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[Allan Chesney]

I have created a fairly complex object on a worksheet, that I want to convert to a polyline, so I can export it as a Profile.

Instead of using the polyline tool, it was drawn using lines and arcs, as lots of curves are involved (and these are not easy to do with the polyline of course). Since the help says you can also convert an imported object to a profile (after exploding it) I assumed that lines and arcs could also be converted to profiles too, but they can't apparently as they are not one continuous line.

When I select the Join Polyline tool and click one of the lines or arc segments, I get a message saying "Object is not a polyline - do you want to make it one?" so I say Yes. Presumably I can continue working around the object and convert each segment to a Polyline but I assume there must be some way to convert the whole object to a polyline at once. I can't find it if there is. The only reference in Help that I can find is under Join Polyline but seems to be a line by line process, but even then it does not seem to become one line and so won't convert to a Profile.

Is there not other way than drawing it all again using the polyline tool?
If importing an object how does that get converted to a polyline since it also is just individual lines?
Can anyone throw and light on this?

Allan

[FynrDzynr]

G'day Allan!
iirc I just select all the remaining entities "by crossing" but can't remember if I've ever included a mix of lines & arcs.
Medication kicking in so can't check now, sorry
Merv

[stephan]

Hi Allan,

I've never had the need to do that. I normally don't go into such detail with a project.

What I can tell you, is that this is now where I miss some tools from skp. There you would draw the section of the profile, as you have done, skp will make it a surface automatically, and you just use the "follow me" tool on a pre-drawn path. It works very similar to our walls in Ev at this stage.

If you have skp, you can import those lines there, make a custom profile and import it as skp to EV. Will that maybe work?

Good luck, sorry I can't be of more help!
Stephan

[stephan]

Hi Allan,

Me again, You got me thinking about this. Here is what I found. Look at the sample below. When the two small curves that are encircled in red, were sharp edges, much smaller than 90 deg., the convert to poly line would only join the bottom part as a poly line and the top part as a polyline. The moment I added the two small curves, it created a complete polyline.

Here is how I did it:I selecte all the lines by holding the "shift" key down. I then selected, modify, join polyline. It then asked the same question as you got. I then held shift down again, selected them all, and right click, and enter. It created this polyline in no time. So, maybe just check your profile for funny, very sharp c
"connection" points.

Hope this helps
Stephan

[stephan]

Hi Allan,

You got me going on this. I've just done a much more complex polyline and after it asked whether I wanted to convert, I clicked yes and just dragged my mouse from right to left over all the seperate lines drawn, right clicked, enter, and there it was. I don't know how complex yours is, but you can mail it to me if you want(if you don't come right by following the steps I mentioned), and I can see if I can get it going for you.

Regards
Stephan
stephan@polybuild.org

[Allan Chesney]

Hi Stephan,

I have tried dragging left to right, right to left, top to bottom, etc etc etc but it makes no difference. Some parts have connected but others just wont. I have zoomed in ultra close on all the joins and they are fine. I have given up and just traced the original with a polyline. With Object Snap on it was easy enough. Just dont have the time to keep experimenting.

Thanks for your offer to help!

Allan

[Allan Chesney]

Hi again Stephan,

This was still annoying me, as some segments had connected and 3 others hadn't, so I zoomed in on these joins again, thinking they must be broken somehow - and they were!! 

You certainly could not see it normally. The window zoom got so small it would not work any more, so mouse zoomed dozens of scrolls, until finally a gap was visible. I used a dimension line to measure it (.02 of a mm - I am impressed that the dimension lines can go so small and still work!!!).

Motto of the story - make sure Object Snap is on all the time during the process!!
AND - dont' blame the tools - blame the operator! 

Allan

[Allan Chesney]

Back again:


I could not believe I did not have Object Snap on all the time (no reason to keep turning it off and on when just drawing an outline), so I did some further testing. I had assumed that Object Snap worked if the two 'ends' came within 4 pixel of each other (as per the Object Snap setting in Drawing Aids). I set it to 10 Pixels and found that the little box at the cursor grew proportionately (obviously to 10 pixels). If that box represents the 'snap area' then there is no way that they should not have joined in the first place.

Subsequest tests showed that the ends were in fact still not joining (if I zoomed in REALLY CLOSE the two ends were apart) even though Object Snap was on!  Only by moving the ends together, when zoomed in microscopically close, could I get them to snap together. This raises more questions:

Does the cursor 'box' size actually represent the pixel size defined (as it seems to)?
Is there something else that can stop the Object Snap from working, even within the pixel range defined?

Allan

[Chantale]

Make sure you don't have grid snap on or it could be trying to snap on a grid not to an object.

