Wish: SmartTrack with Ordinate Dimensions in Layouts

Serengeti (Rhino WIP)
1

Being able to use SmartTrack to set a Basepoint for Ordinate Dimensions would be a useful tool. Sometimes we have to create construction geometry in the model in order to pick up a corner that has been radiused.

Currently it does not yield a usable point.

Thanks,
Don

2

Hi Don,
Could you post a simple file for this wish?
From a quick test here, it might be possible to just use a .x (or .y) coordinate filter.

Then again, I get SmartTrack to find the removed sharp corner of a fillet here…

3

Let me know if this helps.

Thanks,
Don

Wish - SmartTrack.3dm (145.6 KB)

5

@wim Did the file help illustrate the issue?

Thanks,
Don

6

Hi @donl517,
I did see something going on at the time but got side-tracked. Sorry!
I’m trying to find out more about this now, …

… but, for the time being,
The work-flow with using the .x coordinate filter to set the base point and ordinate points on top of a detail in a layout does seem to be working fine. Is that something you can work with for now?

7

I guess I’m not certain what you are referring too, when you refer to the coordinate filter.

Thanks,
Don

8

Whenever you are asked for a point, and you have some reference geometry that is “partly correct”, you can reuse the x or y coordinate of that reference point by using the .x syntax (or .y).

image

Say you want to set the base point of your dimension to the sharp, non-existing, point of a rectangle.
When you are asked for point input, type .x.
The command line now says:

X coordinate of:

You then snap to the point with the correct X coordinate. After that, snapping to the “Second snap” point, will set your base point to the correct point.

9

BTW, I see that dimensions that are created this way tend to hop out of place when manipulating the detail. I’ve reported that as RH-47854.

1 Like
10

Okay, I can make that work here too. Thanks for the info, the wish still stands! :smiley:

Thanks,
Don

11

Looks like we’re not going to be able to support .x, .y etc in history for quite a while.
Also things like Between, Intersection osnap and a few others.
For now, we can avoid erroneous updates. The points will not change when geometry is moved.
This isn’t a very good situation, but I think it’s the best we can do for now.

12

Thanks @lowell appreciate all your hard work!

Don