Hi Dave - I've found that the ones that come automatically can get in the way too easily.
For instance when I try to draw a freeform curve in Ashlar pretty quickly the whole screen can get locked up in different automatic snap zones. That prevents you from being able to draw a smooth freeform curve that may require pretty subtle arrangement of the points.
I agree that the fully automatic method works well with very simple drawings that contain mostly lines and circles.
But I wanted to make a method that could do the same kinds of things, but also not cause problems when you tried to draw more freeform shapes as well.
When I go back to watch your video, you are making very much the same kind of movement as what you do in MoI to use construction lines. I mean in your video you frequently move the mouse over to hover over a point you want to activate as a snap source. In MoI you do the same amount of cursor movement, you just also add a press down and release with the mouse button.
In addition, the fully automatic way just does not cover a lot of functions, since it only radiates a line out from a single base point.
One reason why MoI is able to offer so much additional functionality with its construction lines is that its mechanism allows for specifying 2 points - a start point where you click down and an end point where you release. That incorporates a distance element into the mix, so you can do things like find the midpoint, 1/5 or whatever increments, the mirrored endpoints, etc...
The automatic method with its "single base point" lines does not have the same amount of information to work with.
Anyway, those are some of the reasons why MoI's construction lines are set up the way that they currently are, rather than that other way.
- Michael
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