Rectangle button doesn't appear

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donwiss
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Rectangle button doesn't appear

Post by donwiss » Tue May 12, 2015 5:31 pm

I am evaluating various 2D CAD programs. It isn't easy to find one that isn't bloated with 3D features.

I have the free version. I started following the preview of Andrew Muston's QCAD: An Introduction... book. On page 21 he shows to click the Line Tools. Then to click the Rectangle. But the Rectangle does not appear. Where did it go? For the simple things that I want to do I need the rectangle. The software is kind of useless without this shape.

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andrew
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Re: Rectangle button doesn't appear

Post by andrew » Tue May 12, 2015 5:47 pm

Draw > Shape

donwiss
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Re: Rectangle button doesn't appear

Post by donwiss » Tue May 12, 2015 5:59 pm

Okay. I stumbled on the Rectangle on the Shape Tools menu. I gather the book is out-of-date? It is a rather expensive book. I wonder how many other things are wrong in the book?

My next problem is it doesn't show fractions. I went to Dimension Settings. I selected Fractional. Some times it stays. Some times it reverts back to Engineering. But even when set to Fractional, when I'm drawing a rectangle the dimensions shown at the bottom are in decimals. Decimals are useless to me. In woodworking in the US everything is a fraction of an inch.

So far it looks like QCAD isn't going to be the one for me.

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andrew
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Re: Rectangle button doesn't appear

Post by andrew » Tue May 12, 2015 7:04 pm

donwiss wrote:Okay. I stumbled on the Rectangle on the Shape Tools menu. I gather the book is out-of-date? It is a rather expensive book. I wonder how many other things are wrong in the book?
Fair point. It is possible that some menus or dialogs have changed slightly. Nothing major though. The main point of the book is to teach you the concepts of CAD and the workings of QCAD.
My next problem is it doesn't show fractions. I went to Dimension Settings. I selected Fractional. Some times it stays. Some times it reverts back to Engineering. But even when set to Fractional, when I'm drawing a rectangle the dimensions shown at the bottom are in decimals. Decimals are useless to me. In woodworking in the US everything is a fraction of an inch.
My guess is that you are changing defaults for new drawings in Edit > Application Preferences. Try Edit > Drawing Preferences instead.
So far it looks like QCAD isn't going to be the one for me.
I work with people who are new to CAD / QCAD a lot and find that the most important precondition for learning CAD is a positive attitude towards learning something new. I hope you can turn that one around ;)

donwiss
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Re: Rectangle button doesn't appear

Post by donwiss » Tue May 12, 2015 7:29 pm

My guess is that you are changing defaults for new drawings in Edit > Application Preferences. Try Edit > Drawing Preferences instead.
I was going to Edit -> Drawing Preferences -> Dimension -> Dimension Settings. And I see that Label Format Linear Dimensions has reverted back to engineering, yet again. I do press Apply. I don't see any place else to set to Fractional.

When I draw something I need to see fractions along the bottom. Everything I will be drawing is 18" or less. Sometimes much less.

I don't know what scale is now being shown in the main field. The numbers now range up to 120.

My problem is all software packages I've looked at are much more complicated than I need. Right now I am drawing floor border patterns. Floors are flat. Wood pieces are either rectangular, or have a 45° angle. That's it.

I would also like to draw wood molding profiles. For them there are curves.

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Husky
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Re: Rectangle button doesn't appear

Post by Husky » Tue May 12, 2015 8:49 pm

Hi
donwiss wrote:When I draw something I need to see fractions along the bottom.
May I ask you why? If I draw a line, rectangle or what ever I just need to put in my fractional dimensions. E.g rectangle width 11 3/8 and height 8 7/64.
Husky-2015.05.12-01.png
Husky-2015.05.12-01.png (38.49 KiB) Viewed 12399 times
No need to see additional fractional information in the Status bar - unless you are just guessing the measurements ...
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donwiss
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Re: Rectangle button doesn't appear

Post by donwiss » Tue May 12, 2015 9:02 pm

Okay. That makes a lot of sense. That would be the way that I input it.

As you can tell I am a total neophyte when it comes to CAD. But on my screen, when I make the Rectangle the active tool, I see the Create polyline check box. I check it. But none of the other input fields appear to the right of the checkbox.

I also need to set a template that starts me with a background of around 15" x 24".

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andrew
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Re: Rectangle button doesn't appear

Post by andrew » Tue May 12, 2015 9:10 pm

donwiss wrote:And I see that Label Format Linear Dimensions has reverted back to engineering, yet again.
I cannot reproduce this. It is possible that the format reverts to Decimal if your drawing unit is not set to Inch.
So that's something you might want to check:
Edit > Drawing Preferences > Drawing Unit
donwiss wrote:I don't know what scale is now being shown in the main field. The numbers now range up to 120.
There is no scale applied to anything. All coordinates are real size (1:1). You should almost always construct 1:1 when using CAD.

donwiss
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Re: Rectangle button doesn't appear

Post by donwiss » Tue May 12, 2015 9:34 pm

donwiss wrote:
And I see that Label Format Linear Dimensions has reverted back to engineering, yet again.

