topic Stretchy 2D symbol made from fragments? in Libraries & objects

Stretchy 2D symbol made from fragments?

Paul King — Tue, 25 Feb 2020 05:54:32 GMT

It has been too long since I have had a chance to do much with GDL, so hoping someone has a quick and easy solution.

I have a bunch of 2D objects based on drawn fragments that can be parametrically switched off and on.

I would like to be able to stretch these when placed by dragging corner hotspots, but no combination of settings in object editing dialog seems to allow this.

I seem to recall it being possible at one time. In face I recall this tendency being an actual problem in some cases.

I have been playing with compatibility options in particular (saving object and reloading libraries each time), but none of these options has any noticeable affect on stretchability, though I could have sworn they once did.

What am I missing?

More importantly, how can I otherwise rapidly rescale a placed dumb 2D object independently in an x or y direction (accepting the distortion of curved elements etc) - without resorting to elaborate scripting to generate each line in the symbol ?

Re: Stretchy 2D symbol made from fragments?

Barry Kelly — Tue, 25 Feb 2020 06:34:10 GMT

The compatibility options you show have nothing to do with what you want.
The store ration button you have selected just means if you change the A or B value in the object script and re-save the object, it will affect all placed instances of that object.
The other one for 'Store Fixed Values' is the better option.

What you want is a simple MUL2 command before the FRAGMENT command.

So let's assume you have a default A value of 1000mm and a default B value of 1000mm in your object.

MUL2 A/1.000, B/1.000
FRAGMENT2 1,0
DEL 1

This should now stretch as you adjust the A and B values in the place object instance.
You could also add adjustable hotspots to make the stretchy graphical.

Barry.

Re: Stretchy 2D symbol made from fragments?

Paul King — Tue, 25 Feb 2020 06:36:52 GMT

Awesome, thanks Barry

My 10 years younger self kicks present day me in the shins for forgetting about that stuff!