Can I constrain direction?

Greg Skelhorn

Does anyone know if there is a way to use 2D geometric constraints to control the direction of a line in WCS or UCS?
Thanks.

Roy Klein Gebbinck

Untested:
Create a reference line with a horizontal constraint.
Create an angular constraint between the line you are working on and this reference.

Greg Skelhorn

Thanks for the interest Roy. I had given that consideration, but the next thought was unless I fix the reference line all I have is an angular constraint. Still no direction control on the reference line.

Duh... looking through the help file with more alert eyes I see how to create a reference line with the direction controlled spelled out directly. Create UCS with alignment I want (north), add horizontal geometric constraint, set length to 1, switch back to WCS.

Now I can add the angular dimensional constraint and it does control the direction of the line in an editable manner... but this soes not work well as it after chaging the value several times. The reference line direction has changed...

Even if I get that sorted I see I have to enter the value of the angular dimensional constraint as decimal degrees and I always work in degrees, minutes, seconds. I guess if I get time I could create a tool to add the reference line and get my azimuth in DMS or alter the value of an existing one conveniently. Maybe one day :-)

There is potential with constraints for me but they always seem to fall short of being truly useful for me. :-(

Greg Skelhorn

Whoops... a few typos but the general idea is there :-)

Greg Skelhorn

I made a few tests with the UCS horizontal constraint. Some worked, a couple did not. Not sure why. It must be down to the order I add the constraints. It can work though and I thought I should add that to this thread.