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Centreline Cross

Posted: Sat Dec 14, 2013 7:11 pm
by riverbuoy
Centreline Cross

This tool draws a centreline cross in arcs, circles, ellipses and elliptical arcs, as requested by Husky and seconded by J-J.
In the options toolbar there are two input boxes labelled X and Y.
The value in the X box refers to the horizontal line of the cross, and the value in the Y box refers to the vertical line of the cross. If you leave the Y box empty then the value in the X box is used for both lines of the cross.

To the right of these boxes is a drop-down combo box with two options, 'Extend' and 'Length'.

Extend mode is equivalent to 'overshoot' in Husky's diagram. A positive value will extend the lines past the circle. A value of zero will draw the lines to meet the circle. A negative value will draw the lines short of the circle. If the length of a line evaluates to zero or less than zero, then that line is not drawn.

Length mode draws lines with the specified length in the X and Y boxes. Again, if Y is empty then X is used for both lines. Also if the length of a line evaluates to zero or less than zero then that line is not drawn.

To the right of this is the 'Orient' box. This specifies the angle to draw the cross at. You can enter a value between 0.0 (default) and 180.0. A value greater than 180 would be the same as that value minus 180. (i.e. 181 - 180 = 1, so 1 will produce the same result as 181. A value of 91 will not produce the same result if the lines are of a different length.).
Ellipses and elliptical arcs have an angle associated with them, so the cross is drawn at that angle. That angle becomes the base angle to which the orientation is added. (i.e. if an ellipse is drawn at an angle of 45 degrees, then the cross is drawn at 45 degrees. If you then set an orientation of 20 degrees, the cross will be drawn at 45+20 = 65 degrees.)

The lines are drawn on the current layer so they can have different attributes from the arcs, circles etc.

Also the command does not check if a cross has already been drawn, so if you click on a circle more than once then you will have more than one cross.

If you wish to undo a cross use the 'undo; option in the 'edit' menu. Right clicking terminates the command. If you select an entity that is not an arc, circle, ellipse or elliptical arc, then a warning message is shown.

The shortcut for this command is CS.

The attached zip file contains the 'Cross' sub-directory.
Extract this to the 'scripts/Misc/MiscDraw' sub-directory, and you'll find the command in menu 'Misc->Drawing'.

Hope this is what you requested. I have only done limited testing of this, but it appears to be working correctly. However if you do find a bug, let me know so I can fix it.

Re: Centreline Cross

Posted: Sun Dec 15, 2013 2:25 am
by Husky
riverbuoy wrote:Hope this is what you requested.
Yes - that is absolutely that what I was looking for. It's a kind of early Christmas gift for me ... thank you very much to work on this nice execution!!! :D :D :D

So far it works really well and the rotated etc. ellipse functionality is amazing!!! I will test this new tool a bit further and if I experience any bug etc ... :wink:

For now ... only one question: :oops:
Would it be possible to get an extra Button for this new function in the "Line Icon bar"? Yes I know: Dirt on me ... a whole scoop! :lol:

However - really well done! Thanks again!

Re: Centreline Cross

Posted: Sun Dec 15, 2013 6:08 pm
by J-J
Hello riverbuoy
riverbuoy wrote: Centreline Cross

Hope this is what you requested.
It sure is, I love it, thanks again for sharing that handy addition.

Re: Centreline Cross

Posted: Sun Dec 15, 2013 8:40 pm
by riverbuoy
Hi Guys

Thanks

I'm just happy to help.

Re: Centreline Cross

Posted: Mon Dec 16, 2013 2:08 pm
by andrew
Thanks riverbuoy! This works great. I've added this tool to our repository for future QCAD releases.

I've only made one small modification to add the two center lines in one transaction, so the tool can be undone in one single step:
https://github.com/qcad/qcad/commit/eaf ... d4cc2b6482

Re: Centreline Cross

Posted: Tue Dec 17, 2013 12:49 am
by riverbuoy
Hi Andrew

Thanks for the tip. I am still fairly new to ECMAScript and QCAD's classes and methods, and frankly it hadn't occurred to me that you can add more than one entity in one operation. Thinking about it thought, it seems obvious that you could do this.
Anyway thanks again for the tip, and I'll keep it in mind for the future.

Re: Centreline Cross

Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2014 3:36 pm
by caigner
I just saw that this script is already in the new version. Works really great! Thanks!

One more request: Would be nice to enter the extension (overshoot) also as a relative value in percent of circle diameter.

Re: Centreline Cross

Posted: Mon Jul 28, 2014 7:46 pm
by riverbuoy
caigner wrote:One more request: Would be nice to enter the extension (overshoot) also as a relative value in percent of circle diameter.
OK. Here it is. Replace the two existing files in '/scripts/Misc/MiscDraw/Cross' with the two attached files.

Enjoy

riverbuoy

Re: Centreline Cross

Posted: Mon Jul 28, 2014 8:30 pm
by Husky
riverbuoy wrote:Enjoy
I'll do that! 8)

Thank's! :D

Re: Centreline Cross

Posted: Wed Jul 25, 2018 8:16 pm
by Husky
Hi,

I noticed since a few QCAD updates that the "Centerline Cross" tool is a kind of instable. Many times it is not working and needs a "Wake up". A clear pattern isn't for me identifiable but in many cases it works when I restart QCAD, create the first Centerline Cross in the Start default drawing and then go ahead to work on my actual drawing. That is why I call it needs a "Wake UP" :wink:

Is there something what could be done to make it more stable?

QCAD Pro 3.21.2 / Win10/64

Re: Centreline Cross

Posted: Wed Jul 25, 2018 8:35 pm
by J-J
Hi Husky,
I also posted on that unpredictable behavior in the past year, glad I'm not the only one noticing it. I quite like that little tool and it bothers me when it stops working!

https://www.qcad.org/rsforum/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=4976

Re: Centreline Cross

Posted: Wed Jul 25, 2018 8:58 pm
by andrew
It's a third-party tool.. Everything in Misc is untested / contributed / unfinished / might work / might not.

Let me know if you find a reproducible case and I will look into it.

Re: Centreline Cross

Posted: Wed Jul 25, 2018 9:14 pm
by J-J
Reproducible will be the hard part as I always noticed that closing the file and restarting QCAD would reactivate a normal behavior of the tool e_confused

Re: Centreline Cross

Posted: Wed Jul 25, 2018 9:57 pm
by Husky
Yeeehaw! I found the first suspect. But I have the feeling there is a gang behind that behavior ... :wink:

start QCAD Pro.
draw 2 Circle,
draw a Rectangle,
use Centerline Cross on 1. circle = works,
use Stretch on the Rectangle,
use Centerline Cross on 2. circle = doesn't works anymore.

Re: Centreline Cross

Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2018 1:50 pm
by riverbuoy
Hi Husky,

I started up QCAD Pro Trial Edition. The behaviour is exactly as you describe. I then started the community edition (by renaming the plugins) and the problem went away. Centreline Cross was working exactly as it should. Finally, I have the source code of the community edition, which I have compiled. I started this version and again Centreline Cross worked exactly as it should. Therefore it would appear that the problem is somewhere in the Pro Plugin, and so, I can't help with that.

Regards

riverbuoy