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mmoe  
#1 Posted : Tuesday, November 19, 2013 2:01:57 AM(UTC)
mmoe

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What is the most efficient way to get a line tangent to two circles, assuming the circles are both in the same plane, but not the same size or aligned with an axis/angle?

Thanks!
L. Banasky  
#2 Posted : Tuesday, November 19, 2013 3:03:39 AM(UTC)
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It probably isn't the best way, but it works. Draw a line from the quadrant of circle A to the tangent point of circle B, then draw a line from the endpoint of the line on circle B to the tangent point of circle A, and delete the first line. If there is an easier way please let me know.
blowlamp  
#3 Posted : Tuesday, November 19, 2013 3:55:09 AM(UTC)
blowlamp

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You just 'drag' the line off the circle/arc/spline at roughly a tangent and ViaCAD senses what you want to do and shows an appropriate tooltip - the same applies for a perpendicular too! Then move the cursor to the right area of the next circle and a Tangent tooltip will display, at which point release the mouse button.



Martin.
Tim Olson  
#4 Posted : Tuesday, November 19, 2013 11:46:03 AM(UTC)
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Video for creating a line tangent to two circles and circle tangent to two lines.

http://www.csi-concepts.com/Dem...os/tangentTwoCircles.mp4

Tim
Tim Olson
IMSI Design/Encore
mmoe  
#5 Posted : Tuesday, November 19, 2013 12:44:53 PM(UTC)
mmoe

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Thanks Tim and Martin! I didn't understand the "Drag" part in the tool tip, but your emphasis of that detail helped me realize what it meant. That's the first time I've ever held down the left button while pulling a line out, so I hadn't really even thought of that as a possibility. It was particularly helpful to see how it works in the video, which made "Drag" all the more obvious. Last time I did this in "another product", I was typing in TAN on command line, but this (as most things in Viacad) is much faster and I was sure that I was missing something. Great feature.
rockyroad_us  
#6 Posted : Tuesday, November 19, 2013 1:01:08 PM(UTC)
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Originally Posted by: Tim Olson Go to Quoted Post
Video for creating a line tangent to two circles and circle tangent to two lines.

http://www.csi-concepts.com/Dem...os/tangentTwoCircles.mp4

Tim


Great video.
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Jean-Francois Jacques  
#7 Posted : Tuesday, November 19, 2013 3:03:21 PM(UTC)
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Tim, every day we can learn a new thing!
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jlm  
#8 Posted : Wednesday, November 20, 2013 12:41:11 AM(UTC)
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Thanks Tim !
L. Banasky  
#9 Posted : Wednesday, November 20, 2013 3:06:18 AM(UTC)
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Thanks Tim, for the helpful video demo.
Larry
memphisjed  
#10 Posted : Saturday, November 23, 2013 6:12:48 PM(UTC)
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that is cool!
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