[Allan Chesney]

Hi Chantale,

Yes I did notice that too. I am going to have another go at the whole thing from the start again. I have played with this one too much, so it is anyone's guess now what has happened wit it. I have learned a lot so hopefully with a new start everything will work OK.

I have just had a look at that again and that could not have been the issue as the grid lines are far too far away (and the Grid Snap definately is off).

Allan

[stephan]

Hi Allan,

I've reported something similar in model view quite a while ago. I woul insert a basin or cabinet in a corner and when I zoomed in enough, found that when I would insert a view in worksheet( before smart views existed), there would be double lines. I was asked, how much do I want to zoom in. The point is not about zooming in, the point is that it should snap so acuurately, that it becomes(shows) one line only. I think the same thing is happening here maybe.?

Will also try it more in detail with the polyline tool.

Good luck
Stephan

[Allan Chesney]

Hi Stephan,

I have not had a problem when using the Polyline tool - only one join. The problem has been with using a combination of straights and arcs where there are many joins to be compromised. Sone joins were a slight overlap - microscopic!! - but they then mean it will not conveet to a polyline and hence not to a profile either.

Anyway, I have played with this so much I want to do it all again with a totally different combination of lines, making sure Gridsnap is off and Object Snap is on, so I can convince myself it is OK (or not).

Allan

[stephan]

Hi Allan,

I've done a quick test with what I explained in my earlier post. There are 4 pic's. The first one shows a pedestal basin inserted in model view, zoomed in. All looks fine. The second shows that same basin in model view, zoomed in so much, you can't select anything. You can see two seperate lines for the basin and wall surface. The next two pictures show the same in worksheet view. All is fine, because it shows as one line, even if zoomed in so much that you can not select anything else anymore.

The problem that I have, is when you start to add in floors, pads, ceilings etc., the small gap that was created in model view, leaves gaps in worksheet view, which in turn means extra lines to clean up. At this stage it is not that serious, but since Cadsoft is working towards perfection of the working tools in Envisioneer, I think they should be made aware of things like this. It can only make our experience using the software so much more pleasurable.

Nothing mean or any harm meant. I have seen much worse with much more expensive programs before.

Regards
Stephan

[Allan Chesney]

Hi Chantale and Stephan,

I have proved that lines do not always snap together or, in this case, the Fillet-Radius breakes the line, so it will not convert to a polyline and then to a Profile.

For the test I just drew a right angled line using the Line tool. It was drawn anticlockwise, from the bottom up, one click, then to the left and final click. I then used the Fillet-Radius to round the corner. This was to be the start of a new profile but out of curiosity I zoomed in really close and found the line ends were separated. The gap was microscopic as I used the Dimension line to measure it and the WHOLE SCREEN WIDTH measured just 0.1mm. (NOT 1mm - 1/1Oth of a mm) -that was the WHOLE SCREEN NOT THE GAP. The gap measured as 0.0mm.

The other end of the Fillet-Radius (top of image) was also broken by a microscopic amount, as were two subsequent ones. The broken ones were 10 degree and two 8 degrees. Four 3 degree radius curves were OK. I am not sure now whether it is the Object Snap that is the problem, or the Fillet Radius at these specific degrees, or some other circumstance.

Obviously at normal resolution, this gap would be totally invisible and would not matter at all, except that the lines will not convert to a polyline because of the breaks and so cannot be made into a profile (unless you zoom in mircro close and manually join the ends).

Maybe this could be tested to see if other have the same problem.

Allan

[FynrDzynr]

G'day Allan!
Can you be more specific with your dimensions & radii?
So far I've been unable to duplicate that here.
I used the mm template that shipped with 7.2 but set my precision for units to #.#
Disabled GRID & GRIDSNAP
On a worksheet I drew 4 lines to form a rectangle (anticlockwise) 190 high x 35 wide to represent the stock used for a fancy skirting.
I set fillet radius to 6mm and filleted each corner to get the "pencil round" look.
Select the first segment drawn, MODIFY - JOIN POYLINE (yes, I've only just noticed this blooper) - asked if I want to convert it? - Yes, add all other lines & arcs selecting them all "by crossing". It did as I requested resulting in 1 polyline.
Exactly the same occurred if I drew clockwise and selected a line at random.
EXPLODEd the polyline but instead of 4 arcs I was presented with 6mm chamfers!

I then set my fillet radius to 2.5mm, filleted all 8 intersections, selected one of the chamfer segments at random, JOIN POLYLINE - YES - select all lines & arcs "by crossing" and the result was just as expected. 1 polyline that I moved & there was nothing left behind.

Merv (coping with at least 3 possums practising for the Olympics on my colorbond roof - sounds like they're just as fast as Sally Pearson out of the blocks  )