Understanding Rhino Fundamentals

Hello,
I am a VW and AutoCAD user of 20yrs and being forced to learn Rhino for University but struggling to work out the basic work flow and functionality, there are a few very basic work flow scenarios that from what i am reading seem to not be part of Rhino functionality, could someone help me understand if the following basic workflows are available.

function 1:
join or add surface, for example joining 2 rectangles. i have been using the join and trim functionality but this seems like a very time consuming process where as in VW it is a single step, Marquee objects, select add surface. it automatically trims lines and joins them into a singular object or polygon, does this functionality exist in Rhino?

when i am trimming and joining 2 rectangles they are not meeting at their end points so will not let me join curves.

functionality 2:
seeing a rectangle or polygons sizes and being able to manipulate its size in the object info, for example; i make a rectangle 300mm x 500mm, but then i realise i want it 350mm x 550mm, is there a simple select object and enter in new dims, or is the only option scale by 1d 2d or plane, again this seems like a much lengthier and more time consuming process, plus i struggle to see objects actual size without turning on the dimension tool is there something i am missing here, i would have thought you can select a polygon and see its parameters in some view, XYZ coordinates are not much help.

Apologies but i am a total greenhorn with Rhino, my first task is to draw a line drawing floor plan which took me approx. 7 mins in VW, i am 3hrs in to Rhino and struggling hard to make the simplest things materialise, any help is more than welcome.

For function 1, try _CurveBoolean.

For functionality 2, no, Rhino is not parametric. There are may ways to edit objects, but Rhino is not dimension-driven. So it will take a different approach to construct things in Rhino (not necessarily better or worse, just different).

–Mitch

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Hi Josh, not sure if this helps but if you go into Rhino options under Modeling aids. Click tool tips and check distance and ok. When you draw a rectangle you can turn on its control points(f10) and use gumball. This gives an indication of distance you want to move an edge. Or click on the gumball arrow and type in the desired amount of distance and enter. FWIW —-Mark

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