COPY, select  and start moving in a particular direction,  hit the TAB,  make sure it is set to POLAR,  make sure your are moving in a   PERPENDICULAR  DIRECTION,  input the DISTANCE,  the new offset line will  be correct.

 

Understand you must have ANGLE SNAPS ON so it moves PERPENDICULAR,   but it is possible to do what KT is talking about.

 

Jim was not very  clear on why he could not do it,  but I think I can do it,  but you must know the ifs ands or buts.

 

Jim,  if you still do not understand how to do it,  make a quick vid showing why it won't work and then I will do a quick vid on why it will work.

 

Definetly not perfect,  but doable.

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I do not get the exact distance between the lines even w/ "Polar" selected & the rest of the " ifs ands or buts". Pretty close, but not exact. This has always been the "oops" for me & why I make a polyline & use 'concentric'. Am I missing something? Probably.

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Doug................Probably the one "cad thing" I miss most from coming from ACAD is the "stretch command". This is a very common command in almost all CAD programs. 

 

Larry,

 

What is it you want to stretch.

There are all sorts of commands that will perform a stretch, depending on what and how you want to stretch things.

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I do not get the exact distance between the lines even w/ "Polar" selected & the rest of the " ifs ands or buts". Pretty close, but not exact. This has always been the "oops" for me & why I make a polyline & use 'concentric'. Am I missing something? Probably.

 

Jim,

 

You have to be careful when you initially drag the line to offset it.

If you do not drag perpendicular to the line, it will slide sideways and when you type in the distance, that distance is not perpendicular to the line - it is at an angle to the line.

 

So when you drag the line, make sure you are dragging perpendicular.

You can double check by checking the angle in the Enter Coordinates dbx that is automatically entered depending on how you dragged the line. 

 

Oh yes, and make sure you have Angle Snaps turned on or you can't drag the line perpendicular.

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Jim,

 

You have to be careful when you initially drag the line to offset it........

 

My question would be why does he have to be careful?  I believe this thread is about the weakness of CA's tools.  Jim has been using this program  longer than I have had my wisdom teeth in.  He knows the program pretty well.....  but he did not know this?  Why not?  Because he has to be careful?

 

CA should listen to these types of comments and then they might have fewer disparaging comments about their CAD tools.

 

Jim should be able to select his line,  start moving it,  hit the tab key,  type in a number and feel confident that the line move that far in a  perpendicular direction.

 

I really don't care how CA does it,  but they should do it so it as simple as possible.....  maybe hit a control key or something.

 

 Careful?  Nuts.  When we are producing we don't want to have to think about being careful,  we want to blow and go.

Two more weeks until my miserable trip from Oregon down to San Diego with a broken seat spring up my wazoo.

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I have all snaps on (except grid snaps), inc angle snaps & perpendicular extensions. I get a perpendicular little symbol as I'm draggin' the copy; plus a temporary dimension (which doesn't show up unless they are perpendicular.).

I dunno. Somebody please make a video and show me.

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I have all snaps on (except grid snaps), inc angle snaps & perpendicular extensions. I get a perpendicular little symbol as I'm draggin' the copy; plus a temporary dimension (which doesn't show up unless they are perpendicular.).

I dunno. Somebody please make a video and show me.

 Wow,  we told him how to do it and he still can't do it.  What does that tell you?  Either it does not work or it is such a PITA that even a competant user can not do it.  Is anybody listening at headquarters?

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Jim,

 

I can only get perpendicular extension if I have Angle Snaps toggled off.

As far as I know, a perpendicular extension will not generate anywhere along the line.

It will only generate off other snap points like centers or ends.

So using the perpendicular extension as a guide is really not working as you think.

 

Try this.

Turn off all your snaps except Angle Snaps.

Select and drag the line making sure it doesn't slide sideways, hit tab and do that.

It should all work.

 

An interesting thing happens when you slide the line sideways as you drag.

The sideways snap distance increases the further you drag the copy away from the original.

 

d dot,

 

I know that things can be improved, I am just making an effort to do the best with the tools we have at hand.

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.....I can only get perpendicular extension if I have Angle Snaps toggled off.......

 

There you go,  have angle snaps off,  stand on your tip toes,  do 3 hail Mary's and if you are lucky,  it will work.  

 

Yeah,  I know,  I am being cynical,  but don't we want this to be easy for those of us that ain't the sharpest knives in the  block.

 

Actually,  I think I was able to do it with angle snaps on..........  but I should never contradict the Great Glenn Woodward......  but I will check in the AM to see if  by chance I know more   than GW.

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BTW,    try resizing a    pentagon that is anything but orthogonal.  I can do it,  but can you?

 

I will do a vid in the AM to explore how confusing this can be for those that do not know the secret password.

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BTW,    try resizing a    pentagon that is anything but orthogonal.  I can do it,  but can you?

 

I will do a vid in the AM to explore how confusing this can be for those that do not know the secret password.

 

What are the criteria for the resize?

Ratio, side length, concentric amount...?

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What are the criteria for the resize?

Ratio, side length, concentric amount...?

To move a particular SIDE a defined perpendicular distance.

I think this would be what we would want to do 99% of the time. I do not think that in the last 40 years I have ever wanted to resize a pentagon by a ratio of of 1.25.

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but don't we want this to be easy...

 

Scott:

 

as Tina Turner said in the opening to "Proud Mary"

"we never do nothing nice and easy"

 

Lew

Trivia question, and don't look it up, who wrote the song and who recorded it first. If I am right, it was originally done by one of my all time favorite bands.

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Yeah, I misspoke about the perpendicular extension snap. I don't get it w/ angle snaps on. Doesn't matter though. I turn all snaps off except for angle snaps & get the same thing. Here's a video. The video doesn't include the "all snaps disabled except angle snaps" attempt, but it was the same thing.

Looks like you did nothing wrong. But I bet you 3 chicken necks and a plate of collard greens that I can make it work in the AM.

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Glenn, did you post the following and then delete. I found this in my email.

"To move a particular SIDE a defined perpendicular distance.

That's and easy one.

Concentric Edit mode, drag an tab, enter distance.

I think this would be what we would want to do 99% of the time. I do not think that in the last 40 years I have ever wanted to resize a pentagon by a ratio of of 1.25.

You never know, and good to know that we can do it if needed!"

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What is so revealing about this thread is there are 3 experienced users that can not come to a consensus.

Jim is completely lost, Glenn is trying to clue him in..... As I am, but I think even Glenn and I would not agree on how to carry out what I perceive to be a very simple task, therefore Jim has probably learned nothing.

I did a vid on this several months ago, and if I am not mistaken, there is a secret handshake to concentricly resizing a pentagon that is not orthogonal.

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Larry,

 

What is it you want to stretch.

There are all sorts of commands that will perform a stretch, depending on what and how you want to stretch things.

 

Glenn....This is "sort of" true when moving cad in a floor plan (edit command), but go to a cad detail and try to use the "edit" commands ----they are greyed out. We talked about this back in the "old ChiefTalk" but so far I've been unable to find the thread. I'll keep looking for it and if I find it I'll post the thread here.

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Yeah d dot, I posted and deleted straight away because I realised what I posted was incorrect.

That only moves the corner a specified distance, not a side.

Thanks Glenn, just want to make sure we are on same page. I love if when we can come to a consensus.

To summarize, I believe you will get different results depending on whether you concentrically resize from a corner of a pentagon or resize from a PLACED POINT IN MIDDLE OF A SIDE OF PENTAGON.

very important to understand the different behaviors,

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