relative coordinates

General HighDesign Discussions
Post Reply
User avatar
matthew.Stanfield
Posts: 162
Joined: Fri Dec 05, 2008 4:10 am
Location: Mansfield, OHio
Contact:

relative coordinates

Post by matthew.Stanfield »

I am searching for an easier way to draw, eg a wall, with a start point relative to another point. I can do this by placing the cursor over a point hitting "X" and then adding the distance away from that point to the absolute position of that point and then typing that number in. For instance, if i want to draw a wall 4' 10" away in the horizontal direction from another wall, i hoover over the wall that is drawn and type "X". I note that the X coordinate is 15' 10-1/8" so i calculate 15' 10-1/8" + 4' 10 and type in 20' 8-1/8".

What i would like to do is to be able to type a symbol like "+" or "-" and then "4'10" to get the distance relative to the point at which i started for the start point of the new wall.

Is there a way to do this? or is it something that could be implemented?
matthew.Stanfield
Principal Architect
FiELD9: architecture
Mansfield, OHio
http://www.field9architecture.com

macitect
Posts: 618
Joined: Tue Jul 06, 2004 10:52 pm
Location: California

Re: relative coordinates

Post by macitect »

matthew,

is there a reason you wouldn't simply duplicate the wall the desired distance away? otherwise - it adds a step - but you could pull a construction line.

cheers,
derek

User avatar
matthew.Stanfield
Posts: 162
Joined: Fri Dec 05, 2008 4:10 am
Location: Mansfield, OHio
Contact:

Re: relative coordinates

Post by matthew.Stanfield »

macitect wrote:matthew,

is there a reason you wouldn't simply duplicate the wall the desired distance away? otherwise - it adds a step - but you could pull a construction line.

cheers,
derek
In the example i gave, i guess not other than that the new wall might have different attributes such as width, length etc..

Another example that may better illustrate what i am getting at would be as follows: I may want to draw a line perpendicular, or at some other angle, relative to a wall. I want the line to start a certain distance from the intersection of two walls. It would be nice to be able to type this in as a relative coordinate. Yes, i could pull a construction line, but i would rather not have to add the additional steps of creating and deleting them nor have my drawing get cluttered with constructions lines. There are also instances when i would want to specify both x and y coordinates relative to a point for a start point of a new object.

Obviously there are ways to do this using construction lines or drawing and moving, but it seems that since i can specify x and y coordinates, i should be able to do this both relatively and absolutely.
matthew.Stanfield
Principal Architect
FiELD9: architecture
Mansfield, OHio
http://www.field9architecture.com

sebG
Posts: 12
Joined: Sat Jan 06, 2007 12:54 pm

Re: relative coordinates

Post by sebG »

Look at your Help menu/quick reference/drawing/set the start point at a fixed distance...
I use the L thing a lot for technical drawing although sometimes it is easier to draw construction lines. Well take a look !

User avatar
matthew.Stanfield
Posts: 162
Joined: Fri Dec 05, 2008 4:10 am
Location: Mansfield, OHio
Contact:

Re: relative coordinates

Post by matthew.Stanfield »

sebG wrote:Look at your Help menu/quick reference/drawing/set the start point at a fixed distance...
I use the L thing a lot for technical drawing although sometimes it is easier to draw construction lines. Well take a look !
Not exactly what i am looking for, but i can certainly see the usefulness of it for some of what i am trying to accomplish.

Thanks for the tip.
matthew.Stanfield
Principal Architect
FiELD9: architecture
Mansfield, OHio
http://www.field9architecture.com

Post Reply