Offset Constraint for existing lines

thomas_aa

I often end up sketching parallel sections of lines for inner and outer surfaces of objects. Sometimes I know that this will happen and use the Offset tool from the start. Other times I realize this after sketching a number of lines. In this case it would be handy to be able to add the offset constraint after the fact, instead of drawing construction lines with Equal constraints to get the offset behavior.

Please make it possible to apply "Offset" as a constraint to existing lines/line groups.

john_mcclary

Instead of drawing the offset lines. Use the offset tool instead.


If you need to add additional lines to the same offset. Then use the offset command again for the new lines. Then delete the offset dimension and constrain one of the end points of the old offsets with the new offset. This will allow you to only need the original offset dimension

mahir

@thomas_aa,
I've occasionally had similar thoughts over the years. But unfortunately, I don't see this happening. It's a pretty niche feature that generally speaking would be a slight convenience but isn't really necessary. Deleting your existing lines and creating a new offset isn't fun, but it's not terrible. I don't know of any other CAD, and I've used pleny, that allows this. 

romeograham

One feature that I really miss from SW is the ability to replace references for constraints. I am pretty sure this worked for sketch offsets too....so when you change your geometry and the offset fails (as it should) you could say "now offset from this line instead of that old one"...

It worked pretty well, I think.

I haven't worked much in SW for the last couple of years, so I don't know if this feature has gotten better, or was just a figment of my imagination in the first place!