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editing a 2d shape & retaining its dimensions


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this is such a seamingly simple operation which i just cant figure out:

its there a way to edit a 2d shape which has pre-defined dimensions by clicking a side or vertex and moving it around without changing the length of any of its sides? eg. clicking on the top right corner of a square and dragging right making a parrallelogram?

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Someone may have a better answer than this, but...If you start with a rectangle then you will first need to "convert to polygon". Then you can do sort of what you're asking, although you will need to move both of the corner vertices. You can do this either by mouse drag or by moving the vertices only in the OI pallete, which is IMO easier and more accurate.

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For the example you've given..with a square, there is a preference under the file menu...FILE > PREFERENCES > VECTORWORKS PREFERENCES, under the "edit" tab make sure the box "eight selection handles" is checked. When a square or rectangle is selected with this option on, you'll get "vertex" on the sides of the square or rectange that you can use the re-size the box in that dimension only.

For irregularly shaped polygons, you'll have to use the lasso selection or something similar in combination with the shift key to drag in one direction only.

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1. Draw the rectangle and issue the "Convert To Polygon" command while it's still selected.

2. Draw a circle with center at the midpoint of the bottom of the rectangle and radius = height of the rectangle.

3. Draw a line from the center of the circle extending at least to the circle itself, at the angle you want for the sides of the parellogram.

4. Select the rectangle, change to the "2D Reshape Tool" (first mode), and drag the midpoint of the top of the rectangle to the intersection of the line and the circle.

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thanks for the responses guys. perhaps i confused the issue by giving the example of a parrallelogram. what all the above solutions seem do is stretch 2 sides, id like for all the sides of the shape to stay at the same length.

the reason for the request is that i have an old site survey drawing which gives me the dimensions of a property but not the angles. ive measured the setbacks at the corners of the existing dwelling and tried to place it onto the site. it has turned out to be way off which indicate that my drawing is out due to not knowing the angles of the property boundaries. the site shape is something like this:

shape.jpg

imagine a vertex at point C. id like to be able to grab vertex-C and move it up and down without stretching or shortening AB or DE. this would have the effect of pushing BD in and out and changing all the angles.

this would allow me to tweak the angles while maintaining the boundary dimensions. of course this is imprecise but at feasability stage it would be good enough until a proper survey is done. get it now? [smile] geez, modeling is more fun than drafting [smile]

[ 07-20-2004, 04:17 AM: Message edited by: mentalist ]

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There's no tool that will do what you want, but it would be a good idea to have one if it's not too hard to create. It would be very useful for drawing an existing building from field measures when the angles of the plan are not all 90 and 45.

The "Move Polygon Handles" mode of the 2D Reshape tool keeps all other vertices where they are, and forces the lengths of the adjacent sides to change to accomodate the move. What you want is a mode in which all the lengths are fixed and one or more of the other vertices is forced to relocate.

There'd have to be a choice of which other vertex is allowed to move. If more than one other vertex is allowed to move, as in the case you described, then there has to be some constraint as to how they move, since otherwise there would be many combinations of the two movements that would work, and the program wouldn't know which combination to choose. That's getting pretty complicated.

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thanks again guys [smile]

katie: that will stretch/shorten BC & CD [smile]

peter: i know man, whoo im not crazy! this is just for initial feasability and enquiries with the local planning authority before committing any $$ for a surveyor

jan: yep, thats what i thought. the closest type of tool i could find is the 'shear' tool. that lets you tell vw to 'pin down' 1 side of your shape and move the rest.

im just going to have to manually draw and redraw the boundaries until i get something that fits. *sigh* sometimes the smallest jobs are the biggest headaches

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Mentalist, AHA! OK now I see what your question is. I probably don't have to tell you this but: Be very careful doing design work based on "assumed" property lines. I have had that come back to bite me more than once. I now pretty much require a survey. One other tidbit: usually you should be able to locate a "metes & bounds" property description on the deed (or possibly on and old subdivision plat). If you can find it, it will contain all the info you need to draw the property lines (either using the property line tool, or just with lines). Good Luck!

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