Setting line orientation

[JimStaley]

I drew a line from the centerpoint, 3.625" long. I wanted the line to be at 85 degrees. I right-clicked on the line and chose Orientation, then Set angle... The angle happened to be 74.0 degrees. I replaced the 74.0 with 85 and received the error message "The constraint you entered could not be completed because it conflicts with a competing constraint". Makes no sense to me. What could be the competing constraint? How do I get a line with a particular orientation with this software?

[rjustice]

Jim,
It sounds like you have constrained the geometry. If you have dimensions that are yellow they are constrained or "locked". If both ends of the line endpoints are constrained, it cant change the angle. To remove the constraint simply right click on the dimension and remove attachment. You can then change the angle by clicking in the angle box in the menu area, and make it what ever you want.

Hope this helps....

Ron

[JimStaley]

Thanks. I can specify the angle if I don't specify the origin and length, but it still seems strange. If one end of a line is set at 0,0 and the length is set at any value, I see no constraint on the angle. It could be any value without changing the length or the origin. What is constraining the angle from being any value? I Maybe it's the terminology of the error message hat's confusing me.

[rjustice]

It sounds like the endpoint of the line that is oppisite the x0y0 has a constrained dimension on it. Perhaps it is the dimension that is creating your line length, and it is tied to either the x or y axis. This would keep the angle from changing. I just tried it a few different ways, and it works fine for me if there is no constrained geometry on the endpoint oppisite the x0y0.

Ron

[JimStaley]

I'm not sure what you mean by "the line opposite the x0,y0." If I start with a new project and draw a line and set one end at 0,0 and set the length to a new value. I can't set the angle. After one end and the length are in yellow, I can't change the angle. Are you saying that you can change the angle in that case?

[rjustice]

What i was saying was the endpoint of the line that is oppisite the point that is on x0y0

Ok... here is how i did it .... Use the line tool. pick an arbitrary point well away from the center of the board. Left click, and hold down.... drag the cursor away on a 45 degree angle and release it. This will give you a line in space with 2 dimensions that are green to the start point. If you double click on the dimensions one at a time and set them to zero, they turn yellow. This means that they are now constrained to what ever dimension you typed in (in this case you set them to zero so they end up on top of each other when you are done).... Now notice that the line length is blue... you can click on it and set it to what ever lenght you want. It is now constrained. you can now go up above the graphics window and in the angle box, click and type what ever angle you want....

Give that a try...

Ron

[Dan-Woodman]

What I do is this.
The first click you make on the board is your pivit point just click drag your line click again. Your angle should appear in the angle wondow box.

[Digitalwoodshop]

Something else to watch. If you try to update a restraint or yellow number sometimes it does strange things, like changing the size of text that is already yellow.

Try this.... After manually setting a restraint seeing it being yellow, right click on it and select remove restraint. It will turn green again. Then change it to the new number. Changing a already restrained number "can", but not always give you unexpected results.

Good Luck,

AL