Editing an elipse

[Tom Fenn]

There doesn't seem to be anyway of being able to edit an elipse. I haven't been able to do it on previous Qcad versions either. Does anyone have any tips?

Using v3RC

[andrew]

Please be more specific.

Which properties of the ellipse do you want to modify?

You can use the normal modification tools to rotate, move, trim, etc an ellipse.
You can use for example the property editor to change directly the major radius, layer, color, start and end angles, etc.
Please let us know what you are trying to do, so we can help effectively, thanks.

[clive]

Tom
You can also 'break' down the ellipse into individual arcs by Selecting the ellipse > Modify > Explode. Then by using the methods Andrew has detailed, you can then change the 'individual' arc lineweight, colour, line type etc... and also put the arc on another layer if you wish!

[Tom Fenn]

Hi Clive. (and Andrew).

Yes I've tried this, but it seems it doesn't work now on 3. When I click on a spline, or an elipse, and use the explode tool, the whole of the spline is highlighted, and I can't edit. I was able to do this in QCad 2.2

Andrew, after drawing an elipse, and then placing a line over the top of it, using the scissors tool to select the elipse, then meet the snap point on the line intersection, I can't edit the elipse.

Maybe I'm not used to the new version, but I have been a QCad Pro user for 6 years now, and I knew the v2.2.0.0 software pretty much inside out. (Apart from the Scale tool- which thanks to Clive, I now understand).

[Husky]

Yes I've tried this, but it seems it doesn't work now on 3. When I click on a spline, or an elipse, and use the explode tool, the whole of the spline is highlighted, and I can't edit.

It seems to me to be a bug - try to explode the same ellipse a second time. That is how it works with my 3 version to get the result what you are asking for (changing single elements?).
I'm right

[andrew]

Yes I've tried this, but it seems it doesn't work now on 3. When I click on a spline, or an elipse, and use the explode tool, the whole of the spline is highlighted, and I can't edit. I was able to do this in QCad 2.2

This is indeed new in QCAD 3: exploding an ellipse to spline gives you a polyline entity. Exploding a polyline entity gives you lines and arcs. This is good as the user might indeed want to convert an ellipse or spline into a polyline. For your use case, you will have to explode twice indeed (spline / ellipse to polyline, polyline to lines and arcs)

Andrew, after drawing an elipse, and then placing a line over the top of it, using the scissors tool to select the elipse, then meet the snap point on the line intersection, I can't edit the elipse.

This is possibly a limitation of the cutting tool which only allows for cutting lines, arcs and circles (same as QCAD 2).

[clive]

Tom
I see what you are trying to do with the ellipse! once you`ve drawn your line on top of it - you want to 'trim' the ellipse to meet the 'intersection' points. So you are left with only part of the ellipse.I think this is what your after! If so try the trim tool, and use after you have exploded it.It seems to give you a more precise 'cut' with ellipses, rather that use the scissors tool!
Tom if you need to - 'screenshot' your drawing and attach it with a few notes.

[hungerburg]

May I chime in? I had the same problem yesterday: inpsired by the screenshot on the blog, I created an isometric view of a part. Circles in my top/front/left view would end up as ellipses there. I found the scissors remove segment D2 operation very convenient to yank hidden lines. But it would occasionally fail on ellipses. A little experimenting shows: It cannot be used to remove the hidden part of the bottom of a barrel. In the picture attached, the mouse points at the unruly segment.

[Tom Fenn]

Cheers everyone I'll try exploding twice.

Before I had to draw an elipse, and then trace a spline over the top of it, then explode that. It's great if you are finally supporting editing/cutting of elipses. But please do fix any elipse/spline editing bugs before you properly release v3.

Good to know the forum now supports image uploads. Rest assured I'll upload any screenshots if I need further help.

BTW Andrew, It seems I have to keep logging in, in order to post here, because my browser isn't remembering my login details/settings. I don't have a problem with other forums. Is this a Ribbonsoft forum bug too? I'm on an Intel Mac running Lion with Google Chrome. Should I bin my cookies?

[andrew]

BTW Andrew, It seems I have to keep logging in, in order to post here, because my browser isn't remembering my login details/settings. I don't have a problem with other forums. Is this a Ribbonsoft forum bug too? I'm on an Intel Mac running Lion with Google Chrome. Should I bin my cookies?

Try ribbonsoft.com/rsforum instead of qcad.org/rsforum. Yet another thing I have to fix in the new forum software (PHPBB 3)

[Tom Fenn]

Done. Thanks Andrew.

[andrew]

I found the scissors remove segment D2 operation very convenient to yank hidden lines. But it would occasionally fail on ellipses.

I move this to the bug tracker:
http://www.ribbonsoft.com/bugtracker/in ... ask_id=575