Simple rotation


johnny
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I'm not a fan of wasting an hour trying to simply rotate a poly solid to an existing angle I have for a wall.   Every time I used the "make parallel" tool it only changes one of the line segments to the correct angle.  I've done a search on "make parallel tool" in the forums, and apparently Im the only one that can't get this tool to work correctly.

 

Here is a screen of what I want to do - rotate the poly to match the rotation of the line. 

 

line.jpg

 

Sometimes I get this error messages:

 

error1.jpg

 

Other times I get this to happen:

 

error2.jpg

 

Other times I get this:

 

error3.jpg

 

None of which I want, and I find it sad when an application can do multiple things using the same command and none of which is what the user wants.  As much as I love the "auto tool" approach, I would have been long done if CA had a proper protractor and rotation tool other apps have.

 

 

 

 

 

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Johnny, double click the make parallel tool. Select 'rotate entire poly line'. Agreed tools should be more intuitive and perhaps more standard in their application.

 

You can also use the transform/replicate tool and it will rotate the entire p-line to any angle you choose among other actions within the same tool..

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Johnny, double click the make parallel tool. Select 'rotate entire poly line'. Agreed tools should be more intuitive and perhaps more standard in their application.

 

You can also use the transform/replicate tool and it will rotate the entire p-line to any angle you choose among other actions within the same tool..

Thanks I will try this right now.

 

(added)

 

It worked perfectly as you said.  Thank you.

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So you know, I tried finding this information on my own, but couldn't see in the Chief help section a topic dealing with this tool.  I did a search in the knowledge base and nothing but forum post that had limited information.

 

find.jpg

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Here is how simple the operation is in Vectorworks.

 

<iframe width="480" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OAeAoB4MUh0?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

To me it's hard to argue that one method is 'simpler' than the other. What's simpler than double clicking an icon? Or using the transform replicate tool?

 

They are both 'simple' if you understand the tools. The problem to me is that Chief can hide its tools within arcane, secret, and unexpected locations which is a problem the program presents at too many opportunities. The fact you had to ask here on the forum in order to access this hard to access, and badly documented feature makes the (your) point. I only knew about it from a post here as well.

 

Glad you got it worked out.

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I think there should be two tools.  One to rotate an edge and another tool to rotate the polyine.  I do not like having to use the double click method.....

 

 I wonder if there is an alt key we could hit while using the tool to toggle between the two options.

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I think there should be two tools.  One to rotate an edge and another tool to rotate the polyine.  I do not like having to use the double click method.....

 

 I wonder if there is an alt key we could hit while using the tool to toggle between the two options.

Agreed, there's way too many of these kinds of tools that force users, who are not experts, to waste time looking for those tools in very unexpected places. I've spent many many hours learning those hidden tool locations, which of course is part of learning any software program, but when rotating an object, having something like a graphical protractor is so much easier to locate, understand, and grasp its function. Once someone learns the double click method in Chief it's relatively easy but why so arcane and unusual a tool and location?

 

Maybe completely OT but I just went through this again the other day with the sun angle tool. Sheesh. I opened the dialog box and the sun angle was set to -55 degrees and I wanted the sun to be more overhead. So I thought to myself the 90 degrees must be directly overhead but no it's not. I had to look in the help files to learn that directly overhead is -90 degrees which makes perfect sense to a programmer, somewhere, but to the user it's gobbledy-goook. Why isn't there a graphical representation of the sun we can move? Who can know these things without years of experience?

 

Sigh. So frustrating, and for new users who have to ask how to simply rotate a p-line how can they or anyone else be expected to know these secret handshakes? Chief is just not user friendly in so many ways.

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OK...I had no idea about the double click feature.  I have "Make Parallel/Perpendicular" set at a hotkey so I've never thought of that.  Still...a good option to keep in mind.

 

Usually what I do is marquee select my polyline and then make parallel/perpendicular...

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...or if I click on an edge of a polyline, then transform/replicate, then select rotate, then select absolute angle, then type in the angle that I want the selected edge.

 

The only real time I use that method is when I'm doing site plans...I don't have to try and guess what I need to rotate it.  Just select an edge, make it 90deg in the absolute angle, and call it good.

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OK...I had no idea about the double click feature.  I have "Make Parallel/Perpendicular" set at a hotkey so I've never thought of that.  Still...a good option to keep in mind.

 

Usually what I do is marquee select my polyline and then make parallel/perpendicular...

 

Only problem with this is that marquee select places a box (aligned with the x y z axis) around the extremities of your polyline solid, so unless the edge you would like to make parallel is in line with one of those axis, it won't work. 

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