Jump to content
  • 0

wish: dimensions snapping overhaul


Tobias Kern

Question

hi,

the snapping points of a dimension can snapped by an

other dimension. i think vw should change the priority of

what can snapped.

when you click the snapping point you can see

which point of the object is referenced.

for example: dimension a rectangle:

the points you can snap:

top left, top right, bottom right, bottom left, mid point

if i dimension this rectangle, and click later on the

referenced dimension points, vw should always show

me the points from the object.

sometimes there is a dimension point referenced and not

an object point.

dimension points should never snappable, or only with a low priority

(if theres no geometry drawn close to the dimension point).

this would be much much clearer for the user what is dimensioned.

sometimes in a large projects i have lots of problems in this situation.

dimension points which are not exactly drawn by my colleagues

(a little bit away from the object), can be snapped by my new drawn

dimensions.

hope you understand my english gibberish (im not an native speaker)

cheers

Link to comment

13 answers to this question

Recommended Posts

  • 0

Jim,

Would it be possible to set the snap such that if you hover over an object (or two objects) to highlight it that it will snap only to the corner points, centre etc. etc. of the highlighted object(s) and ignoring every other object.

Similar to how you can enable tracking to e.g. an object corner.

Edited by Art V
Link to comment
  • 0

Not exactly what you are looking for, but something we looked at at the Los Angeles VW User Group on Saturday is the Coincident Selection snap modifier.

In the default workspace this is the "J" key. It can be changed in the Keys tab of the Workspace editor.

While using the Selection tool, if you hold down the "J" key and click, if the point you select has multiple coincident objects, a dialog box will pop up showing the type of each object. You can scroll though the list and the selected choice will highlight. When you click OK, that object will be selected.

If you then bring that object to the front, the automatic constraints on the dimensions will snap to that object.

Link to comment
  • 0

Just came across something while looking for something else.

There is already a preference selector buried in the bowels of VW that allows snapping to only selected object. The following script will toggle that on and off.

Paste the following line into a new blank script.

SetPref(461,Not GetPref(461));

You may have to run it twice the first time, but for me it disables snapping to all by the selected objects. Run it again and it reenables snapping to all objects.

This could be a really cruel April Fools prank to play on someone.

Link to comment
  • 0

In the default workspace this is the "J" key. It can be changed in the Keys tab of the Workspace editor.

While using the Selection tool, if you hold down the "J" key and click, if the point you select has multiple coincident objects, a dialog box will pop up showing the type of each object. You can scroll though the list and the selected choice will highlight. When you click OK, that object will be selected.

I never understood the meaning of the "J" key.

What shall I do with a list of :

Generic Solid

Generic Solid

Generic Solid

Generic Solid

Generic Solid

Generic Solid

Generic Solid

Generic Solid

Generic Solid

Generic Solid

???

Why not cycle through the single elements, highlighted, with right mouse button

like anywhere else ?

Link to comment
  • 0

I don't understand what you mean?

Right Click Select Coincident Objects does exactly the same as holding down J and clicking.

"like anywhere else?" are you saying this is the functionality in other parts of VW or in other programs?

I am not in any way saying this is the best design, but it is what we have now, so if you need the functionality, you need to learn how to use what we have.

Link to comment
  • 0

I mean that this functionality with the list of potential selectable objects

is pretty useless if you can't differentiate the content of that list.

(No matter if right clicking or pressing "J")

Anywhere else reads : in Microstation ;)

What shall I do with a list of potential selectable objects named :

Generic Solid

Generic Solid

Generic Solid

Generic Solid

Generic Solid

Generic Solid

Generic Solid

Generic Solid

Generic Solid

Generic Solid

???

Link to comment
  • 0

As you select each item in the list, that item will highlight in Red in the drawing. Once you are in the dialog box you can use the arrow keys to move up and down the list.

If all the objects are identical then yes, you certainly have a problem selecting the right one. What does Microstation do in the case where you have multiple identical objects?

Link to comment
  • 0

Thanks very much for your explanation Pat !

Didn't know that. tried it.

By clicking in the list the corresponding element gets highlighted.

So now the J-Tools makes much more sense to me.

Just that the names in the list are still most times useless.

The 2 arrow solution of vertex cycling could do the same IMHO.

In MS you click once to select.

The nearest Object in in the cursor snapping circle tolerance get s selected and highlighted.

If you like an other element you can right click to pause the selection and cycle with each

right mouse click through the objects in selection tolerance until you found the one you wished,

then LMB to continue your Tool.

In MS each tool has selection activated automatically as long as nothing is selected, no CMD needed,

before the tool gets active. A "short" RMB click will stop a tool and switch to selection again.

(Normal RMB is context menue of course)

Beside that, Selection in MS is a powerful tool in itself, like other creation or manipulation tools.

You can select as usual with Shift, or do things like controlled add only, substract only, ....

Select in the border of the frame marquee, overlapping, out of the frame, ....

Rectangular frame, polygonal frame, by a Line (which is very fast), ...

plus

You have a tabbed window where you can correct or widen your selecton for :

Object Types, Layers, Colors, Line Type, ...

Which means you can do the most complex selections very reliable with very few mouse clicks

from that single tool, where in VW it may need a combination of :

Selection Tool + Select Similar + Layer/Class Visibilities + Clip Volume + View Rotations + ....

And even there I had situations where I was not able to select only the parts I wanted.

I don't ask such feature richness of those CAD Tools for VW.

But adding a simple possibility to only de-select objects like by CTRL+LMB (free ?)

(which I really had in every App else)

would improve VW selection enormously.

Link to comment
  • 0

I don't ask such feature richness of those CAD Tools for VW.

But adding a simple possibility to only de-select objects like by CTRL+LMB (free ?)

(which I really had in every App else)

would improve VW selection enormously.

I might be missing something but holding shift when selecting objects does not only add objects to the current selections but also de-selects objects in a selection when you select them again.

I.e. the shift key in combination with the selection tool functions as a selection/de-selection toggle key depending on whether the object is already selected or not.

Holding the alt key when a tool is active will turn the tool in a selection tool for some tools and holding alt-shift will allow you do (de)select like mentioned above.

Unless you have something different in mind?

Edited by Art V
Link to comment
  • 0

With just the SHIFT key you can't avoid to accidentally select new (currently unselected)

unwanted elements, while you try to de-select unwanted elements.

Same vice versa, you drew a marquee, realize you didn't get some of the elements, do

another SHIFT marque to add those elements but accidentally included an element already

selected which gets lost from your selection.

Until your model doesn't exceed a certain level of complexity VW is a really fast and intuitive

App. If you exceed that limit or have to work with imported 3D geometry which does not follow

the VW way (like 3D Polys + Generic Solids instead of 2D Polys + Extrudes), live in VW gets

really hard and slow.

Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Answer this question...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...