Wishes
Post your wishes about Graphisoft products: Archicad, BIMx, BIMcloud, and DDScad.

Combine Line + Arc Tools

James B
Graphisoft
Graphisoft
I often use lines and arc to set up before creating the 3d model, also I need to work DWG files frequently.

Problems I face having 2 separate tools for lines and arcs:
1. Extending an arc and line together, I have to select each tool and often accidentally trim elements because I forgot to switch tools
2. Unable to copy properties between an arc and line
3. Inconsistent behaviour that I can covert a line to an arc and back again (ie covert from 1 tool type to another, we can't convert walls to slabs for instance so why in this situation?)
4. There doesn't seem to be any difference between either tool, technically they seem to be the same (identical settings)
5. When lines and arcs are connected, I can offset all elements (inconsistent behaviour)
6. Selecting multiple elements it's a little confusing when you change properties it only affects either lines or arcs (unless I use the Edit Selection Set).

It's nice that I have the check box for consistent settings between 2d elements but only useful for creation.

Like the wall tool where you have straight and curved drawing options, the same could be implemented for lines and arcs.

Can you combine the two tools please?
James Badcock
Graphisoft Senior Product Manager
6 REPLIES 6
Rod Jurich
Contributor
James wrote:
/........

Can you combine the two tools please?
........... +1
Good suggestion James.
Rod Jurich
AC4.55 - AC14 INT (4204) |  | OBJECTiVE |
Barry Kelly
Moderator
James wrote:
Like the wall tool where you have straight and curved drawing options, the same could be implemented for lines and arcs.

Can you combine the two tools please?
Haven't they done this already - the polyline tool?
Barry.
One of the forum moderators.
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James B
Graphisoft
Graphisoft
Barry wrote:
Haven't they done this already - the polyline tool?
Barry.
When doing 2d work, I tend to prefer lines/arc rather than the polyline.
Polyline is a little more difficult to work with I feel, takes more clicks (3 clicks to draw a single line vs 2), and if you want to remove a line segment from a polyline you need to either trim or split it.
For setout of ideas, I prefer lines and arc as the shapes they define will constantly be changing which tends to be less flexible with polyline.
James Badcock
Graphisoft Senior Product Manager
Anonymous
Not applicable
I agree. I can think of many occasions when I've changed the properties of lines, and later found that the curved bits got left out of the selection at some point.

For what it's worth I hate polylines - especially if I'm working on someone else's drawing. Why won't this line behave as I expect? Oh, of course, it's not a line; it's a polyline. I explode it. Now it's a group. I ungroup it. What a time-waster! Not to mention the idiosyncratic way that polylines handle broken or chained line-types.

A colleague of mine had a good idea. Open the drawing. Select all polylines. Explode them.
Anonymous
Not applicable
Maybe I'm not getting the wish.... but whilst drawing using the line tool, you can create circles and arcs. Is this not what you want?
line_arc.jpg
James B
Graphisoft
Graphisoft
Steven wrote:
Maybe I'm not getting the wish.... but whilst drawing using the line tool, you can create circles and arcs. Is this not what you want?
This is part of the inconsistency of the 2d tools. I can curve a line, but they it turns into a different object.
If I select a line and arc, and open properties it'll either change the line OR arc (I know I can then use "edit selection set"). Also, I can take properties from a line and inject them into an arc.
There doesn't seem to be any reason for having them as separate tools...
James Badcock
Graphisoft Senior Product Manager