Making an existing drawing a layer of another drawing

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RayArdia
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Making an existing drawing a layer of another drawing

Post by RayArdia » Sat Dec 26, 2009 8:39 pm

I have made three separate drawings of the Ground, First and Second floors of my house. With 20/20 hindsight I can now see that I should have drawn
them as layers of the same drawing using different colours so that I could view them as single floors or overlaid.
I have the community version of QCAD running on Ubuntu 9.04; is there any way I can recover the situation without re-drawing the lot.

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andrew
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Post by andrew » Sun Dec 27, 2009 5:25 pm

You can start a new drawing and copy / paste all your separate drawings into it.

With the QCAD Community edition, you will have to prepare your drawings before doing this, so every floor is on a separate layer. With QCAD Pro, you can directly paste to the current layer.

Please note that there is a separate forum for the community edition of QCAD since there are significant differences between QCAD 2.0.5.0 (community) and QCAD 2.2.2.0 (pro).

RayArdia
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Making an existing drawing a layer of another drawing

Post by RayArdia » Mon Dec 28, 2009 6:42 pm

andrew wrote:You can start a new drawing and copy / paste all your separate drawings into it.

With the QCAD Community edition, you will have to prepare your drawings before doing this, so every floor is on a separate layer. With QCAD Pro, you can directly paste to the current layer.

Please note that there is a separate forum for the community edition of QCAD since there are significant differences between QCAD 2.0.5.0 (community) and QCAD 2.2.2.0 (pro).
Thank you Andrew, do you mean, by 'prepare your drawings' to place the (currently Layer 0) details on another layer, say layer 4, and then copy and paste it to Layer 4 of the new drawing? ......or am I way off beam.

Sorry to be a pain in the neck but I am really finding it difficult to follow the various instructions in the Manual, and, for example at the QCAD FAQs:-
5. How can I cut / copy / paste items between drawings?

The cut / copy / paste commands require some more action than in other applications. You have to specify a reference point when copying / cutting entities and you have to place the entities when pasting them.
To copy something:
- Choose the menu 'Edit' - 'Copy' with the mouse
- Use the selection tools in the CAD toolbar at the left to select the entities you want to copy to the clipboard or simply click the entities you want to copy with the left mouse button. Entities that are red are selected and will be copied.
- Choose the right arrow in the CAD toolbar at the left to confirm the selection. This is the button at the bottom of the CAD toolbar. It shows a black arrow that points to the right.
- Now the CAD toolbar shows a selection of tools to specify the position of the reference point. For example you can choose the button 'Snap to endpoints' (left column, 2nd from the top).
- Click with the left mouse button somewhere near the endpoint (or other identifying point) you want to use as the reference point of your selection, Note that the reference point will be used later to position the entities when pasting them.

Note: The entities are now on the clipboard of QCAD You might want to click the right mouse button or press the Escape key twice to return to the main menu in the CAD toolbar.

To paste:
- Choose the menu 'Edit' - 'Paste'.
- Use the mouse to position the entities, Again you can use the snapping tools to specify an exact location or you can type a co-ordinate in the console.

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andrew
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Re: Making an existing drawing a layer of another drawing

Post by andrew » Mon Dec 28, 2009 8:20 pm

RayArdia wrote: Thank you Andrew, do you mean, by 'prepare your drawings' to place the (currently Layer 0) details on another layer, say layer 4, and then copy and paste it to Layer 4 of the new drawing? ......or am I way off beam.
Yes, for example. Basically, in QCAD 2.0, the entities you paste are always pasted on the same layer as they were copied from. I.e. the later does not change in the copy / paste operation, even between different drawings.
RayArdia wrote: Sorry to be a pain in the neck but I am really finding it difficult to follow the various instructions in the Manual, and, for example at the QCAD FAQs:-
Which step is the problem?

RayArdia
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Making an existing drawing a layer of another drawing

Post by RayArdia » Tue Dec 29, 2009 11:14 am

Andrew, I'm not really sure what my problem is!
I have copied my 1st Floor drawing to Layer 0 of a new drawing, 1st Floor Copy 2. I have created three layers, First Second and Ground in different colours.
I 'Copy - Select All' then 'Right Arrow' and choose a reference point (the extreme bottom right corner of the floor) then Enter.
I select layer First and have to select reference point. Using 'Free Position' I select a position but nothing shows.
As an alternative I tried using 'Select All - Modify - Properties' but don't get the window (which I have seen in the past) which would allow me to choose the layer etc.
At my age it just hasbe me and not QCAD! May I ask for a bit more help, please?
Ray

RayArdia
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Making an existing drawing a layer of another drawing

Post by RayArdia » Tue Dec 29, 2009 11:24 am

Sorry!
hasbe me and not QCAD! May I ask for a bit more help, please? should be -
has to be me and not QCAD! May I ask for a bit more help, please.

Note to self - 'Use the b..... Preview in future'.
Ray

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