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How to "close" vectors in an imported DXF
tim_schubach
Member Posts: 8 ✭
I created a simple drawing ( a half profile of a chess pawn ) in Vectric's Aspire and exported it as a DXF. When I create a new Onshape document and import the DXF, it's not just one vector - it's a LOT of individual vectors even though in Aspire, it's just one. In Aspire, I removed the vertical axis but adding that back doesn't change anything. In Onshape, all I want to do is manipulate the group of vectors as one geometry so that I can apply some constraints to the group. Is there a way to combine/group/weld all of the individual vectors together so that it can be manipulated as one vector?
Here is a link to the DXF that I'm using: Pawn.dxf.
TIA
Answers
The dxf you have there, when imported into a sketch has no constraints applied. You can see this by checking the Show constraints checkbox in the sketch feature dialog:
I added a vertical line to close the profile and now you can see the shaded sketch region (meaning it is closed) along with the two coincident constraints for the line I added. (You could also add as many other constraints as you want, e.g. making each end of a line segment coincident with the end of the next. This will be… laborious)
This now will be usable for a revolve, but…..
I recommend you sketch this directly in Onshape. It will be MUCH simpler. You'll find Onshape has the required sketch entities to do a this much faster then trying to re-constrain the import. Now, if you don't want to parametrically change your original sketch, then you can just use it as is and revolve it, creating a particularly un-smooth part (due to all the non-tangent line entities)
You could transform this finished part (e.g. scale it) if need be, but I really recommend doing this sketch in Onshape!
You must of accidentally moved an endpoint somewhere. all I did here was import your dxf and add the axis line to close the half profile and then revolved.
Building on Greg's comments. You could create sketch A and import the DXF. then create a second sketch B and trace sketch A with onshape entities and constraints as needed. This way all the little lines do not interfere with trying to create a clean sketch with smooth curves.
OK - maybe the way I worded my question wasn't quite right. Yes, I can add the vertical line to "close" the sketch and I can do the revolve, but the sketch is still not constrained due to all of the individual lines in the imported DXF. Say for example I want to take the point at the lower left on the imported file ( w/o the vertical axis ), and constrain it to the origin. The only line that is constrained will be the bottom line, nothing else. In Aspire parlance, closing vectors can mean to join two or more individual vectors as one but still not have a "closed" shape. Adding the axis closes the shape in OnShape parlance, but it still leaves me with vectors that I can't manipulate as a group.
I miss read your request. you were clear. my apologies. I'd recommend using the dxf as a trace background like I suggested. then delete the original sketch and constrain the new sketch as needed.
To expand a bit, you can box select and use the sketch transform tool to move/scale, etc all the entities at once without needing the constraints.
You could also create a composite curve (outside of the sketch) and manipulate that instead using the transform feature (not the same as the sketch transform tool…)
However the best option is definitely to just draw this in Onshape in the first place like @GregBrown suggested…