construction lines

[NealP]

Does Vectorworks have an equivalent to AutoCAD?s Construction lines? In AutoCAD Construction Lines are lines that extend to infinity in one or both directions and can be set either vertically or horizontally.

[Hippocode]

There isn't.

Just make a point-based PIO that creates 2 lines X/Y at a long distance, or if you have skills you could make them fit exactly into the active layer box.

Edited July 25, 2013 by hippothamus

[atari2600]

(Weren't those called "X-lines" in Autocad back in the day?)

Don't forget that you have a couple options in the mode bar when you click the line command:

1) you can start drawing the line in "center mode", instead of "vertex mode".

2) under the line settings, you can jack up the "line scale factor" to some huge number, making a line get pretty long very quickly.

[NealP]

I?m not sure I understand ?point-based PIO.?

[Bob Holtzmann]

When you say "construction lines", I think of Guides, which I use all the time. I like Guides because I can unlock, edit and lock them again. Anything can be a Guide.

AutoCad had (or has) Rays, which start at one point, and go on to infinity. In earlier days, I would use a ray as a preliminary line, draw a crossing line and trim off the infinity length.

[bcd]

It's not the same but take a look at:

Cursor Cross-Hairs and

Constraints>Smart Points>Horizontal/Vertical extensions

[VincentCuclair]

I've never worked with construction lines in AC so I don't know the advantages or finesses of these, I'm guessing they are similar to guide lines in Photoshop, but there are several ways to get similar help with this in VWs:

1. I use this extensively when drafting myself (couldn't live without it):

It's not the same but take a look at:

Cursor Cross-Hairs and

Constraints>Smart Points>Horizontal/Vertical extensions

2. I don't use it, but perhaps the grid in snap options can be useful to a degree.

3. I also use a separate DL in which I use the grid bubble tool for all relevant grid lines and in this I sometimes place guidelines that are assigned to my Guidelines Class. This way I have full control over all types of important and less important reference lines and directions I might need in a project and how they are show or not. (I usually lock these after creation so that no unintended mishaps occur during drafting)

Edited July 28, 2013 by Vincent C

[Jonathan Pickup]

is this what you have in mind?

[NealP]

Jonathan,

Something like that, yes. How do you do that in Vectorworks?

[NealP]

How do I find the Smart Points that you reference? I can?t find it in the Menus or the Preferences.

Neal

[VincentCuclair]

How do I find the Smart Points that you reference? I can?t find it in the Menus or the Preferences.

Neal

Double clicking one of the snaps will take you there......

[Jonathan Pickup]

Jonathan,

Something like that, yes. How do you do that in Vectorworks?

these are created by a preference called Snap To Loci. Snap to Loci used to be on the Vectorworks Preferences, but it is not there any longer. You can still access it with a script. copy this into a new vectorscript:

---------------------

Procedure SnapToLoci;

BEGIN

IF GetPref(5) = True THEN

SetPref(5,False)

ELSE

SetPref(5,True);

END;

RUN(SnapToLoci);

---------------------

it will turn on and off the snap to loci preference