markaj Posted January 13, 2018 Share Posted January 13, 2018 I'm sure this has been covered before - but I cant really find a satisfactory answer; How does one actually snap to locus lines?? I use VW mostly for 2D cad (I use other software for 3D), and the ability to snap to locus lines is (or was) one of the most useful tools in setting out say a floorplan. I understand the tool was removed & put back in at some point, but I find in v2017 it has become a pain in the arse to use. The only way I can snap to a locus line is to locate the actual locus, wait a split second for it to register and carefully try & work my way back up that line to where I want to snap to (if this makes sense!). This is a right royal pain if your actual locus point is a long way from where you want to snap to, and there is lots of other geometry in the way, & I feel this has put VW on a par with Autocad in this repect (ie. annoyance factor)!.........unless I'm missing the obvious?? For the time being I tend to revert back to v2008 - where it all works beautifully! I'm hoping someone will tell me I'm doing it all wrong! - TIA, Mark Quote Link to comment
Kevin McAllister Posted January 13, 2018 Share Posted January 13, 2018 Are you acquiring the locus as a point? It will have a red box around it if you are. Once its acquired you shouldn't have to "try & work" your way along the line. Usually "Acquire Smart Point" is turned on but you can acquire a smart point by hovering over it and tapping the T key. Kevin Quote Link to comment
markaj Posted January 13, 2018 Author Share Posted January 13, 2018 Yes - acquiring the locus isnt a problem. Its the ability to snap to the line itself without having to find the locus, which might be a long way away. Mark Quote Link to comment
Kevin McAllister Posted January 13, 2018 Share Posted January 13, 2018 Its coming back to me now. I do remember a Preference for loci extension lines but I can't seem to find it in VW2018. Kevin Quote Link to comment
markaj Posted January 13, 2018 Author Share Posted January 13, 2018 On 2017 you can turn Snap to Loci on & off, but it just seems to turn the loci visibility on & off, & if you cant see them - you can't snap to them.... Maybe its a graphics problem? Mark Quote Link to comment
Andy Broomell Posted January 13, 2018 Share Posted January 13, 2018 I've never heard of such a functionality (locus "lines"), but I started using VW around 2009, which according to this thread is perhaps when this functionality went away? I'd be curious to learn more about it! Quote Link to comment
markaj Posted January 13, 2018 Author Share Posted January 13, 2018 Yeah - I've seen that, but still no joy! In v2008 & previous, you could lay out a load of vertical & horizontal non print construction lines by placing locus points. You could then snap to anywhere on these locus lines, ie. draw a line to them, move an object to them and even trim to them - very useful! Mark Quote Link to comment
markdd Posted January 14, 2018 Share Posted January 14, 2018 I think the locus lines were removed when they brought in the Smart Edge function as well as the Line Scale function. You could turn off the dotted lines as a preference. Not sure I miss them anymore, but I certainly did at the time. Quote Link to comment
Art V Posted January 14, 2018 Share Posted January 14, 2018 An alternative/workaround could be to use your loci to set out guides (draw lines and then use Modify>Guides>Make Guide on the selected lines). These guide lines are grayed, dotted and snappable and can be on a different layer so you could create different sets of guidelines if you want. A separate class for the guides is automatically generated upon creation of guides. Quote Link to comment
markaj Posted January 15, 2018 Author Share Posted January 15, 2018 'Make guides' is certainly a useful tool - but it is quite a bit of extra work. Well I guess 'snap to locus (lines)' is dead & buried then - oh well, another VW plus point sacrificed in the name of progress...... Surely I'm not alone in working this way??! Quote Link to comment
Art V Posted January 15, 2018 Share Posted January 15, 2018 (edited) To be honest, I never used snap to locus lines for the very simple reason that I would have tons of loci when importing dwg files etc. so that showing locus lines would create a blue blur of blue lines and consequently I had it turned off by default. I can see the use for it though, but should it be brought back then it would need some refinement as well, e.g. display only locus lines on selected layers instead of just all of them. That way you can differentiate between your own loci and those from symbols and imported dwg/gis files of which there is little or no use of displaying the lines of those loci. Edited January 15, 2018 by Art V Quote Link to comment
zoomer Posted January 15, 2018 Share Posted January 15, 2018 Didn’t even know that existed. Currently I work with a mixture of 3. VW Grid + Snap Grid + Grid Tool which is a bit tedious. So I also thought about just using Guides next time. Quote Link to comment
Art V Posted January 15, 2018 Share Posted January 15, 2018 (edited) In this thread you can find @Jonathan Pickup's script to enable loci lines, these lines can be snapped to. (it is the last reply in that thread, so just scroll all the way down) I just tested and it works in VW2018, so I assume it will also work in VW2017. The script is a toggle, i.e. run it to enable the locus lines and run it again to disable them. Edited January 15, 2018 by Art V Quote Link to comment
