QCAD Bugtracker

New Tool request:

When drawing a line it would be good to have a tool/option to ‘run parallel with’.

For example start to draw a line and choose ‘run parallel with’, select appropriate line to draw parallel with!

It would be useful to have an additional option to be able to count/add up consecutive distances measured with this tool ;)

Hi,

if I need to design a bolt circle (circle on circle) and the single bolt diameter and the quantity of circles are given then I can use the QCAD Polygon Tool “Polygon 2 Points of Side” ... but for the Length of the side I have to do a workaround (Line with this length) to determine the desired length.

It would be very convenient to have an additional tool for a Polygon which has the possibility to ask me for the center, corners and the length of the sides.

When working with several files is normal also to work in several folders, this can be confusing, expecially in the case where there are different folders with equal file names.
I propose the creation of a “Open file location”. This, probably under the main menu, “File”, when clicked would open the standard
“file explorer” with the folder that contains the current file already selected.
It would be quite similar to the windows 8/10 “Open file location”.

This is kind of related to FS#952, or rather a superset of it.

Consider the situation in the attached image. There is a perfectly good, albeit really shallow arc, making the radius somewhere in the vicinity of 600 millimeters, and the radial dimension being drawn accordingly.

Considering the other dimensions of the part, this is completely unusable, even to work with, really, but definitely so when it needs to be put on paper.

It would be nice to have some sort of “partial” (for my lack of a better word) radial/diametric dimensions where the dimension length can be adjusted.

Considering that this can be done with Leader, maybe a better (more generic) solution would be for Leader type dimensions to have options so they could automatically generate labels for various dimensions of a selected entity – sort of like having the Prefix/Tolerance/Scale options the other dimensions have, and have some additional fields there for selected entity and maybe dimension type (for example, radial or diametric for an arc-type entity).

It would be extreamly useful to have an option to either use - or not use leader lines in the standard horizontal/vertical dimension line tools, some of the drawings I’m working on need the ‘standard’ looking dimensions with leader lines and some don’t. its a real pain to have to select - explode and delete all the leaders I don’t need.

Hoping for an option

Regards

Clive

It would be nice if the Info Tool / Add Measurement to drawing option would use the same settings like the “Dimension settings” for Font and Text height. It’s a kind of similar function in a drawing and should have the same style. Maybe with an on/off switch?

Original request:

https://www.qcad.org/rsforum/viewtopic.php?f=83&t=4768

Hi, for multi-screen hosts it would be very useful to have additional windows while running the single QCad instance. Other applications like Palemoon, Evolution, Gimp are providing that already.
That would help a lot when working on multiple files and copying blocks between.

Hi!

in many tasks in qcad I ended up exporting one or several layers into individual files for some cnc jobs or further processing. So the steps I usually do are:

• select all elements on the layer
• paste into new drawing
• sometimes rename layer names or attributes
• adjust dimension settings
• save and give name for drawing

Sometimes I have up to 100 layers I need to export like this, so an automatic export for all would be time saving too. But very often a “single click” export method would also help a lot. (e.g. inside the layer list an entry in the right click menue like “save as new file”). Also a multiple selection would be handy if more that one layer should end up in the new file. (e.g. select the three layers that need to be in the new document, then right click and save as new file). Maybe this is too much of changes needed inside the layer list - so something like a separate layer export dialogue would make sense.

When exporting many layers some variables for automatic naming of layers and filename would make sense e.g. user can specify basename_%L.dxf to get the basename_layername.dxf or just an increasing number.

For layers and attributes it is often needed to give a layer a certain name or color for different cnc processes (e.g. engraving and cutting for lasers) or to put everything on layer “0” because of some old CAM software that only supports content on layer 0.

probably many more details would make sense that I didn’t think of yet...

kind regards
Martin

It would be nice to be able to adjust the zoom factor so that the scale on the screen matches a ruler which I lay on the screen.

Thanks!

Add support for
- tolerance display (dimtol)
- upper limit (dimtp)
- lower limit (dimtm)
- tolerance precision (dimtdec)
- tolerance text size factor (dimtfac)
- tolerance suppress zeros, etc.

