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3 Questions: Resizing (2d/3d), Placing/Alignment, Closed lines... (#497)
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dge  
#1 Posted : Monday, September 3, 2007 4:32:16 AM(UTC)
dge

Rank: Junior Member

Joined: 8/28/2007(UTC)
Posts: 3
Hi there,

I'm rather new to ViaCAD (mac)... bought a license recently...

befor getting my ViaCAD License I mostly used SolidWorks (Windows) & Vectorworks, at a different company... but as I needed to make CAD Drawings Inhouse I was looking around for an affordable solution.

I do mostly mechanical stuff, no architecture (but sometimes furniture, steel stuff)...

Questions:

1. If I draw a rectangular box, supply the dimensions and parameters the box is all fine... now when I want to select the whole thing, I click on a line, but only that single line is being selected (I can shift click the other lines, or use the marque tool to select all lines), but ViaCad regards them as separate entities and if I accidentially move one line, the the box will be "separated/open".
this can be problematic... also when I resizing (by entering new values in mm or inches) it only let me resize a single selected line... I can not resize the box as an entire object, using the same paramtrization as when creating the box...
What can be done?

2. let me say, I draw four similliar rectangular objects in 2D mode, now I want to space the objects along the Y-Axis with a specific distance from one end-point to the other or align them ... how is this done ?
I get this easily in ViaCAD with 3D Objects... but I often do 2D Drafting, and it is too much of a hassle to actually make a 3d model just for that.


3. When I draw single lines, or spline-curves or whatever else, even if I connect the endpoints by clicking on the endpoint of a line to start the next segment, ViaCAD regards them as single lines.. how can I make it into one "connected" object...
this has been nagging me the most, as often shapes I have to draw consist of semi-circles, spline-curves and other shapes, and I would still love to have a single object (ashlar's graphite does this easily, so does vectorworks and solidworks, so does autocad... there must be a way to achieve this in viaCad??!)



Thanks a lot for the help.

Daniel
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posh.de  
#2 Posted : Monday, September 3, 2007 8:56:42 AM(UTC)
posh.de

Rank: Senior Member

Joined: 2/23/2007(UTC)
Posts: 484
Germany

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dge wrote:
1. ... What can be done?


the rectangle tool simply creates 4 line entities, if you want a 'real' rectangle entitiy use the polygon tool (with 4 sides and the polygon option) instead. For selecting the construction points of the lines connecting at the corner, use the deep select tool.


dge wrote:
2. ... I want to space the objects along the Y-Axis ... how is this done ?


have a look at the transformation tool bar (where you can find the rotate/move/mirror tools too) for the linear duplicate tool.


dge wrote:
3. ... I would still love to have a single object (ashlar's graphite does this easily ... there must be a way to achieve this in viaCad??!)


there is no 'polyline' entity in the sense of one connected element available and I'm not aware of this type of object in graphite too (the connected line tool creates single lines/arcs only).

You might want to group the concerned elements instead or do a chain select (context menue > select chain) for selecting the whole 'multi element object' easily.


all of the above is derived from CU4 (Win) and therefore may look different in ViaCAD.


Norbert
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DonBrown  
#3 Posted : Monday, September 3, 2007 4:53:21 PM(UTC)
DonBrown

Rank: Junior Member

Joined: 4/18/2007(UTC)
Posts: 1
With regard to a single rectangular object as opposed to four independent lines forming a rectangle, if you will look at the box just above the data entry boxes, you are presented with a choice of "single line" (four independent lines), or "smart polygon (a single object).
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Todd Quinlan  
#4 Posted : Thursday, September 6, 2007 3:00:21 PM(UTC)
Todd Quinlan

Rank: Administration

Joined: 4/20/2007(UTC)
Posts: 97

Was thanked: 7 time(s) in 7 post(s)
With regards to the seperate line segments in question #3, ViaCAD as well as CU has a Join Curve tool, which will take seperate lines/curves and attach them creating one long line segment.

The Join Curve tool is located in the Trim Tool bar.
Todd Q
CAD Support Specialist
Encore Software/ IMSI Design
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dge  
#5 Posted : Thursday, September 6, 2007 3:50:42 PM(UTC)
dge

Rank: Junior Member

Joined: 8/28/2007(UTC)
Posts: 3
Thanks!

So far I'm slowly getting where I want to be... it's operating quite different to what I knew so far, yet sometimes so similliar ;)

thanks for all the tips here.... it's being appreciated...



daniel
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posh.de  
#6 Posted : Friday, September 7, 2007 6:52:30 AM(UTC)
posh.de

Rank: Senior Member

Joined: 2/23/2007(UTC)
Posts: 484
Germany

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Was thanked: 50 time(s) in 36 post(s)
Todd Quinlan wrote:
... Join Curve tool, which will take seperate lines/curves and attach them creating one long line segment.


Be careful with the Join Curve tool if not only line segments are joined but e.g. an arc too. The resulting entity is resp. must be transformed to a spline which doesn't representate the original geometry any more and also needs more time for calculation (see control points).


Norbert
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dge  
#7 Posted : Friday, September 7, 2007 7:09:00 AM(UTC)
dge

Rank: Junior Member

Joined: 8/28/2007(UTC)
Posts: 3
posh.de wrote:
Be careful with the Join Curve tool if not only line segments are joined but e.g. an arc too. The resulting entity is resp. must be transformed to a spline which doesn't representate the original geometry any more and also needs more time for calculation (see control points).


Norbert


Danke norbert!

Thanks man, the info here helps... for what I need it the join function just works fine...

daniel
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