Kevin McAllister Posted January 15, 2018 Share Posted January 15, 2018 35 minutes ago, Art V said: In this thread you can find @Jonathan Pickup's script to enable loci lines, these lines can be snapped to. (it is the last reply in that thread, so just scroll all the way down) I just tested and it works in VW2018, so I assume it will also work in VW2017. The script is a toggle, i.e. run it to enable the locus lines and run it again to disable them. Good find. Its exactly how I remember it. Funny that NV would get rid of this as a preference when they almost never get rid of anything. Kevin Quote Link to comment
markaj Posted January 15, 2018 Author Share Posted January 15, 2018 Ahah- I have that already, but it whilst it enables the visibility of the locus lines, I cannot snap to them unless I locate the actual locus & make the line active with smart cursor enabled..........see post 1! But ArtV, you say you can snap to the lines? or do you have to make the locus active first? Thanks - Mark Quote Link to comment
Art V Posted January 15, 2018 Share Posted January 15, 2018 29 minutes ago, markaj said: But ArtV, you say you can snap to the lines? or do you have to make the locus active first? I just tested with all normal snaps from the Snapping Palette disabled and then it did indeed not snap to the locus lines. After turning the snaps on one by one it turns out that you need to have at least the "Snap to object" snap enabled. Then it will snap to the locus lines, no need to locate the locus itself or make it active. Quote Link to comment
markaj Posted January 15, 2018 Author Share Posted January 15, 2018 Hi ArtV - thanks for looking! I'm afraid that doesn't work for me. I need to have 'Snap to Object' on as well as 'Smart Points' and then locate the locus & make it active (so that it gains a small blue box around it) - only then I can snap to the line, which is my grumble!. I guess it must be a graphics card problem?.....or a bug... Quote Link to comment
Art V Posted January 15, 2018 Share Posted January 15, 2018 (edited) Just tried in VW2017, it works there too with only snap to object active and it snaps to the loci lines, even to intersections of loci lines. No need to select any locus. I was using top/plan view with 2D loci. Are the loci on the same layer as you are drawing, and if not is the "show/snap others" for layers active? (ditto for classes in case the loci are assigned to a specific class) Based on your signature I don't think it has to do with the GPU, as the one you have should be plenty adequate. Edited January 15, 2018 by Art V Quote Link to comment
markaj Posted January 15, 2018 Author Share Posted January 15, 2018 Yep - same layer, same class. All in 2D Plan, I place a locus, start a line & try & end it anywhere along the locus line - but no luck! All snaps turned on except grid. Mystery - can't make it work! Quote Link to comment
Art V Posted January 15, 2018 Share Posted January 15, 2018 Just now, markaj said: Yep - same layer, same class. All in 2D Plan, I place a locus, start a line & try & end it anywhere along the locus line - but no luck! All snaps turned on except grid. Mystery - can't make it work! Then I suggest contacting VW support on this. Maybe a preference reset might solve the issue in case there is some preference that might interfere but I'd wait doing that until VW support asks you to do that as I frankly don't know what preference might interfere to cause this. Quote Link to comment
Kevin McAllister Posted January 16, 2018 Share Posted January 16, 2018 Aha, I think I solved the mystery. It only works if you turn off Master Snap Points in the Object pane of the SmartCursor Settings. Double click on the Snap to Object icon in the Snapping Palette to access them. I wonder if its possible to toggle Master Snap Points as part of the Snap to Loci script..... Kevin Quote Link to comment
MullinRJ Posted January 16, 2018 Share Posted January 16, 2018 3 hours ago, Kevin McAllister said: I wonder if its possible to toggle Master Snap Points as part of the Snap to Loci script..... Yes. This script will toggle the SnapToLoci preference and set the MasterSnaps preference to the opposite state as the SnapToLoci preference. { Toggle VW Preference SnapToLoci, and BEEP when it's enabled. } { Also toggle the MasterSnaps preference OFF when SnapToLoci is ON, and ON when SnapToLoci is OFF. } SetPref(5, not GetPref(5)); { Toggle SnapToLoci pref } SetPref(1257, not GetPref(5)); { Toggle MasterSnaps opposite of SnapToLoci pref } if GetPref(5) then SysBeep; { Beep when enabling SnapToLoci pref } Of course, if you normally keep the MasterSnaps preference OFF, then you only need to toggle the SnapToLoci preference. HTH, Raymond 1 Quote Link to comment
markdd Posted January 16, 2018 Share Posted January 16, 2018 This script is really useful and it is great to have this functionality back. So much so that I've made it a menu command. Thanks Quote Link to comment
Kevin McAllister Posted January 16, 2018 Share Posted January 16, 2018 9 hours ago, MullinRJ said: Yes. This script will toggle the SnapToLoci preference and set the MasterSnaps preference to the opposite state as the SnapToLoci preference. Of course, if you normally keep the MasterSnaps preference OFF, then you only need to toggle the SnapToLoci preference. HTH, Raymond Thanks Raymond! Much appreciated. Kevin Quote Link to comment
markaj Posted January 16, 2018 Author Share Posted January 16, 2018 Well gentlemen - we have a resolution! Thankyou for your help - 'turn master snaps off' is the solution, and the script works a treat. I have traditionally found the ease of snapping (amongst other things) in VW all part of the useability thing that makes it a much easier & quicker tool to use than AwfulCAD, so its good to know it's still the case. Much appreciated, cheers! Mark Quote Link to comment
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