See also:
https://www.qcad.org/rsforum/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=6269

Implement a multiline tool.

Because modifying hatches have lag issues I’d like to propose a toggle that turns of the redrawing/rendering of the hatch. Especially while modifying the hatch.

The hatches always have a boundary that can be worked with right? So when we move or stretch the hatch we can still see the boundary and its handles to perform all the actions.

This could be a new view mode that turns of the view of the interior/pattern of the hatch but leave the boundary of the hatch.
Or the draft mode can be extended to include simplified hatches while modifying.

Also see the discussion

I would like to request a new kind of snap: a “Restricted Intersection” snap that appears at the point where an entity would intersect with a line drawn from Relative Zero that fulfills the current EL criteria. “Restricted Intersection” snaps would be similar to other Relative Zero-based snaps (like “Perpendicular” and “Tangential”), but would predict the point of the snap from the EL constraints instead of the characteristics of the entity being snapped to. Naturally a value of 0 for angle or length would result in that constraint being ignored.

Additional operational flexibility could be achieved by allowing the snap to exist regardless of whether EL is actually in use. To be useful this would probably require determining snap locations based on angle OR length as opposed to angle AND length.

Implementing this new snap would allow, for example, for easily drawing a line of unknown (but determinable) length at a specified angle between a given point and a given entity (see discussion here), with the “Restricted Intersection” snap ensuring that the endpoint of the new line forms an intersection with the entity in question. Currently the same goal can be achieved a couple of different ways, but they all involve at least two separate steps.

The option for vertically and diagonally stacked fractions would be helpful for both the text creation tool and as the output of dimensions.

The “Define annge using mouse cursor” of the Rotate tool would be useful in the Move and Rotate Tool

Multiline attributes can contain linefeeds and formatting like MTEXT.

Add a tool to duplicate a layout block with contents.

Hello,

I’ve quite often the task to transfer changes from one set of drawings to another (similar) set.
My ideal setup would be to open one set in one window and the other set in another window.
Both windows would be arranged side-by-side (larger monitor).
Changes would be copy-pasted from one set to the other.

From #2352 I’ve learned that there is a command-line option to achieve this.

Unfortunately it’s not possible to copy-paste between these instances.

And yes, it’s important to do this in two windows to see both versions at the same time.
So, tabs are not the answer.

It’s also ok if i could detach a tab from one instance and arrange it aside of the main window (like the property editor).
Than all data transfers would happen inside the same instance.

Best regards,
Klaus

... inclusive trim option

I’m already able to use the Circle tool “2 Tangents and radius” to accomplish this task but it is a lot of break out etc. action needed to clean the shape afterward.

See:
https://www.qcad.org/rsforum/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=10379

Could you add “plain text paste” as ctrl-shift-V
Why? Because sometimes the clipboard comes in with rich text formatting that’s anti-helpful.
The workaround is to paste into a plain text editor, or the console, then recopy and repaste into qCad.

Either way the ctrl-shift-V shortcut is useful for those trained on other software but:
one could also argue that qCad should NEVER take rich text, and rather only accept the plain text with both CTRL-V and CTRL-SHIFT-V.

— CHV says

Agreed, having encountered it numerous times while documenting with text snippets from elsewhere. :roll:
Even copying Info measurements from the Command Line are Rich Text.

The best place to file a feature request is QCAD Bugtracker:
https://www.ribbonsoft.com/bugtracker/ You may need a different account there or make a new one.

May I remark that Ctrl-Shift-V is already in use for Paste along Entity (PE)
But not when the Text Editor Widget has the focus and dialog Widgets are always modal on a Win OS system. :wink:
Still, I’ll vote for it in any way.:P

Regards,
CVH

implement

it would be ideal to be able to have the option to autohide the side panel to increase the visible drawing space when working on a small screen.

