Drawing walls by reference

[Anonymous]

Sorry for the very basic question. Attached screenshot should indicate clearly my question - how to begin and end a wall (or any other element) by reference to already drawn elements?

I have read a few prior posts which are close to what I am looking for, but solutions are not working for me. Thank you for your help.

[Anonymous]

Thanks, David, for the translation to Imperial. I knew there was something different, but was not sure what.

[David Maudlin]

Glad to help gents. Just one of the "advantages" of living in an Imperial world. I would not expect a metric user to be aware of this.

David

[Anonymous]

Hi, I have another very basic question I can't answer on my own, trying to move an object a specific distance from a known reference point, please see attached. Thank you very much for any help.

[David Maudlin]

Paul:

1. Select the window
2. Invoke the Drag command
3. Click on the hotspot you want to use on the window
4. Drag the window to the corner
5. Type "x 21.5" - -"
6. Hit Enter or Return

This works for placing any element relative to any point.

David

[Anonymous]

Thank you

[Anonymous]

David wrote:
Paul:

1. Select the window
2. Invoke the Drag command
3. Click on the hotspot you want to use on the window
4. Drag the window to the corner
5. Type "x 21.5" - -"
6. Hit Enter or Return

This works for placing any element relative to any point.

David

Thanks again David - one problem I have consistently is:

When the cursor hovers over the intersection I want to draw relative to, I enter x or y and the tracker displays the coordinates of some other origin, and when I enter the distance I want to offset, the element is started or placed relative to that other origin, not to the point where my cursor is hovering.

My workaround is to manually create a user origin (Shift + Opt click) on the point I want to start from and then things work just as you have described.

I have tried this with "Show X-Y Coordinates relative to User origin in Tracker" checked both on and off with same results.

Sorry for this long message, I hope the question is clear - essentially I want to avoid the step of manually setting the User Origin, and I guess from your instructions this should be possible. Maybe another setting that I have wrong.

Thanks again,

Pail

[David Maudlin]

Paul:

What you observe is true, but it is not necessary to relocate the User Origin to use this method. When you hit the "x" key, the distance in the Tracker is shown from the User Origin, after entering the distance the Tracker is showing the changed distance, again from the User Origin, but this difference is the distance you want to move the element. (This is the same behavior shown in the Coordinates Palette.) So ignore the Tracker if that helps, as long as the input is relative (the + or - follows the input distance), then the drag distance will be correct. You can check this using the User Origin if you need to verify the drag.

David