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Snap to loci


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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

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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

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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.

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'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??!

 

 

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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 by Art V
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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 by Art V
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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

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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

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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.

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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...

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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 by Art V
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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.

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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

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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

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