The modify stretch tool wants first and second corner, start and end point, then starts afresh. When I turn on restrict horizontally eg to align two points between start and end, the restriction sticks and I have to call restrict none, to be able to perform the next iteration, set the first corner then.

So, in the quest for a comfortable user interface, it was nice, if the modify stretch first/second corners parameter setting was not affected by current restrict/ortho etc. settings. Actually, that does not make any sense at all anyways, does it, a rectangle is defined by two degrees of freedom, isnt it?

See:
http://www.ribbonsoft.com/rsforum/viewtopic.php?t=1867

Apparently this was possible in QCAD 2 due to the default behavior of Qt.

Hi,

in QCAD3 RC2 points were printed as crosses, in QCAD3 RC4 they are printed as (very little) points. I think this isn’t a bug but a feature.

It would be nice if one could change this behaviour / select the symbol of points.

Best regards - Stefan

This is a double post of http://www.ribbonsoft.com/rsforum/viewtopic.php?p=5870#5870 as suggested there.

I would like to get a shortkey like ‘+’ to rotate text at 90° clockwise.

Since this is not supported by Qt anymore, this would likely have to be implemented from scratch.

Eine oft Hilfreiche Zeit/Klick sparende Erweiterung wäre eine “Total” Option bei dem “Lengthen” Tool.

Aktuell ist es mit dieser Funktion möglich ein Element zu verlängern oder zu verkürzen um den Amount X. Der Referenzpunkt (von welchem Ende) kann bestimmt werden.

Die Erweiterung die ich mir wünschen würde wäre auch ein “Total” um ein Element auf eine bestimmte Länge zu bringen ohne einen Taschenrechner benutzen zu müssen. Referenz (welches Ende oder Mitte) sollte (muss) dafür wählbar sein.

Die Funktion “Property editor” stellt bereits über die Geometry Eigenschaften die Möglichkeit zur Verfügung einen “Total” Wert zu manipulieren. Leider bin ich aber hierbei nicht in der Lage zu bestimmen welcher Element Referenzpunkt dafür benutzt werden soll. Könnte ich die Referenz wählen (welches Ende oder Mitte) wäre auch dies dann durchaus akzeptabel

To have a ‘clean up ' tool to:

- eradicate duplicate lines
- eradicate stray points
- remove empty layers
- remove unused blocks

Perhaps with an initial dialog which allows the user to choose what they want to clean up.

Input:

1. X axis min/max or choose line (?) or center (for polar functions)
2. function: y = f(x) / polar function: r = f(a)

Output:

1. function plot

See:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27bCgg3zLVA

Customer wishes that stacked text used as subscript is rendered differently (i.e. increased text size, lower position for subscript).
This may also apply to superscripts.

See also:
http://www.qcad.org/rsforum/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=2180

Task: If I like to make a hatch and the contour isn’t closed I get a Grey circle Info where the contour isn’t closed. Nice!

But ..... I have this Info only for ONE not proper connection and only for the moment when the mouse pointer is over the Hatch Tool Symbol.

If I have to zoom into the Problem - I will lose the Info where the problem is

To get the “Problem Info” back I have to select it again - but for that I have to zoom out ...............

It would be nice to have this “Problem Info” longer in the drawing - maybe until I solved all problems.

And it would be nice to have ALL Infos for not connected lines at the same time. It is not really helpful to repeat this function 20times if I have 20 connection problems ... ;)

To re-introduce Tile and Cascade window options like as before in QCAD 2.2.2.

Hi,
this is a usability feature request:

If you want to move an object relatively to any point (e.g. by entering @x;y in commandline) it does’nt make sense to enter a starting reference point. Of course this is possible by clicking to any location on the screen. But it’s difficult to change between mouse and keyboard so often.

It should be possible to enter a “don’t care” or “any” reference point by pressing a keyboard shortcut (e.g. enter like in AutoCAD).

Thx

Leader Arrow size and the Architectural tick size are controlled by one and the same value.

It would be nice to get the possibility to adjust them independently from each other ...

Most of our drawings have a Data sheet, parts List, cutting list, description etc etc on a pdf, world or excel file.

