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Duplicate along path tool again...................!


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Here's a very simple example of the way this does not work......

1. Draw a horizontal line any length.

2. Draw a circle at one end.

3. Select circle and then tool (doesn't work any other way)

4. Set preferences for 5 objects.

5. Click on path. It is supposed to distribute the object equally along the path. Watch what happens. The first object will be placed at the point where your cursor is on the path, nothing to do with equal spacing. If you try and click the end of the path line, when smart cursor cues say'point', nothing happens and the selected object to duplicate is de-selected. If you move in from the end of the path until the cue says'object', the parts will be duplicated but not on the full length of the path, just to where your cursor was.

All in all a pretty lame tool if you ask me. I just tried the same tool type on another program and when you click on the path the objects are placed correctly.

If I can get this tool to fail on such a simple test what are the guys at NNA doing when they test this tool??

Can anyone out there duplicate the above scenario for me??

Tom in Pa

WinXP 11.5.1

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TGM, here's what works for me:

draw horizontal line any length

draw circle not touching line and with it selected, select tool

make sure path object mode is selected

preference number for 5 duplicates and start offset at next click

click on left point of line and five circles are evenly spaced

hope this gets you there.........bradley

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Bradley

I have tried it as you have suggested and it works as long as you make sure you click exactly on the start point of the line. Click a little off and you will get an incorrect result.

Now try the same thing on an arc (180 deg say). You will only get 4 duplicates even though you have asked for 5 - the last one which should be at the end of the arc will be missing. Also they will not be equally spaced around the arc - If you draw the 4 chords connecting the circle centrepoints on the arc and the end of the arc you will find the last chord is longer. Beats me.

Problems with this tool come up regularly as in this post http://techboard.nemetschek.net/cgi/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=12;t=005116

In a quick search I came up with 19 separate post topics on Duplicate Along path.

It definately needs to be fixed.

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Here I go again........seemingly the only one to have a problem with an otherwise useless VW tool.

Just tried to use this tool again this morning to no avail. A simple hole to be duplicated along a simple arc. Set prefs in dialog box to # of duplicates and entered 5. Put cursor at the end point of may path, the arc, and got 5 holes not equally spaced.

At the bottom of the Duplicate along Path dialog box it states that when I check .# of duplicates, ...'the path is equally divided to produce the number of duplicates entered'..

This is pure hogwash as I have been unable to do it yet, even in a straight line.

I still don't understand how these tools get tested prior to inclusion in a release. this baffles me.

Had I not went back and checked the centerline dimensions of the holes we would have produced scap parts on our CNC. Someone else had a post about exporting dxf's direct to CNC toolpathing software and I would highly recommend not relying on VW outputs for this application. For putting pretty pictures on paper it may be fine but for use in a manufacturing environment, such as dxf outputs, beware!

Am I the only one trying to use this tool in WinXP or am I the only one complaining??

Tom in PA....frustrated again!!!!!!

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Mike,

I drew the 180 degree arc and set things up as before and double clicked on the end of the arc and all five of the circles were placed, one at each end and three in the middle and they seem to be evenly spaced.

It does seem a bit screwy though when you have to double click. I found that on the first click five squares are placed and if you pull the cursor away from the arc end before the second click the five squares disappear only to return again when the cursor is placed back on the arc end point where if you then click a second time the circles are placed and stay put.

Actually, now that I play with it more I see that the initial squares appear and disappear at seemingly random locations of the cursor. I one moves the cursor in a circular manner about the arc end, the squares blink on and off. Bizarre.

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bc

I have just retried several times and it is now producing 5 duplicates on a different diameter arc to the one before. The last duplicate is not on the end of the arc though. (On an arc of 2875 mm diameter it is 17.6 mm away from the end.)

I am beginning to suspect that the 'errors' are due to the precision of the General Display units. More specifically the Rounding and the Degrees 'Precision' set in the Units dialog box.

Whatever it is still not accurate + there are other issues with its operation which need to be addressed.

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Thank you....Thank you....Thank you.....

At least someone else has been able to duplicate the less than poor operation of this tool. The other programs I use for this type of duplication are as simple as select object, select qty, select path and ...boom...operation done. I have posted in one of those 19 previous posts and it was a radius application. I thought it was limited to that. Wrong! The tool needs fixed.

With 19 posts of problems why does it not appear on the 11.5.1 fix list that Katie published??

Can anyone from NNA duplicate these problems??

Is anyone working on a fix??

Tom in PA............again

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Well I've fiddled some more and got the four duplicates (only) as you did Mike. Tried it on a different arc and it worked with all 5. Each time I click when the cursor cues "arc end". I am not too familiar with this tool but it is screwy. Maybe if a specific listing of all of it's problems and in which circumstances they occur will help NNA set this tool straight.

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I take it from the lack of any response from anyone at NNA that the problem noted above is truly a 'bug' in the system.

If NNA can duplicate the above issues we should all know about it. Some people are relying on this tool, that does't work properly, for dxf outputs as mentioned in another post. This is a big concern to me when I can't rely on the output when I export a file.

Charles.......where are you???????

Tom in PA

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  • 4 months later...

Well, here we go again....5 months since this topic was started and not one single response from anyone at NNA. Now that's support !

Trying the tool again today brought it back to light. I am trying to duplicate a simple rectangle along a short arc and keep the parts tangent to path. Doesn't work any way. Went to VW help topics where it shows the Tangent to Path example and I cannot duplicate the results with my simple part.

How do these tools get checked out prior to release???

Anyone from NNA want to chine in this year??

Thanks,

Tom in PA.........still muddling along

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  • 1 month later...

Well, here we are at 8 months out and still not a single response from NNA one way or another. I just tried using this stupid tool again with the same inaccurate results.

From the posts above this an obvious problem from those of us who have tried to use the tool as desrcibed above and yet we get no response.

Has this been fixed in V12??

Thanks,

Tom in PA....still frustrated!!!

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Tom

You're right. It doesn't work. It works out on lines, polygons and polylines. But it doesn't put the last object down on an arc. Even if you start with an arc and convert it to a polygon it doesn't work.

But it does work a little.

If you draw an arc and a rect and go into the tool and set the start distance to 0 and choose 6 copies you will get five perfectly spaced copies tangent to the path but the 6th copy is mia.

To work around it you could draw the chord and mirror the 1st rect perp to the chord.

I never understand these topics that NNA just doesn't respond to. It would seem to scare off potential purchasers of the program.

Rick

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