Great frustration

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Mikerosen
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Great frustration

Post by Mikerosen »

I draw a vertical line. I draw a rectangle. I want to move the rectangle so that the center of the bottom line sits on the top of the vertical line.

Why can't I do this? How do I grab the center of that line, and drag the shape to the line? If I divide that line in half, and choose the line tool, the center shows a handle as I go across it. But I can't grab that point and move the box.

Eric, we need more "smart points."

We need "on the line". I want to be able to go to a vertical line, drift over the end point, and then move up or down staying on that line until I draw a horizontal line.

We need a "midpoint."

We need an "intersection", that is, when a line that I am drawing crosses another line.
Mike Rosen
Seattle, WA, USA

Mac OS Ventura 13.1, iOS 11.4.1 on iPad Pro
debenriver
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Re: Great frustration

Post by debenriver »

Hi Mike!

You knew I would answer this :D

With the rectangle and the line:

As long as you have EPIC selected in the snap pallet you can do it just fine (E = end; C=center; I=intersection and P=perpendicular). In fact for this job you just need to have E & C. Just hit the appropriate keys on the keyboard. If they are already selected in the Snap pallet hitting the key will deselect them. (there is also T for tangent and G for grid – usually a pain in the butt)

You can select and deselect them on the fly as you draw – so you could start with "P" selected to draw a perpendicular and the as you drag it, hit P on the keyboard to deselect perpendicular and hit E to make the line you are drawing go to the End of another line, or C to make it go the the centre of another line, and so on. With a complicated drawing it's often best to deselect the snaps that you don't want.

Anyway - make sure E & C at least are selected in the Snap pallet.

Then slide the arrow selector cursor along the bottom of the rectangle until the Centre icon appears (it's a circle with a black dot in the middle). Then pick up the rectangle and move it to the top of the vertical line until an End icon appears (that is a tiny line at 45º with a little dot on the end). Let go and the rectangle will be located so that the center of the bottom side is on the end of the line.

RC does have smart points for Intersection (a little diagonal cross), Perpendicular (a little line with a second line at 90º) and Centre and End as above, plus an icon for when you have arrived at a line "'s").

So when you are drawing a line (say perpendicular to another line) – when it hits (yet) another line (not at a centre or end) a little "s" icon appears.

It is very accurate.

I don't think this quite does everything you want but it goes a long way towards it.

As ever – cheers -- George
Mikerosen
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Re: Great frustration

Post by Mikerosen »

Yes, I knew you would!

AHA. The penny drops. The C (center) is for a line, as well as a circle!

I guess what I want is more of a "snap", not those little indicators with an icon that's too small to read. It shouldn't just indicate when you get to a crossing line, it should snap with a standard handle.

(if you select the line tool, and drift across the rectangle, you get a nice, clear handle at the midpoint of a line. I want that with the selection (arrow) tool, as well.)

Thanks for the help, as always.
Mike Rosen
Seattle, WA, USA

Mac OS Ventura 13.1, iOS 11.4.1 on iPad Pro
debenriver
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Re: Great frustration

Post by debenriver »

I hate being so predictable! :D

But I can't help it! :(

Center works with any object that has a centre (line, rectangle, oval, regular polygon etc). And it works on the sides and segments as well as the actual center.

Just like Perpendicular works from most shapes – circumference of a circle, oval (ellipse), arc, rectangle, polygon etc etc., segments of a polycurve and so on. It changes as you go around the shape so that it is always normal (at 90º) to the shape.

End is the same – it will find the end of any part of an object that has an end.

Snap can be a double-edged weapon – on a complicated drawing there are so many snap points it can get hard to draw anything that doesn't snap – so I often disable various snaps. One of the strengths of RC is the ability to enable and disable a snap on the fly by a single keystroke.

:mrgreen: George
Eric Pousse
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Re: Great frustration

Post by Eric Pousse »

Bonjour,
Mikerosen wrote:I draw a vertical line. I draw a rectangle. I want to move the rectangle so that the center of the bottom line sits on the top of the vertical line.
Mikerosen wrote:I guess what I want is more of a "snap", not those little indicators with an icon that's too small to read.
Mike, there is no problem to do that.
When you have this little indicators, it is because a snap has been found and is active.
If Snap C is ON, you can take a rectangle exactly on its center or on the center of one of its sides and drag it exactly on the end of a line.
debenriver wrote:Snap can be a double-edged weapon – on a complicated drawing there are so many snap points it can get hard to draw anything that doesn't snap – so I often disable various snaps. One of the strengths of RC is the ability to enable and disable a snap on the fly by a single keystroke.
Yes George, it is the reason of the ability to enable and disable the snaps.

I don't do this in iPocket Draw because I think that the drawings made with it are smaller and because I don't find a simple way to enable/disable snaps.
Also because, on a move, iPocket Draw keep the nearest snap point found between all and RealCADD the first.

Mike, does this explanation solves your question?

Cordialement.
Eric Pousse
Mikerosen
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Re: Great frustration

Post by Mikerosen »

Eric,
I have a problem with the little indicators. I would like to see a large handle, like on a corner, when I hit the spot (or the line.)
Mike Rosen
Seattle, WA, USA

Mac OS Ventura 13.1, iOS 11.4.1 on iPad Pro
debenriver
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Re: Great frustration

Post by debenriver »

Mike

You can increase the cursor size, system wide, by going to System Preferences >> Accessibility >> Cursor size. There is a slider from Normal to Large. It works just fine on all the RealCADD cursors. In fact you can make them a humungous size! The only downside is that cursors on other programs will be bigger too.... But even about half a division larger gives pretty good increase and is pretty tolerable system wide.

Cheers -- George
Mikerosen
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Re: Great frustration

Post by Mikerosen »

George,
It's not the cursor. It's those indicators. I would like them to be large, square handles with a "snap" response, rather than just changing color or pictures.
Mike Rosen
Seattle, WA, USA

Mac OS Ventura 13.1, iOS 11.4.1 on iPad Pro
debenriver
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Re: Great frustration

Post by debenriver »

It makes them all bigger – not just the standard cursor.

Cheers -- George
Mikerosen
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Re: Great frustration

Post by Mikerosen »

Ah! I'll take a look.
Mike Rosen
Seattle, WA, USA

Mac OS Ventura 13.1, iOS 11.4.1 on iPad Pro
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