QCAD.org Forum

I just want to get some feedback about this request first.

Would it be possible to have a tool similar to the 'points along a line' tool, where for example a 4mm line could be placed evenly a given number of times along another line of say 100mm in length?

Or maybe an additional option with the paste along entity tool - like place evenly?

If I understand this correctly, what you are missing in the Edit > Paste along Entity tool is an option to only paste N instances, instead of creating enough instances to 'fill' the whole entity, correct?

andrew wrote:If I understand this correctly, what you are missing in the Edit > Paste along Entity tool is an option to only paste N instances, instead of creating enough instances to 'fill' the whole entity, correct?

I thinks so yes, could you give me a quick example so that I can verify Yes or No please Andrew.

Hi Clive,

do you need something like this?

Husky wrote:Hi Clive,do you need something like this?

Nearly , try pasting a line 3mm long horizontally along another horizontal line of 80mm long.

The result I'm looking for needs to be that the 3mm line is pasted along the 80mm line evenly and with even spaces in between!

Clive wrote:

Husky wrote:Hi Clive,do you need something like this?

Nearly , try pasting a line 3mm long horizontally along another horizontal line of 80mm long.

The result I'm looking for needs to be that the 3mm line is pasted along the 80mm line evenly and with even spaces in between!

Ok, understood and I don't see any easy solution (without a manual calculation) to complete this task within QCAD.
And yes, would be nice to have a tool for this ... I could use it too ...

May I ask you for what do you need this?

Thank you Andrew and Husky for your feedback on this, I have added a feature request here:

http://www.qcad.org/bugtracker/index.ph ... sk_id=1345

All,
PE now includes an option to repeat N times.

The feature request is still open, can't really say this is solved.
With the 80 and 10x3 example a little math tells us that the gap should be (80-(3x10))/9 = 5.555...
The repetitive nature is then 8.555...
A value one can only enter with '77/9' literal.

Using Copy the middle point of the short segment is the reference.
Using Copy with reference that can be selected by the user.
Not including endpoints the 3mm segments are spaced 4.272727..., the begin and end gap depend on the reference point.
Including endpoints the extend would always be 83.

All because we are working with positions and a point has no size.
This could be solved regarding the size of the items to paste.
A bounding box would work out and that only for pasting on a straight line.
Some calculation or manual adaption of the base entity by the user is still required.

The tool always starts at the beginning of the base entity.
On a closed periodic spline it is hard to tell where that starts.
On a geometrically or logically closed polyline start-end is always included.
It would be nice if that started at the indicated side on an open form.

I included this post in a comment.
Should we request to close FS#1345 or not?

Regards,
CVH

CVH wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 30, 2022 8:08 am

With the 80 and 10x3 example a little math tells us that the gap should be (80-(3x10))/9 = 5.555...
The repetitive nature is then 8.555...
A value one can only enter with '77/9' literal.

Why did you stop halfway through the solution?

CVH wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 30, 2022 8:08 am

Some calculation or manual adaption of the base entity by the user is still required.

Nobody holds you back ...

Draw a horizontal line of 80 mm, place on it at the left end a 3 mm line, select the 3 mm line, launch Move/Copy, Reference left end of the 3 mm, 9 copy's, Target point relative at @(80-(3*10))/9+3,0 = task accomplished!

CVH wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 30, 2022 8:08 am

Should we request to close FS#1345 or not?

No. Clive has ask for it in 2016 and It is still not implemented. Even if there is an alternative solution I support the request because it would make such a task much easier!

Husky,

I think our solutions are just the same.
The repetitive nature is 8.555... or '77/9' to be exact.

I wrote FlexPainter to do that dynamically but the catch is that the size of the painterset is a known value.
On top, paintersets are defined in such a way that it will work out on any line art as base.
Even then I took the easy road out, FlexPainter will scale all by a factor to make it fit N+1 times with N being not just enough.

Consider the same example with a horizontal bar and an angled base line, an arc and so on.
Or consider a group of entities to paste. And for this a block reference is merely a point.
Just saying that the given example is a very easy one to solve by a tool.

What is missing in this story is the length of the item (items) to paste.

Let us be constructive.
Assuming that the horizontal size is the length in question.
The repetitive nature is then our simple math.

Would that satisfy the needs?
True, not aligned on an angled base that would give a weird result and the used length of a vertical bar is zero.

Regards,
CVH