it’s been too long since I used Rhino and now can’t find anything… where to I find the tool that:
draws a circle with radius R tangent to two co-planer intersecting lines? (I can find three lines…)
draws a line tangent to two co-planer circles?
thanks in advance
Art
In the command Circle… Follow the prompts on the command panel.
Does that help?
yes; had forgotten different tools are available depending on the tool set selected! a couple more questions should have me up and running again:
where to I change the precision of linear dimensions?
ditto angular dimensions?
is a way to join line and arc objects to get the total length of the group?
THANKS again!
Art
Hi @artesmith
Go to Options>Annotation Styles and select the style you want to edit/use. What you are looking for is linear and angular resolution.
Not sure if you are looking for a dimension or just the lengt in the prompt here? If you are looking for a dimension, I think you need to have curves that are joined (lines and arcs need to be end-to-end) and use DimCurveLength. If you are just looking for the total length of a selection of curves, you can select them (and if you need them repeatedly, you can use either group or selection sets) and then use the Length command - the total length will be displayed in the propmpt.
HTH, Jakob
thanks!! best wishes for the coming holiday season
Art
how do I extrude a circle along a curve such that a round tubular surface results? I can only find “extrude along a curve” and not what was called “extrude normal along a curve” in a previous CAD package. thanks
Art
ExtrudeCrv command will extrude perpendicular to the circle plane
ExtrudeCrvAlongCrv command will extrude along a custom curve
In Surface Tools tab
Hi Art -
For that special case, you can simply use the Pipe command.
-wim
Wim, thanks for jumping in! I must be getting thick; the help page for “Pipe” doesn’t make any sense to me…! does the position of the current working plane with relation to either the curve (in this case a circle) to be extruded or the curve that will become the center line of the desired surface have anything to do with the operation of “Pipe” ?? I have a circle normal to the plane plane that contains the curve (arc) that will become the center line of the surface, how to I convince “Pipe” to create the surface??
Art
I don’t think you want an Extrude command.
My guess is you want a Sweep command.
The difference is Extrude commands keep the orientation of the profile aligned to the coordinate system.
Sweeps maintain the orientaiton of the section to the rail, so as the rail meanders around, the profile meander’s with it.
John-
thanks much!! sweep1 provides exactly the functionality I’ve been looking for.
best wishes for the coming holiday season
Art
most of the engineering is done, how do I duplicate layers in the same file? and how do I import layers from a different file(s)?? I’d like to stack “before” and “after” solutions to see how they compare and if the progress is real or just wishful thinking… thanks!!
Art
In the Layers panel, right-click on a layer and select Duplicate Layer.
Use the Import command.
– Dale
Dale-
thanks! clearly need to work on my “verb” selection skills so HELP is more effective; too many “copy & paste” and “cut & paste” skeletons in my closet…
Art
Gijs-
thanks, that’s what I’ve been looking for!!
Art
