Dynamic Input - Switch Between Relative and Polar Coordinates

Scott McKenzie
Scott McKenzie
in Other
Just curious if it is possible to switch the mode of the dynamic input, currently my dynamic input is showing polar input options (a length and an angle) but I am currently needing to use relative coordinates, where I enter an X and Y offset - is it possible to make the switch?  I didn't see anything in the options menu... 

Comments

  • Richard Sands
    Richard Sands
     Scott I can't answer your exact query, but when I do neef  X, Y direction I use 0,0 for origin and x, y for second point. 
    Use it for lines, shift, copy etc. 
    Have I misunderstood your needs? 
  • Daniel Eiszele
    Daniel Eiszele
     If you mouse click on the command prompt you should be able to type the coordinates directly. But from memory you'll have to temporarily disable DYNMODE (F12 I think). If you don't, it will treat the coordinates as a relative x,y shift. I think this is a bug but I haven't had time to report it. Normally a relative shift requires the @ symbol.
  • Daniel Eiszele
    Daniel Eiszele
    I just re-read your request. You don't have to disable DYNMODE as I suggested just type @x,y at the command prompt.
  • Anthony Apostolaros
    Anthony Apostolaros
    Dynamic input only accepts polar coordinates. It allows you to enter relative polar coordinates without the onerous @ symbol's shift-key combination. The only way I've ever found to do that with relative rectangular coordinates is by creating custom commands just for that purpose. Fortunately, that's easy to do in Lisp. I've got custom versions of Move, Line, and Rectang that accept relative rectangular coordinates using only numbers and the Enter key, as it's done in VectorWorks and Sketchup. So I can specify the vector without taking my keyboard hand off the numeric keypad. I'd be happy to share them if anyone's interested.
  • Hans De Backer
    Hans De Backer
    The behavior Daniel noticed is intentional (not a bug) and allows exactly what Scott seems to be looking for:
    e.g. set DYNMODE to 3,  start the line command and enter a start point.
    Let's assume that the end point should be at a relative x offset of 50 and a y offset of 100:
    type "50" -> it is displayed in the dynamic distance dimension field
    type ","  -> the content of the dynamic dimension is copied to the command line, prefixed with "@" to make it a relative coordinate entry
    type "100" and hit Enter -> the desired line is created

    To continue adding lines relative to the previous endpoint, just continue to enter coordinates, like
    "300,60"
    "20,500"
    etc...

This discussion has been closed.