It would be nice to have a link possibility directly in QCAD to those files what will be saved with the drawing.
Like the bitmap function without displaying the files in the drawing ...

If I work in QCAD only with Toolbars (and not with the “Cad Tools” there is nowhere a Button to find for “Create Block from selection”.
If I have to create a Block based on a selection I have to work with the Menu or have to activate the Cad Tools.

But, if I look at the Blocklist menu there is a function (+) to add an empty Block. It would be nice to have this button working for both situation - empty Block or depending on a selection to “Create Block from selection”.

Or alternative an additional Button ...

Anyway - in my opinion would that make the “Blocklist” complete.

It would be really cool to have a Note book tool for QCAD!

For example I am often working on a draft and at the same time scribbling notes down on a separate piece of paper relating to the drawing I am working on, could be anything e.g. add a block,add a dimension etc. etc... all sorts of things to remind myself about - all related to a particular drawing.

Of course I could use any number of other programs for this but a simple dedicated tool inside QCAD (could be called the ‘QCAD scribbler ;)) would be much better, especially one that can save the notes to a particular file, then when I open up my drawing again - my notes are there too!

My system: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5 CPU 650 @ 3.20GHz and 8 GB of RAM and NVIDIA GT218 (GeForce 210)

For a normal drawing displaying it in all detail is a good thing and the performance of my quad-core system is more than adequate.

But I discovered (or rather experienced) that when putting a large collection of individual drawings of gears onto one big sheet (960 mm x 600 mm - preparation for laser cutting), the performance was so bad that I had to wait several seconds (>10 sec) for each step in the process of arranging all the parts on the layer.

Request: It would be a big help and performance booster if you could disable the detailed view of each part/layer and only draw a rectangle to visualize the outline of the part.

Please take this in consideration. Attached you find an example of how that could look like. (Actually when pasting a drawing from the clipboard you already do that.)

Would it be possible to add a feature which turns selected text into solid fill hatched polylines?

That would make it possible to migrate the drawing from one computer system to another without having to worry whether the used font is installed on both systems, like when sending a drawing to a manufacturer for laser engraving.

Right now I can do it by hand, letter by letter, and that is a rather labour-intensive task.

Modify the “purge layer” tool to preserve empty layers with a locked status.
see: http://www.qcad.org/rsforum/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=2386

The Midpoint Handles should be used to move Polyline Segments and lines. This would add easy to access stretch functionality.
Combined with a shortcut(hold down shift or alt etc.) to fix the movement to be orthogonal to the line this would bring a lot of extra value.
It would also be possible to to have another shortcut to easily insert nodes to Polylines (again hold shift or alt etc.)

The Info Tool Polygonal Area is a helpful tool ... but I like to ask for additional options

Yes, the polygonal area makes absolute sense but many times you have just to check a square or rectangle area!

It would be nice and time (click) saving if we could use a “Strg Key” to limit the polygonal area to just a rectangle area.
Two mouse clicks for a rectangle area and done

In addition to that it would be nice to have the possibility to count up or down a couple areas.
E.g. I measure area 1 plus area 2 or area 1 minus area 2 ...
Maybe just with an additional keystroke like + or -

At our QCAD Drawing window, below right corner, we have the Info displayed what are the Grid / Meta Grid settings.
It would be nice to have additional the Info for the drawing unit ...

Provide configuration option to raise / lower maximum reference points that are shown for selected entities (currently fixed to 1000).

Original report:

Imported a spline-dxf from adobe illustrator. Converted the spline to polyline with explode command. Then no anchor points / vertex points / vertices were showing anymore. Simplified the polyline so that it had less than 1000 points. Vertices became visible.

I think some freeform objects need actually more than 1000 vertices. Also them need to be edited. Please increase the amount of vertices showing to biginteger

regards

Benjamin

It would be useful to have a persistent selection button added to the ‘selection’ tool set.

This would allow the user to set persistent selection as and when needed for the current drawing one is working on, rather than going the long route through the ‘Application’ preferences dialog.