Forcing Inferences - Rectangle and Rotate Tools
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Chris Fullmer's perpendicular_face_tools add circles, rectangles and other shaped faces squarely onto the edges of selected lines, so in effect you have got effective ways to do this, albeit not in the native toolset... http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?p=139064#p139064
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Chris Fullmer's perpendicular_face_tools have issues to draw radius under 1" and if edge is connected to a face and it makes group instead of components.
@unknownuser said:
Hi Giles, I did a very poor making this plugin international. It does not work well with metrics AND with comma decimal separators. In the US we use a decimal separator. So 23,12 for us is written 23.12 for example.
The 25.4mm limit appears to be a an inch conversion thing. 25.4mm = 1 inch. I really don't remember if I set this up to work with metrics at all. And I'm so busy I will not be able to fix it anytime soon. If you would like to tweak though, feel free.
Chris
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Sounds like an 'easy fix'... I'll look at it...
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Thanks in advance TIG.
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I have a fixed version of Chris's tool.
I'll PM it to you and Chris.
He can update his toolset as he sees fit... -
@tig said:
Chris Fullmer's perpendicular_face_tools add circles, rectangles and other shaped faces squarely onto the edges of selected lines, so in effect you have got effective ways to do this, albeit not in the native toolset... http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?p=139064#p139064
that's what i used for the example picture
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@unknownuser said:
brookefox wrote: Perhaps the reason the rectangle tool doesn't work with the standard inferences is that it requires two directions rather than just one, so any single inference is not enough.
Uh, my original post referred only to setting/forcing the inferred drawing plane, not the axis for the second reference point. [trying to set bot successively would require another keystroke inbetween there that might make the sequence string too complex to be very worthwhile.
Pressing a single keystroke to quickly set the infered plane perpendicular to the x, y, or z axis would typically be much faster than orbiting to a different view to modify the default ground plane...where you might then not have a good view to acces your next point of inference to end the operation.
...also, orbiting to a different view to reference the desired ground plane and then trying to lock that reference by holding the shift key while you orbit back...that often doesn't work reliably...not to mention it's cumbersome.
Really, it would be very helpful if the arrow keys worked to force an axis or plane reference for all linear and plane tools instead of only the line, move, and tape measure.
[I just realized the arrow keys don't work for the dimension tool either if you want to measure from a point along the x, y, or z axis. ...man, consistent arrow-key axis/plane forcing functionality across all the tools would simply be worlds of convenience to have in the native tool set!]
-- BrooksL
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@unknownuser said:
Jeff Hammond wrote: i guess you mean which angle to place the rotate tool's protractor at?
Yes, kind of -- first, it would be slick to be able to precisely set a piece of geometry at a compound angle (typically not parallel to any axis) in one operation, such as:
select the geometry edge, select the rotate tool, set the reference axis/plane (possibly using the arrow keys that it SHOULD respond to), then enter angle1 comma optional angle2 enter (or click to select last inference).
you could still infer or enter the first angle like normal while the act of pressing the comma "," key signifies it's a compound-angle rotate operation and a second angle will be entered or inferred.
Second and similarly, reading a compound angle measurement with the protractor tool would also be nice.
@unknownuser said:
just a quick example of what you could do if the circle tool behaved like the rotate tool…
I hadn't yet run into the need, but yes, that WOULD be convenient, consistent tool behavior - AND, applicable to all plane tools, I think, right?
-- BrooksL
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@brooksl said:
@unknownuser said:
brookefox wrote: Perhaps the reason the rectangle tool doesn't work with the standard inferences is that it requires two directions rather than just one, so any single inference is not enough.
Uh, my original post referred only to setting/forcing the inferred drawing plane, not the axis for the second reference point.
I see. I guess the same thing goes, even though I understand what you mean. The more literal use of the arrow keys is to define a direction not a plane, so to have them define a plane rather than a direction would involve a stretch of the meaning, perhaps something the SU programmers are not willing to do. A ruby author might, though.
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@jeff hammond said:
try doing this manually:
[attachment=0:294p5trl]<!-- ia0 -->screen 2012-04-20 at 9.17.04 PM.jpg<!-- ia0 -->[/attachment:294p5trl]a random line floating in space (not on any particular axis).. then draw a circle perpendicular to it..
with the rotate tool, you can quickly orient the tool to this way.. with the circle, you can't..
This is exactly the situation I use the perpendicular face tool for daily; when I need a circle (or more often a cylinder) to pass through a plane centered on an exact spot, but not perpendicular to the plane itself. Draw a line where I need the cylinder's access, then create a circle perpendicular to the line and push/pull it through.
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