Hi Burr,
> Is there a way to reverse engineer the rho value?
You mean recover the rho value for an existing conic?
Yeah, I guess that is possible by drawing a new conic and snapping all the points including using the "through point" for the final one by picking a point rather than typing in a rho.
When you move the mouse around to pick a "through point", the rho value in the UI will update so with all points snapped on to an existing conic the UI should show the proper rho value there.
Make sure you turn on control points for the conic you want to snap on to so that you can place the initial 3 points on to the 3 control points.
Let me know if the above is not clear.
> Also, when I have a curve like this, can you present a
> method for me to find the "Highest point" of the curve
> perp to the 2 endpoints? On this simple curve, if I draw a
> line from midpoint to the top point, this gives it to me, but
> if the curve was made up of several different points?
I'm not sure if I completely understand, but it sounds like you probably want to use a perp/perp snap to find that spot.
First drag out a construction line for what you want to be perpendicular from, which it sounds like you want to be between the 2 endpoints.
Then drag another construction line (or you can also draw a line), starting somewhere relatively near the spot you're looking for, and then there will be a perp/perp snap that will be calculated to find a line of shared perpendicular between the base line and the curve which I think is what you want. Here's what it looks like in action, here I'm using the Draw curve / More / Point command to place a point in that spot:
So notice that the one that you want is the one that reads "Perp/Perp" for a line of shared perpendicular between 2 curves. It will read that on both the target point and the base point. This is a snap (along with Tan/Tan) that doesn't just snap to one point but also moves the previous point as well.
Let me know if that does not make sense.
Also another method you could use is to orient your construction plane and then use the BoundingBox command.
- Michael
