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Kevin Ford

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  1. quote: Originally posted by Alexandre B A Villares: Hey, have you studied the Constraints Palette ? For segment division you can use the Snap to distance (double click to see it's preferences). It will give the divisons with an Along Line snapping screen hint. Works on lines, arcs, circles and up to some extent on arc-based polylines. But if only it would work on ALL polylines! My problem with snap to edge is that it requires a mouse over to activate. That's one of the neat things about x-lines. They're actual objects that are always active.
  2. quote: Originally posted by jan15: I'm still not getting the concept here. You want the circle to be made up of several arcs? Why not draw an arc and Array it around its center? Wouldn't that be just as quick as the reverse method? If you want it to stay a circle but with snap points at regular intervals, 1/5 for example, you could place a locus point on it and then array the locus 360/5 degrees around the center. A lot of things would be quicker if there were a keyboard macro utility built into VectorWorks. Wouldn't it be nice if you could draw your construction line, then while it's highlighted just press F9 to make it a guide? Absent that, I use a shareware keyboard macro program called mgSimplify (there are a lot of others for the PC, including EZMacros, and there's Quickeys for the Macintosh) to assign the commands I use most often to Function keys, and a Focus 8200 (or 9200) keyboard with 24 function keys. The Focus also has a built-in calculator that can send its calculated value to the cursor location. As per dividing a circle, yes, I would love to have the equivalent of arraying loci around a point. That's one way of doing it and I've also drawn an arc of 180 degress and used the arc into segment command. Honestly, if I NNA would expand the abilities of Arc into Segments to include circles and do the same to Line into segments to include plines, life would be grand. The work arounds are there, but it would be helpful to be able to do it in 1 or 2 clicks. And finally, keyboard macros would be a boon. I think that should DEFINITELY make the wishlist.
  3. quote: Originally posted by jan15: Only the keypad Enter key, not the main Enter key. Press it once to highlight the X coordinate box, then press it again to go on to Y, and so on, with or without having typed a value. It's one of the best features of the program, and a very fast and easy way to enter coordinates. The problem with using enter is that it locks in the value. So lets say I wanted to constrain the object I'm drawing to a pre-determined y value. If I press enter to access the data display bar, and then press it again, it locks in the x value of the cursor. I realize I'm nitpicking and they're probably isn't a way to get around this, so I'll resign myself to just get over my laziness.
  4. As for the need to divide a polyline, I strongly suggest you try doing a development drawing to understand just how nice it is to quickly divide a polyline. For instance, if I'm doing a sheetmetal layout fo a cylinder with a hole cut out of it. It doesn't translate to anything resembling a straight line or a regular arc. Even dealing with the simplest of development drawings I need to quickly be able to divide a circle quickly. As far as using guides go, yes, they are quite nifty, but perhaps a quicker way of implementing them? Once I convince the powers that be to upgrade to 10, I suppose I could add it to a contextual menu. It might also be nice to not have to mouse over them to snap to the edges. [ 02-08-2003, 11:48 PM: Message edited by: Kevin Ford ]
  5. In an attempt to do some development drawings today, I realized the glaring omission of a divide tool in Vectorworks. It would be an enormous help to be able to have the program divide an object into a given number of sections. I realize the Arc into Segments and Line into Segments can help; however, this is not enough. There is no way to easily divide polylines for instance, or circles. I tried to duplicate along a path to no avail. Also, something similar to AutoCAD's construction lines would be a great addition. Yes, you can use 2d locus and use snap to locus but this creates a few problems. First is that I can't snap to anything but the locus line, and second, it's not possible (without realigning the origin) to angle the snap lines of the locus. At the very least a means to quickly (i.e. an F-key) toggle snap to locus on or off. Thanks, Kevin
  6. When working with the data display bar and entering coordinates by hand, I find it extremely frustrating when I tab one too many places and have to tab all the way through again. Implementing shift-tab to reverse tab would be swell. Also, if you REALLY want to impress, implement a way of moving through the data display bar so I won't have to take my hand off the numeric keypad! Perhaps modify the right arrow, or allow the user to set a preference that toggles the enter key on the keypad to control the data display bar. I'd pay money for that option alone... Kevin Ford
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