Arrow heads

[andrew]

From a QCAD user:

How can I add arrowheads to lines and arcs?

[andrew]

Contrary to illustrative drawing software, line ends cannot be decorated in CAD in general.
One common way is to create a block that represents the arrow or other line end decoration. The reference point of the block should coincide with the corner of the arrow which will be at the line end point.
This block can then be inserted at line ends whenever needed.

[Rtech]

Contrary to illustrative drawing software, line ends cannot be decorated in CAD in general.

It happens that I need arrows too and have spent the last two days searching for a solution. I don't believe in stereotypes -they have no ground on CAD or on anything else, the software (any software) should be flexible and extensible to also cover the needs for the few who create the unusual, otherwise if it strictly serves the common needs, it will seriously limit progress and novelty and even efficiency and final quality too.

One common way is to create a block that represents the arrow or other line end decoration. The reference point of the block should coincide with the corner of the arrow which will be at the line end point.
This block can then be inserted at line ends whenever needed.

Except if there is a need for full interactivity to place, extend and rotate the arrow at will, like with lines, right?

The only "solution" I found is to export an image and post-process it in a vector graphics software (with good arrow support). Although it can produce some really cool results it's too much of a hassle and you end up with pixels instead of a vector format.

Qcad already has some arrow-decorated lines, so my question is: Is there a possibility of a quick "hack" to include a single-arrowhead version aside the repeated ones bellow? Also a couple of different arrowheads wouldn't harm...

arrows.png (2.29 KiB) Viewed 7137 times

EDIT: I just found out about the D,E command but the arrowhead is too small to see in my case and linetype scale doesn't work (bug?):

arrows3.PNG (1.89 KiB) Viewed 7132 times

And if I make it pure white, it turns black! (bug?)


QCAD Pro v3.15.2
Win 7 64

[andrew]

Qcad already has some arrow-decorated lines, so my question is: Is there a possibility of a quick "hack" to include a single-arrowhead version aside the repeated ones bellow? Also different arrowheads wouldn't harm...

This is a line type pattern defined in linetypes/metric/qcadiso.lin. This particular line type is commonly used in CAD to indicate a direction of a flow. This method cannot be used for line endings.

If you need a simple arrow with a line, you can use a leader (Dimension > Leader).

[andrew]

EDIT: I just found out about the D,E command but the arrowhead is too small to see in my case

Edit > Drawing Preferences > Dimension Settings > Arrow Size

And if I make it pure white, it turns black! (bug?)

Edit > Application Preferences > Graphics View > Appearance > Prevent white on white / black on black display

[Rtech]

EDIT: I just found out about the D,E command but the arrowhead is too small to see in my case

Edit > Drawing Preferences > Dimension Settings > Arrow Size

And if I make it pure white, it turns black! (bug?)

Edit > Application Preferences > Graphics View > Appearance > Prevent white on white / black on black display

Those two settings made the whole difference! Thanks!!!