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blowlamp  
#1 Posted : Saturday, August 22, 2009 5:30:55 AM(UTC)
blowlamp

Rank: Senior Member

Joined: 6/28/2008(UTC)
Posts: 648

When trying to pick a snap point in a crowded area of the drawing, I would find it extremely useful to have a function that cycles through the various possible snap points. I was thinking something like how you can use the "C" key to select a plane, but it would highlight each curve and snap point in turn, until you reach the one you need. As it is, I sometimes snap to the (nearby) wrong line, without realising until I measure the part and find the error.


Thanks.
Martin.
markb57  
#2 Posted : Monday, October 12, 2009 9:28:39 AM(UTC)
markb57

Rank: Junior Member

Joined: 11/3/2007(UTC)
Posts: 24

I like that, Martin.

I am finally starting to use ViaCAD for a real project - modeling an automotive engine block. THe thing I am struggling with the most is locating features where I want them. I find I have almost never snapped to where I thought I had. Navigation, in general, is a challenge, once the model becomes somewhat complicated.

Thanks,
markb
blowlamp  
#3 Posted : Monday, October 12, 2009 2:04:24 PM(UTC)
blowlamp

Rank: Senior Member

Joined: 6/28/2008(UTC)
Posts: 648

Mark.
It's the kind of functionality I need a lot of the time when the drawing gets crowded, and I'm not sure why others don't seem to need it too. Perhaps most users of ViaCAD construct largely from primitives, so don't need to snap to endpoints, midpoints, and tangents etc, as often as i do. Much of my drawing is for use with a CNC milling machine and so is mainly 2 dimensional, consisting of lines and arcs that must intersect accurately, else the CAM program can't do its job properly. Selecting a workplane with the "C" key is so useful that it would be hard to do without the function now. I think having another key defined, to allow zipping through all available snap points within a small distance of the cursor, is at least as useful.

Martin.
Steve.M  
#4 Posted : Wednesday, October 14, 2009 6:39:23 PM(UTC)
Steve.M

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The snapping functions are a mess anyway, they need correctly implementing.

As simple examples: There is no option for center snap, although the snap is made, you need to completely disable the snaps to stop center snap.
If you have only "Intersection" snap enabled, there is no intersection snap.
ttrw  
#5 Posted : Thursday, October 15, 2009 3:42:46 AM(UTC)
ttrw

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Yes I wholeheartedly agree with all of you. Snap management is all over the place- literally! Move my mouse to this window, turn that snap on/off move back, make a mark, return to window etc etc...Phew!

I've said this before, take a look at how the auto-snap function works on QCad- it's really good imho.
blowlamp  
#6 Posted : Thursday, January 14, 2010 9:46:03 AM(UTC)
blowlamp

Rank: Senior Member

Joined: 6/28/2008(UTC)
Posts: 648

Any chance of a comment on this from someone or perhaps Admin? I think It would be useful when you're dimensioning or using the Measure tool, as well as for those snaps that you know are there but somehow seem to get 'overpowered' by other ones close by.


Martin.
jdi000  
#7 Posted : Saturday, January 23, 2010 12:57:11 PM(UTC)
jdi000

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Originally Posted by: blowlamp Go to Quoted Post
Any chance of a comment on this from someone or perhaps Admin? I think It would be useful when you're dimensioning or using the Measure tool, as well as for those snaps that you know are there but somehow seem to get 'overpowered' by other ones close by.


Martin.



Hi Martin

I agree its hard to always snap to the point you want in a crowded drawing with lots of geometry using any system that has auto snaps. When I first used AutoCrud many years and they first offered the option to have snaps that stayed active vs always picking which snap you wanted, i saw/made many mistakes because of auto snapping and the wrong point getting picked. I always in a crowded area forced the snap I wanted by using autocruds letter combo activate tool --> type 'int", "end", "cen", etc so I knew which snap point would be used. Yes the idea of being able to cycle through all snaps located in the snap radius would be nice, but probably hard to implement? I always make the snap radius small when working in a crowded area to force myself to zoom in to get the point I want.



Regards

Jason
Windows 11, 10
blowlamp  
#8 Posted : Saturday, January 23, 2010 2:40:29 PM(UTC)
blowlamp

Rank: Senior Member

Joined: 6/28/2008(UTC)
Posts: 648

Hi Jason.
"...the idea of being able to cycle through all snaps located in the snap radius would be nice..."

That's all I wanted to hear, Jason.:D:D:D

The problem is most noticeable for me when parts need to be drawn larger than the size of the screen, but have to snap to objects that are closely packed together - a situation like where the spokes of a wheel are a yard long but only a sixteenth of an inch away from the hub. It makes for much zooming back and forth, which I hoped this idea might avoid, especially if the object associated to the snap were to highlight as well, just to guarantee that the right selection had been made.


Martin.
norbertsf  
#9 Posted : Thursday, January 28, 2010 9:25:51 PM(UTC)
norbertsf

Rank: Senior Member

Joined: 4/10/2007(UTC)
Posts: 116

I just posted a similar request in the general section. Yes, a dynamic key that temporarily disables certain snaps while held down, and then when let go the snaps are enables again. Useful in crowded drawing/model areas.

Norbert
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