Can the vertices be "Fixed" to each other? A relative constraint?

ron_moreland

Can vertices be "Fixed" to a plane? or relative to a plane or sketch? I have made some free hand spline curves and I want to "freeze" them, but but frozen relative to a point. I can then move or constrain the point and the curve will follow. It would be nice if the vertices can "unfrozen" so I can adjust the curve, then re-freeze it.

The current "Fix" constraint seems to fix the points to the world. Dimensions to a reference point are cumbersome.

mahir

Ah, I see what you're trying to do. For that you would need the ability to group entities into blocks. OS can't do that yet. But like you said, transform would work, and I can't think of an easier way to accomplish what you want.

ron_moreland

The new Mate Connector sketch accomplishes a lot of what I wanted! Thanks!

michael_mcclain

Try to use "coincident" to lock the points to a plane that is normal to the sketch plane

ron_moreland

I think I'm asking for a new type of constraint. A "relative" constraint that maintains the relative position of the items sharing that constraint. Move one, move them all the same amount. Selecting that constraint on one of the items and deleting it frees all the items that shared that constraint.
When I paste an item into a sketch, there are move handles and I can move the pasted item as a group. A constraint like that.

ron_moreland

I think i can use a Transform feature. It would be awkward.

bruce_williams

Could you share an example of what you are trying to do?  I do not understand why Transform is awkward.  Transform allows entities to be moved or rotated even while 'fixed'.

mahir

You can fix a point's position in a sketch, but that is likely relative to the origin. To fix a point's position relative to another point you would need to add a system of constraints/dimensions. In general, you will need two constraints to fix both degrees of freedom of one point relative to another. That can be one vertical dimension and one horizontal, or one radial and angular, or a combination of the two. Constraints also lend themselves to design intent. Arbitrarily fixing one point relative to another doesn't show the same level of design intent and is more difficult to edit discretely, whereas a dimension can easily be increased or decreased by 1mm.

ron_moreland

Here's a simple example:

The "Q" is an imported dxf. Lot's of unconstrained points. I want to constrain the "Q" to be 1" from the edge of the containing rectangle. How do I do that?

ron_moreland

Mahir,
How do I fix a point to the sketch? The fix constraint is "fixed" to the world, I think. I think fixing it to the sketch would be helpful.

mahir

Ah, I see what you're trying to do. For that you would need the ability to group entities into blocks. OS can't do that yet. But like you said, transform would work, and I can't think of an easier way to accomplish what you want.

ron_moreland

Grouping would be a nice addition, but a relative/relation constraint could work. Constraints already exist as function, just add another one... No problem. right?

Jake_Rosenfeld

@ron_moreland

If you'd like to see functionality that's not currently in the system, please log an improvement request from the Improvement Requests section of this forum.  This will allow other users to also promote your idea, and will help prioritize the idea in our system based on number of interested users.

mahir

I'll just leave this here
https://forum.onshape.com/discussion/comment/31795

ron_moreland

Thanks,
Maybe the next release!

ron_moreland

I'm bringing this up again. I've asked for this before and the response was "Drawings don't support grouping" and that was that. I'm asking again because it would be useful and I disagree about the need for grouping or blocks or higher level abstractions. I'm asking that the "fix" constraint allow for a reference point to be "fixed to". This is similar to the symmetric constraints mirror line.There is no grouping in the sense of hierarchy, only a list of points that are fixed to that reference point. Simple.

NeilCooke

@rob_moreland did you vote on the improvement request? Creating a new type of sketch constraint is not simple so it will need a lot of votes to be considered. 

ron_moreland

I've never voted something up or down. Do I just click the "Vote Up" button?

NeilCooke

@ron_moreland click on the link that Mahir posted and you will see a coloured vote up button there. 

ron_moreland

Got it, thanks

ron_moreland

The new Mate Connector sketch accomplishes a lot of what I wanted! Thanks!