BAZ Posted January 17, 2003 Share Posted January 17, 2003 VERSION 9.5.2 WINDOWS 2000 I AM CURRENTLY DRAWING A CEILING PLAN. THERE IS A BULKHEAD WHICH I HAVE FORMED USING A SERIES OF CURVES AND LINES I HAVE JOINED ALL THESE INTO ONE LINE USING THE COMPOSE CURVE TOOL SO I CAN OFSET IT TO SHOW STEPS IN THE CEILING. THE PROBLEM COMES WHEN I WANT TO DIMENSION THE BULKHEAD. THE RADIUS DIMENSION TOOLS WONT SELECT THE CURVED SECTIONS AND IF I DECOMPOSE THE CURVE IT TURNS INTO A SERIES OF FACETTED LINES. I END UP HAVING TO DRAW A CURVE OVER THE TOP OF THE LINE USING THE 3 POINT SELECTION TOOL AND DIMENSIONING THIS THEN ERASING IT!! THIS ISNT VERY PRACTICAL , IS THERE ANYTHING I CAN DO?? Quote Link to comment
Guest Posted January 17, 2003 Share Posted January 17, 2003 Use the angular dimension tool, dimension between two objects mode. Click on one end of the polyline, then click on the other end. You should get an arc with a dimension reading. [ 01-17-2003, 09:27 AM: Message edited by: Katie ] Quote Link to comment
Mike Morgan Posted January 17, 2003 Share Posted January 17, 2003 BAZ.....I have noticed the same thing. I have tried the suggested fix, and all I get is an arc that indicates the angle in degrees. What did I miss? Quote Link to comment
Guest Posted January 20, 2003 Share Posted January 20, 2003 Do you not want the angle? Do you want the length of the circumference of the arc? If not the above, what dimension are you looking for? Quote Link to comment
Mike Morgan Posted January 20, 2003 Share Posted January 20, 2003 The radius dimension tool should produce the radius of the arc and a center, e.g.: R 0.50" with a leader to the outside of the arc, in the exterior radius mode, or a leader from the arc center to the inside of the arc in the interior radius mode. I have noticed the same effect which BAZZ describes when making a solid, combining elements, etc. The arcs then become linear elements arranged along the original arc, and apparently can't be directly dimensioned. Like BAZZ, I usually overlay the original with an arc using three points, then use the radius dimension tool to indicate both the radius and the center. Is there a better way to do this? Quote Link to comment
Guest Posted January 20, 2003 Share Posted January 20, 2003 So are you saying you are trying to dimension objects that have been added or combined using the connect combine or add surface, etc commands and the dimension tool is not displaying that information correctly ? Quote Link to comment
BAZ Posted January 23, 2003 Author Share Posted January 23, 2003 Katie, Now youve got it. say you had to give this line to a contractor to set out on a building site. the length of the curve would be no use to him. what i want to dimension is the radius and also to be able to locate a centre point for setting out. I assume mike needs the same! Quote Link to comment
Mike Morgan Posted January 23, 2003 Share Posted January 23, 2003 Bingo! This is also important in fabrication drawings. Although this may not be critical when providing drawings to a facility with the latest generation CNC machines, it is essential for manual machine work when laying out shapes, creating metal spinning mandrels, etc., particularly when my source drawing is a rendering from a third party. It's not a deal killer: I love my Vectorworks; it is just an occassional nuisance Quote Link to comment
P Retondo Posted January 25, 2003 Share Posted January 25, 2003 For whatever it is worth, when I use the compose command to create a complex polyline from arcs and lines, I get a polyline consisting of arcs and lines. If you activate the "edit polygon" tool, you will see the various vertices. The arced portions of this polyline can be dimensioned using the radius tool. However, if you offset this polyline, you will get a series of straight segments instead of a set of lines and curves. Since there are no true arcs, the arc dimension tool will not recognize anything with a radius. This, I think, may be the source of your problem. In my experience, offsetting any polyline creates this kind of many-segmented entity. Mathematically, it would seem that when we start with a polyline consisting of arcs and lines, an offset polyline consisting of similar arcs and lines would be the more logical result. I think that there is a flaw in the logic of the offset tool. Quote Link to comment
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