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Duplicate along path, but a circle.


MattG

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Draw your 24' pitch circle (remember you can click to set the centre of the circle then tab once and enter the radius, hit enter twice to create)

Position your box on the pitch circle (personally I tend to snap to top centre) - incidentally you don't mention if your boxes are 3d. If they are all is best done in top/plan view.

Select the box and goto Edit - Duplicate array

Select circular array from the pull down menu. Number of duplicates will be 7 as you've got one already. Angle between duplicates can be entered as a formula; in this case type 360/8. Z offset leave as 0 unless you'd like a coil of duplicates, Circle Centre Point set for next mouse click. You don't need to resize so leave that bit unchecked. Select rotate duplicates and click Use Duplication Angle. Finally select Retain original object and click OK. You'll get a crosshair cursor now - snap to the circle centre and click and the duplicates are created. Delete the pitch circle.

The pitch circle isn't necessary for the creation of the array, it's just there to make finding the centre easy. You could do the same thing by putting a locus on your box then moving it 12' or you could position the box 12' from a known grid position, such as 0,0 To do this - draw your box, select it and look at the OIP. If it's a box drawn with a number of lines then you'll have to group them together first. The OIP will give a X and Y position for the group which you can set to whatever is most convenient, then use the Duplicate Array bit with the centre set at the right grid position.

Duplicate Array is possibly the most useful tool about and it's worth knowing what it can do. Many other CAD packages don't have things as comprehensive and as simple to use. Using this tool, the mirror tool and the split tool effectively means seriously quick drawing.

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