CAD Software Forum

Hey all... Got a weird one.

In the top view, I made a long rectangle (5x20) and gave it a depth of 1/8" (it represents a piece of glass).

Now, I can trim a 30 deg slice off of one end by drawing a line through the rectangle, using the line as a trimmer, and then reclosing the poly line.

However, this piece is supposed to be at a 45 degree angle looked at from the right. So I rotated it looking at it from the right by changing the UCS to view and then rotating it.

Going back to top view, trim no longer works.
It says "an entity which is defined in the current UCS is needed"

Any ideas?

Zardiw, the problem is, as Intellicad says, that you need to trim in the current UCS. As long as you don't change the UCS, trimming will work, as far as I know. Why are you changing the UCS anyway? To look at the right side of the part, you could change the viewpoint without changing the UCS. If you want a quick way to do this, try this bit of autolisp :
(defun c:v5 ()
(setvar "cmdecho" 0)
(command ".viewpoint" (list 1 0 0))
(setvar "cmdecho" 1)
(princ)
)
This little program can be modified to display any viewpoint, without changing the UCS. Hope this helps. P.S. To get back to plan (top) view with the viewpoint command, the list would be (list 0 0 1).

[This message has been edited by CAD_B (edited 06-21-2004).]

Ok. I changed the UCS temporarily (right side, view) in order to rotate the rectangle in the Y-Z plane (i.e. around an x-axis), then went back to World view UCS from the top to try to trim it, but it doesn't like it after it's been rotated. It trims fine before it's rotated...... It was created in World view UCS.

I think my version might be too old. I'm using Bricsnet 2000.

I should probably upgrade to a later version. Any recommendations as to the best vendor's product to use? Progesoft, Cadopia, etc....Thx, z

Zardiw, I don't know exactly what you are trying to do, so my comments may not be very helpful. Sorry. The rotation causes the trim problem. I was able to restore trimming after rotation by using the UCS command, Entity option and pick the polyline. Then VPOINT, PLan. Also, you can avoid a "close" operation by using CHAMFER with the Distance / Angle option. I wonder if you could get what you want in a simpler way by drawing the shape in plan view with lines only (without thickness), trimming and chamfering and whatever, then select all the entities and use Entprop to set the thickness. Then rotate. It might be worth a try. I use Cadopia Intellicad V4 Standard. I don't know if Bricscad 2000 is the same as Cadopia Icad 2000, but the later versions were a big improvement, adding fly-over snapping, a working Undo and generally more stable operation.

[This message has been edited by CAD_B (edited 06-23-2004).]

Thanks CadB. The problem is that the trim needs to be made after it's rotated, to get the angles right. I'm trying to use the trim like a miter box..lol. Then I would UN rotate it, to get the dimensions of the piece. I'm going to try your idea of not doing the thickening until after it's trimmed. But I'm also considering upgrading to a version that let's you deal with ACIS solids (whatever that is, but it sounds good, lol)............z