Draw poly lines by indicating lengths

[ChiCork]

Hi there, I just started up with QCAD Pro. I used AutoCAD many eons ago and when doing architectural drafting, I would start a polyline at a given point, either by entering coordinates in the command line or snapping to a vertex on an existing line. I would move my mouse in the general direction of the line and it wouldn't snap to the grid but it would remain at right angles- 0, 90, 180, etc. In the command line I would enter a distance in either feet or inches, and the line would continue. I can't figure out how to do this in QCAD, specifically-

1) move mouse and snap the cursor to a 0/90/180/270 angle, but not on the grid.
2) enter lengths of the next segment in the command line while moving my mouse in the approximate intended direction

Can anyone explain or point me to the appropriate resource? Thanks!

[ChiCork]

Bueller? Bueller?

If neither of these are possible, would anyone mind sharing how they are drafting in QCAD? Say I am at a client's house and taking dimensions of an existing part of the house. I'm sitting at their kitchen table with my laptop and mouse. I start a line in the corner of their kitchen by clicking on my grid. I measure 12' 6 3/4" to a doorway and want to enter that segment.

I gather from the silence that I am not able to simply enter "12' 6 3/4" or something like that in the command line to complete that line. So in order to finish that segment, and assuming that I am starting at coordinates 0,0 on the grid, is my only option to enter "12,6.75" in the command line to indicate where I want that segment to end? That's easy enough when drawing a line from 0,0, but once I am half way around the room, this means that I have to do the math on every segment to figure the difference in my current and intended coordinates? That seems nuts.

How are people drafting? Can anyone point me to a video tutorial that shows someone actually drafting? I'm super excited about QCAD and eager to put it to work, but this is a pretty critical thing for me to figure out! Thanks-

[Clackulator]

Here are two ways to do this:

Relative Coordinates at the Command Line

Instead of typing coordinates as x,y use @x,y. Let's make a square on the command line:

1. li <Enter>
2. 0,0 <Enter>
3. @10,0 <Enter>
4. @0,10 <Enter>
5. @-10,0 <Enter>
6. @0,-10 <Enter>

Using the Coordinate Snap Tool

relative_coordinate_entry.jpg (197.55 KiB) Viewed 5116 times

[CVH]

Hi,

I think you have to get familiar with the program like we all did.

To start drawing a polyline choose Draw/Polyline/Draw Polyline.(PL)
You will be asked for the first vertex. (bottom of the screen)
There are countless ways you can enter that.
Simply clicking a reference is one.
That could be the grid or any reference that can be snapped to or a free point.
Build up guides with construction lines to provide common and custom references.
You can enter dims and complete reference points in the command line. absolute or relative.
After the first vertex you get the choise between next vertex or done.
Pushing 'Alt' will limit orthogonal.
Drafting there are usually the snap options that are active.
There you have the relative zero too.

As you see,
To much options.
Regards,
CVH

[riverbuoy]

Hi ChlCork,

You can draw lines just as you did in Autocad. The key to snapping to angles is the snap option 'Snap to Angle or distance', (two letter shortcut is 'EL').

Start the line command, select the first point, then type EL. Four boxes appear in the options toolbar, Angle, Base, Distance , Base. Tick the box to the left of the Angle box to activate it. This constrains the mouse to snap to multiples of the angle in the box (default is fifteen degrees), so it snaps to 0, 15, 30, 45 .....etc.

Move the mouse in the direction you want, then type the distance in the command line, followed by 'enter'. You can do this as often as you wish.

This works the same way for polylines, and all other commands expecting point entry.

Hope this helps.

Regards

riverbuoy