angular dimensioning greater than 180°

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J-J
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angular dimensioning greater than 180°

Post by J-J » Wed Apr 18, 2018 6:59 am

Hi guys,
In some instances I'd like to label all dimensions in the same direction from the zero line, i.e. label 212°and 270° instead of 148°and 90°
any hint?
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andrew
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Re: angular dimensioning greater than 180°

Post by andrew » Thu Apr 19, 2018 11:06 am

I can confirm that this is currently not possible. It would require another entity type currently not supported by QCAD (angular dimension from 3 points).

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Re: angular dimensioning greater than 180°

Post by J-J » Thu Apr 19, 2018 9:32 pm

OK thanks, I 'll find a work around for this particular drawing.
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Re: angular dimensioning greater than 180°

Post by Husky » Fri Apr 20, 2018 4:49 am

@Andrew
What J-J is asking for is an ordinary task in mechanical engineering and I'm often confronted by myself with the same problem.
Without knowing what is really going on underneath the QCAD hood I have the feeling that this tool is based on a calculation which is limited to =/< 180°.

Would it be possible to have an additional tool which works > 180° or a shortcut solution which will tell the existing Angular tool to work with a different calculation (> 180°)?

My "naive" thinking about a shortcut solution (e.g. shift key) would work like:
launch Angular tool
chose first line
chose second line
if I need a < 180° dimension - no further action required
if I need a > 180° dimension - press and hold the shift key ...
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Re: angular dimensioning greater than 180°

Post by J-J » Fri Apr 20, 2018 6:57 am

Some sort of a manual option with a tick box? that would be perfect for the few cases it's needed :wink:
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Re: angular dimensioning greater than 180°

Post by andrew » Fri Apr 20, 2018 8:55 am

The problem is that the angular dimension based on two lines is defined that way in the DXF/DWG standard (always dimensioning the smallest angle between the two lines). QCAD cannot interpret this differently without braking compatibility. The only way to support this is to support another type of entity (angular dimension from three points) which is a larger project (new entity type with its own properties, needs saving / loading, exporting to various formats, displaying, testing, translation, etc).

Things are hardly ever as easy as they seem. :(

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Re: angular dimensioning greater than 180°

Post by J-J » Fri Apr 20, 2018 6:06 pm

OK Andrew, maybe in another life then...The "text along" provides a convenient manual way for when that is needed.
Thanks for the explanations.
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Re: angular dimensioning greater than 180°

Post by andrew » Mon Apr 23, 2018 11:40 am

I've actually experimented with this and added preliminary support for angular dimensions from three points, so angle dimensions for angles > 180° should be supported in the next release unless there are unexpected problems with it.

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Re: angular dimensioning greater than 180°

Post by J-J » Mon Apr 23, 2018 11:49 am

Thanks Andrew, we will be very happy to experiment with the feature :)
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Re: angular dimensioning greater than 180°

Post by Husky » Mon Apr 23, 2018 8:06 pm

andrew wrote:I've actually experimented with this and added preliminary support for angular dimensions from three points ...
Yeehaw! :D :D :D
Thank you in advance! :D
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Re: angular dimensioning greater than 180°

Post by andrew » Mon Apr 23, 2018 8:49 pm

A snapshot release (3.20.1.3) with support for 3 point angular dimensions is now available in the QCAD Professional download area (click the download link in the e-mail received after purchase and scroll to the bottom on the download page).

Change log:
https://qcad.org/changelog

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Re: angular dimensioning greater than 180°

Post by Husky » Tue Apr 24, 2018 4:35 am

andrew wrote:A snapshot release (3.20.1.3) with support for 3 point angular dimensions is now available ...
Beautiful - works like a charm! Thank you very much! :D

Option Bar (Label, Tolerance, Scale)? I'm sure that is something for later on your list, correct?

BTW? 8)
Could your tool modification also be helpful to cover this problem?
viewtopic.php?f=31&t=4956&p=18291#p18291
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Re: angular dimensioning greater than 180°

Post by andrew » Tue Apr 24, 2018 9:20 am

Husky wrote:Option Bar (Label, Tolerance, Scale)? I'm sure that is something for later on your list, correct?
Yes, fixed, thanks.
Husky wrote:BTW? 8)
Could your tool modification also be helpful to cover this problem?
viewtopic.php?f=31&t=4956&p=18291#p18291
No, I would work with an auxiliary line in such a case. Eventually, a second angle dimension tool might emerge which allows you to click three points instead of two lines, but you would still need some kind of auxiliary line to create an orthogonal dimension.

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Re: angular dimensioning greater than 180°

Post by Husky » Tue Apr 24, 2018 9:52 pm

Ok, understood. :wink: Thanks for your explanation!
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Re: angular dimensioning greater than 180°

Post by J-J » Wed May 02, 2018 10:04 pm

Hi,
The new feature works as expected, well done!
I noticed a different behavior under the interim release when I try to manipulate an already drawn dimension: if I select the handle of a dimension, I cannot manipulate it anymore, and there are two additional circles that do not seem to do anything either. Anyone noticed that?
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