How to draw straight up/down or left/right?

[neeboy74]

Please do NOT tell me there is no way to force the program to draw a simple straight, flat line. I don't want to "eyeball" it using the visible numbers and I also don't want to go back and edit the angles after having drawn the outline of a geometric figure. CAD is supposed to make our lives easier!

Any program that claims to have drawing capabilities should be able to do this. Up until now I've been considering getting a Carvewright, but if I can't easily draw a truly flat, zero-degree line (or 90 degree line) then I'll be outta here.

[Dave-Carve]

What kind of work do you or did u do before trying to carve with this machine ?????????????

Straight Line right to Left angle = 0 degrees:o
Straight line up and down angle = 90 degrees:o

What are you trying to do ???????????????

IM LOST ?????

If you cannot make a straight line cut
Maybe you shouldnt purchase one of these machines !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! After all anyway , Bye, Smart choice

[swhitney]

Could also use the "Snap to" tool and "grid lines on" to get the same result

[BobHill]

Nee,

What are you trying to make vertical or horizontal and straight? If it's a path line, of course, you can. Make your path and don't sweat it's angle or straightness accuracy, then when done, in an orderly manner (progressive or you'll run into trouble), use the Vector tools, and angle and measurement numbers to edit the originals. Don't be afraid to use the Zoom in/out tool and go from Vertex (node/point) to Vertex. Click on the green angle or blue length number to edit the angle, length to exact measurement you need (and it'll turn yellow to show it's now constrained). If it's yellow and needs changing, Right Click it and remove Constraint so it can be edited. If a line is NOT straight or absolutely vertical or horizontal and should be, use the Vertical or Horizontal Tool and just click onthe line and it will be so. You don't have to be progressive to do this last, so you can do it first, if you like, doing all verticals before being progressive with your editing of dimensions/angles. Be sure to click on the line, not a Vertex point or center node when using any of the Vertex tools. I've attached a random vector design I quickly drew, then copied to make changes with the tools as an example. Remember you can also use the ChangeForm tool to make a straight line arced and vice versa.

Bob

[neeboy74]

In AutoCAD, you can turn on a mode called "ortho" and the program will always draw either straight up and down or straight across. In other programs where you draw lines, you can hold down the "Shift" key and the line will be forced to draw straight.

What do you Carvewright "experts" do if you want to cut a square piece of material or anything else with a 90 degree angle in it? Are you really going to tell me that you go back and edit every single line?

Sure, using the snap/grid would be nice, but apparently no one who designed this software has ever seen a real tape measure. In the "Snap to Grid" dialog box, you can't enter anything past 3 decimal places. 1/16" = .1875, NOT .187.

[Jeff_Birt]

If you want to draw an orthogonal line:

1) Click to start your line, drag it to your the size and position of your liking

2) As you drag the second end point and get near the position where the line would be orthogonal the line will snap to the orthogonal position and an parallel indicator bar '--' will appear at the lines mid point as you are now parallel with the boards horizontal (or vertical) center line.

The help file does a good job of covering some of this....

[BobHill]

Nee,

I believe you'll find that Designer's measurements are accurate to five (at least four) decimal places, although it'll only SHOW three figures in the dialog box. This is also true of CorelDraw and Adobe Illustrator. Until Designer is updated to allow other vector program formats or attributes, however, you are just frustrating yourself (as most of us have done in the past) to compare and try to work Designer with what we are experienced with in those outside programs. Designer's vector abilities are NOT based on AutoCAD, but more inclined to another, perhaps SolidWorks, but memory fails at this point.

Bob