I cannot reproduce this. It is possible that the format reverts to Decimal if your drawing unit is not set to Inch.
So that's something you might want to check:
Edit > Drawing Preferences > Drawing Unit
It is easy for me to reproduce. I change to Fractional. I click Apply. I click Ok. I close the software. I reopen the software. And it is back to Engineering.

My Drawing Units (both Paper and Drawing) are set to Inch.

My changing of Page Orientation to Landscape also doesn't stick. But I think I see what the problem is. I am not saving any drawing. I thought these were preferences that I could set once and not deal with. It looks like I have to set these every time I start a new drawing. Bummer.

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andrew
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Re: Rectangle button doesn't appear

Post by andrew » Tue May 12, 2015 9:45 pm

donwiss wrote:It is easy for me to reproduce. I change to Fractional. I click Apply. I click Ok. I close the software. I reopen the software. And it is back to Engineering.
Just so we're on the same page:
This setting is stored as part of your drawing file. So if you change the setting, save your drawing and later reopen it, the setting should still be the same. The setting does NOT affect any new drawings or other drawings.
My changing of Page Orientation to Landscape also doesn't stick. But I think I see what the problem is. I am not saving any drawing. I thought these were preferences that I could set once and not deal with. It looks like I have to set these every time I start a new drawing. Bummer.
Now we're getting there. What you're looking for in that case are the default settings for new drawings. That would NOT be in Edit > Drawing Preferences but in Edit > Application Preferences instead.

In other words:
- Drawing Preferences affect your current drawing. That's the drawing you're looking at when you choose Edit > Drawing Preferences
- Application Preferences are global preferences which have no effect on the current drawing. The "Defaults for new Drawings" have an effect on newly created drawings.

I understand how this can be confusing. I'm sure you'll get the hang of it though.

donwiss
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Re: Rectangle button doesn't appear

Post by donwiss » Tue May 12, 2015 10:12 pm

Okay. I get it. Thanks. I also found why there were no dimensions when I had the Rectangle active. There are two Rectangle tools. I just had to select the second one.

I'm now trying to figure out Auto Snap. I don't want to snap to any artificial grid. But in flooring all shapes have to touch the adjacent shape. And often to the corners also.

After I draw a rectangle, at times I want to collapse one corner and turn it into a right triangle. Or collapse a corner part way, to turn the shape into a parallelogram. In flooring there are only five shapes: rectangles, right triangles, parallelograms, Isosceles trapezoids, and right trapezoids. Sometimes the shapes are rotated 45°. Angles are almost always 45°.

I have been knocking them out on paper and then scanning them. I'm not allowed to post web links here. But if you add the usual extension to facenailedfloorborders you can see examples. I just started this project. It could be endless. Brooklyn has many homes with pretty floor borders.

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Husky
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Re: Rectangle button doesn't appear

Post by Husky » Wed May 13, 2015 1:54 am

donwiss wrote:I'm now trying to figure out Auto Snap. I don't want to snap to any artificial grid. But in flooring all shapes have to touch the adjacent shape. And often to the corners also.
Good idea! Get familiar with the snap tools - you need them all the time. If you like to check out what are the settings for the "Auto snap" tool go to "Edit / Application Preferences:
Husky-2015.05.12-02.png
Husky-2015.05.12-02.png (38.87 KiB) Viewed 12390 times
Tick / Untick what ever you like to have on your "Auto snap" hands! :wink:

donwiss wrote:After I draw a rectangle, at times I want to collapse one corner and turn it into a right triangle. Or collapse a corner part way, to turn the shape into a parallelogram. In flooring there are only five shapes: rectangles, right triangles, parallelograms, Isosceles trapezoids, and right trapezoids. Sometimes the shapes are rotated 45°. Angles are almost always 45°.
I think I get the idea ... and it is very easy to draw something like that with QCad:
Husky-2015.05.12-04.png
Husky-2015.05.12-04.png (9.81 KiB) Viewed 12390 times
donwiss wrote:Brooklyn has many homes with pretty floor borders.
I checked the website - very nice borders! 8)
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andrew
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Re: Rectangle button doesn't appear

Post by andrew » Wed May 13, 2015 12:34 pm

QCAD 3.9.3 is now online with an updated status bar that displays coordinated in the chosen dimension format (e.g. fractional or decimal).

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andrew
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Re: Rectangle button doesn't appear

Post by andrew » Wed May 13, 2015 12:34 pm

QCAD 3.9.3 is now online with an updated status bar that displays coordinated in the chosen dimension format (e.g. fractional or decimal).
http://qcad.org/changelog

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