RealCADD 4.50

2D CAD software for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux
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debenriver
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RealCADD 4.50

Post by debenriver »

It's really hard to think of many improvements that could be made to v 4.50 :D It's stable and very full-featured. Does pretty much everything one could want and more.

However, :mrgreen: here's a one or two features that would be perhaps be useful:

Line tool and the command line. In practice you rarely draw a line in isolation, except perhaps the first line of a drawing. I think it would be better if the command line recognized the start point of the line (which it does now) and then just had Length as the obligatory entered data, with Angle as an optional (?) entry, together with width and color. This would then be similar to the line drawn from the centre – though that has Angle as obligatory (can that be optional? probably not)

If the command line could also recognize changing start points (as when drawing a line perpendicular to an object) then this would be an added bonus. That might be too complicated ...

Rounded rectangle and the command line. The command line should have an entry for the corner radius – at the moment there isn't any such entry and you just get a plain ol' rectangle – same as the plain rectangle tool and the command line.

Dimension tool. I think it would be good to be able to choose that the dimension be above - below - centre in the dimension line. And it would also be nice if the witness lines could be dashed or plain.

Cheers -- George
Eric Pousse
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Joined: Sat Dec 03, 2011 12:31 pm
Location: Tours - France

Re: RealCADD 4.50

Post by Eric Pousse »

Bonjour George
debenriver wrote:It's really hard to think of many improvements that could be made to v 4.50 :D It's stable and very full-featured. Does pretty much everything one could want and more.
Thank you.
debenriver wrote:Line tool and the command line. In practice you rarely draw a line in isolation, except perhaps the first line of a drawing. I think it would be better if the command line recognized the start point of the line (which it does now) and then just had Length as the obligatory entered data, with Angle as an optional (?) entry, together with width and color. This would then be similar to the line drawn from the centre – though that has Angle as obligatory (can that be optional? probably not)
There is the "DLine" command which needs only dx and dy and draws a line from the last point.
debenriver wrote:Rounded rectangle and the command line. The command line should have an entry for the corner radius – at the moment there isn't any such entry and you just get a plain ol' rectangle – same as the plain rectangle tool and the command line.
Yes "Rounded rectangle" is not recognized (at this time) in the command line.
debenriver wrote:Dimension tool. I think it would be good to be able to choose that the dimension be above - below - centre in the dimension line. And it would also be nice if the witness lines could be dashed or plain.
I will see to add this features.

Thanks again George.

Cordialement.
Eric Pousse
debenriver
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Re: RealCADD 4.50

Post by debenriver »

There is the "DLine" command which needs only dx and dy and draws a line from the last point.
I seem to have a bit of trouble making this work – probably operator error – but I don't really understand it. dx and dy seem to be the point of origin (surely x1 and y1) rather than the x and y distances.

Really what I'm saying is that I don't think it is practical in normal fast CAD drawing to enter dx and dy components. I think that for a free line you mostly set the origin by snapping to a point (end, centre, intersection, perpendicular) and then all you want to enter is the length of the line and optionally the angle. I know in pure terms you can do this with the co-ordinates of the end point – but I don't think most people draw that way, or draw by co-ordinates at all.

Ok you can do it for a horizontal or vertical line (where either dx or dy is going to be 0), but it gets really hard with a line at any other angle

With free line from the centre you simply enter Length and Angle and I reckon the free line tool (2 tips) would be much better this way too. :D
Yes "Rounded rectangle" is not recognized (at this time) in the command line.
Be nice when it is!! I like the command line a lot and I can use it just fine with click and drag – just hit the enter key before I let go of the mouse – no problem :D . dx and dy work just fine with rectangles because they are horizontal/vertical, so dx and dy simply represent the width and height. Personally I might replace them with Width and Height + Radius for a rounded rectangle, to make it more user friendly.

I know the Command Line is a "work in progress" – but I think it is a very worthwhile part of the program as it becomes more user-friendly.

Cheers -- George

PS – I have an Align problem again – I posted a new thread.
Eric Pousse
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Joined: Sat Dec 03, 2011 12:31 pm
Location: Tours - France

Re: RealCADD 4.50

Post by Eric Pousse »

Bonjour George,
debenriver wrote:With free line from the centre you simply enter Length and Angle and I reckon the free line tool (2 tips) would be much better this way too. :D
But with the free line command it is x0 y0 dx dy.
I think it is better that all commands require the same kind of datas.
Some users will prefer L + angle and other dx + dy.
Perhaps an option to choose...

Cordialement.
Eric Pousse
debenriver
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Re: RealCADD 4.50

Post by debenriver »

Bonjour Eric!

Umm ... I am having trouble understanding DLine

In the image below, I started with a line drawn from x1 = 0, y1 = 0 to x2 = 100, y2 = 0 –– essentially a horizontal line starting from 0,0 and 100 long. That's the black line, with the magenta circle on the end.

OK, now I want to draw a vertical line 100 long from the end of this line (with the magenta circle), using Snap to start the new line.

With Line, I snap to the end of my original line and enter dx = 0 dy = 100. That works fine. What I would LIKE to be able to do is snap to the end of the line and enter L = 100, with an option to enter the angle.

Because, if I want to draw a line from the end of the original, 100 long at, say, 30º, I simply can't work out where dx and dy are going to be to achieve that. So I have to draw an arbitrary line and then go to the Edit pallet and edit both the angle and the length. Not a huge problem of course, but it gets tiresome when you are drawing hundreds of lines.

Going back to DLine ...

I did the same thing as I would do for Line – snapped to the end with the magenta circle and entered dx = 0, dy = 100. I got the green line.

I did exactly the same thing again, except I snapped to the right hand end of the green line – entered dx = 0, dy = 100. And I got the red line.

I don't understand why? I can see that it is doing something relative to the earlier line but for the life of me I can't understand what!!
Screen Shot 2015-10-01 at 11.55.14.png
Screen Shot 2015-10-01 at 11.55.14.png (13.7 KiB) Viewed 18681 times
I know everyone draws differently and has different requirements and styles of drawings. I happen to draw a lot of custom stainless steel fittings, so there are a lot of specific lines to be drawn. Typically something like this:
Screen Shot 2015-10-01 at 12.38.17.png
Screen Shot 2015-10-01 at 12.38.17.png (128.17 KiB) Viewed 18681 times
Some way to be able to enter just the line length on the fly (via the Command Line is fine) would be great – not essential of course – just nice to have! Sometimes, currently, I use the Line by Centre tool, enter the (double) length and angle and then use the Cutting Tool to get rid of the half that I do not want, because that is quicker than editing both length and angle of a line by 2 tips.

Cheers -- George
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