One function that e.g. ArchiCAD already has is that you can use a currently “snapped-to” Object snap as a reference point for further measurements. A momentary zero, so to say.
It is a bit hard to explain, but I will try:
It would be amazing if you could use the current measurement displayed on the bottom beside the coordinates in your numerical length input; e.g. if I want to have a line that starts at one point but should be 20cm longer than a second reference point I now have to either use the somewhat fiddly SmartTrack which I sadly think is very unintuitive or use auxiliary constructions to get there, if the distance is not some nice, somewhat round number. SmartPoints only work with either clicking and setting a polyline-vertex to go off of or in ortho directions of a smart point without a vertex.
ArchiCAD’s solution here is that you hover over the second point and type in “20+” to add 20 units to the current measurement (to create a 20-unit line would be “+20”). So you click the first point, hover over the second/latch onto it via OSnap without clicking and type “20+” to go 20 units further in the line’s current direction.
I would love to be able to put in “n+20” in the command line to use the current measurement plus 20 units, e.g.
I know that the “From” snap does something similar, but that feels also relatively convoluted.
Basically just a way to insert the current measurement into the command line would be perfect.
hi @Monomango thanks for this suggestion. I get what you mean and think this could be useful. RH-76152 Add a way to draw a line past a smarttrack point with defined distance
To cast my plus 1 vote and reference SketchUp (I know) One of the interesting things that SketchUp allows is if you have not exited a command you can type a new value and it will update the geometry creation accordingly.
For instance if you draw a line 4’ and hit enter but decide you want it to be 5’ you type that and hit enter again and it updates.
Or a circle radius you input for 24 segments (polygon in Rhino) you can type 48 and hit enter and it updates again to 48 segments.
If you are doing an array and type 5x it will give you 5 copies at the specified distance but if you type /5 instead it will give you 5 copies between the specified distance
Another good example is scaling an object where you click the scale handle and pull it off in some direction and release the handle and at this point it is arbitrarily scaled but if you then type a value like 6’ it will scale the object to be exactly 6’ in the direction of the handle you pulled.
I realize Rhino can do all this already but it is very handy to have it repeatable as many times as you want before you’ve moved onto another command.
It allows for very fast iteration without the need to undo or redo a command. Apologies if this capability already exists in Rhino. I’m not aware of it does?
Try the attached Python Plugin which adds a LinePast command to Rhino. Select a start point, the point to extend beyond and enter the distance. Note that the distance is measured along the line, not necessarily along the cplane. A negative value can be used if you want to stop short of the second point.
To install, download the zip file and unblock it in Windows Explorer. Unzip the contents into your PythonPlugins folder (typically at something like %userdata%\AppData\Roaming\McNeel\Rhinoceros\7.0\Plug-ins\PythonPlugins). If Rhino is already running, you will need to restart it.
I’m not sure I get how this is supposed to work - the only indication is the commit comment and doing this doesn’t seem to work for me.
EDIT : got it, you have to stay ON the SmartTrack point.
Sadly this is not working for extrusion distances or PushPull
