Tricky ;)

Hi Danny, yeah if you want to do a whole bunch of 5 degree lines for a while, you can change the default snap angle using the Options screen Simon shows above - change the "Snap angle" under the "Straight snap options" area.

That will set the angle snap that is always active all the time. Then set that back to 90 when you are all done with the particular round of 5 degree snapping. That way you won't have to continuously enter in <5.

- Michael

Thanks Simon,
Thanks Michael,

Yeah, that's one solution however that sets the snap angle globally that means I have to remember to change it back, the other thing is I still have to go into the options if I need say a 2° snap after a 5° snap, I just thought if there was a field for Lines it would keep the flow going but snap angle in the options is okay.

Michael, is there a script so I can assign a shortcut to bring the Snap section of the Options.

Cheers

Hi Danny, I think that would be problematic to have a different snap setting for every command individually.

Instead of just one setting there would then be some dozens of them and problems start happening like - what if you went in and set all these individual settings and then wanted to have a new global setting instead - would you need to go into every single separate command field that you had previously put something in, in order to blank out these individual per-command settings and let the global one come into effect again?

Having a whole lot of separate individual settings just tends to make things more difficult to manage.


> Michael, is there a script so I can assign a shortcut to bring the Snap section of the Options.

Within one session the Options dialog will remember and restore the section that was active when you last closed it.

So if you're using it a bunch of times in sequence you don't really need a special shortcut to get back to the same section, if you close it with the Snaps section being active the next time you open it within the same session it will then start out at Snaps. You will only need to set it the first time you use it in a particular session, or if you happen to go into some other section to adjust some other setting.

- Michael

Hi Michael,

> I think that would be problematic to have a different snap setting for every command individually.

I was thinking only for Lines not all commands seeing that we use lines the most for base construction of models.

This is how I was picturing it.



Not a problem Snap angle setting in the options will do nicely.

Cheers

Hi Danny,

> I was thinking only for Lines not all commands seeing that we use lines the most for base construction of models.
>
> This is how I was picturing it.

It's hard to do that without breaking consistent operation - why just lines and not polylines and construction lines for example?

Also too much redundancy can be problematic - you can currently set it globally and also for a one shot override. Adding in more related settings increases overall complexity related to snapping, there would then be 3 different possible ways that the angle could be set for the case of drawing a line, and there would actually be 2 different angle controls showing at the same time, one on the bottom toolbar and then a second one in the line options area...

Too many settings all piling onto the same function can tend to lead to confusion about which one is supposed to be used.


It could be possible to set up a keyboard shortcut with a script that would toggle between some predefined angles, like switch the global snap angle from 90 degrees to 5 degrees or back again on every keystroke. Let me know if you would like a script that does that.


- Michael

Danny.

That's exactly what I was going to suggest.

Martin (2).

Edit: But Michael beat me to it and replied first.

Hi Michael,

> why just lines and not polylines
> and construction lines for example?

I did mean the whole Lines Menu including Line and Polyline, I didn't think of construction lines as I use them off existing lines.

> Too many settings all piling onto the same
> function can tend to lead to confusion
> about which one is supposed to be used.

That's where I thought the tick box would come in where it would override the global setting to avoid the piling up.

> It could be possible to set up a keyboard shortcut........

Let me use the Snap angle method in the options for a little and if it doesn't gel I'll ask for a toggle script.

Thanks for looking into it.

Hi Danny,

> That's where I thought the tick box would come in where it would override the global setting to avoid the piling up.

Ok, but what if you set the tick box on, and entered in a value there, and then went to the angle constraint control on the bottom toolbar and entered in a different value for the one-shot angle constraint down there, what should then be taken as the current angle snap in that situation?

Basically there is already a method to override the global snap using the angle constraint method. Trying to make 2 methods of overriding it then brings up the question which of these overrides has precedence over the other override.

The pile up is more about having 2 override methods fighting with one another, not about one override and the global one.

- Michael

Hi Michael,

> Ok, but what if you set the tick box on,
> and entered in a value there, and then
> went to the angle constraint control on
> the bottom toolbar

You wouldn't have to use the bottom toolbar anymore for Lines you just enter the value in the new field and your line or polyline will snap at that increment value all the time, untick it and you have global snaps back.

Anyhow as I mentioned above I'm changing the Snap angle in the options and it's okay.

Cheers

Hi Danny,

> You wouldn't have to use the bottom toolbar anymore for Lines you just enter the value
> in the new field and your line or polyline will snap at that increment value all the time,
> untick it and you have global snaps back.

Yeah but I still have to account for the fact that the bottom toolbar one exists, what if someone did try to use it? How would someone know that they were supposed to ignore the bottom toolbar one in that one specific line drawing case but then actually use the bottom toolbar one for all other cases? These are some of the issues trying to implement what you were previously describing.

It's not easy for someone when seeing 2 different areas to enter in seemingly similar values (like a snap angle override) to know that under some particular circumstance they are supposed to ignore one of them...

- Michael

Hi Michael,

> It's not easy for someone when seeing 2 different areas to enter in seemingly similar values

A lot of CAD programs do have 'either or' situations, it's up to the individual to decide which method is more comfortable for them.

-