That all sounds VERY exciting. Anything I can do to help, let me know.
I like the array feature.
I tried to back into an array and edit it. When clicking the array, it added another set of images off the end of the workspace?
I tried to add another row and it closed?
An array is only an array while the command is active — once the command is applied then you get either a bunch of objects, or a group of the objects.
Makes sense. It’s a data entry aid…saves you time
Just wanted to say, kudos to the carbide create team for fixing the bugs. That was fast! What else could a guy ask for? Thanks guys!
1 Like
We appreciate the help we’ve gotten up to this point.
And for the final update of the day, probably the week, we just uploaded 641 with Circular Arrays since it was largely a cut-and-paste from the Linear Array command.
We’re glad to know that it’s getting used.
7 Likes
I’m afraid there is some major stuff going on when you drag within the circular array dialog. If you drag the object, the others kind of scatter far away!
When you drag, the center doesn’t move, so the pattern will expand or contract depending on the direction. Is that what you’re seeing?
1 Like
Ah…most likely. Is that really what’s expected? I could see that being the behavior if you’re holding the shift key, or something like that while dragging - but I would think the array commands would operate the same way. In a square array, you’re moving the entire collection - in a circle, you’re increasing the spacing…
Knowing that, I understand what’s going on - but it is inconsistent with the other Array command.
If I were designing it, drag would always move the entire array…Shift-Drag would expand (or contract) the spacing…in both array commands.
The center of the array is defined in the dialog — the only thing being moved is the beginning point of the rotation — think in terms of polar coordinates and it makes sense.
But the purpose of dragging is different for the two dialogs…in one, you’re dragging to move the array (which moves it’s center, btw), in the other, you’re changing the starting point relative to a fixed center (which you can’t move). Personally, I find that confusing.
I’ll take a look at other programs that do this and see how they handle it. Not that changes anything - I just want to be as close to “common sense” for the users as possible.
1 Like
I guess I could make an argument either way. That said, my general thinking is that you “always” know the center of the array in your design so you can anchor the center point there. You’d then be moving the objects (if necessary) to set the effective radius or alignment of the objects in the pattern.
I was playing with the idea of drawing a reference circle through the center of the bounds of the objects being arranged to make the whole thing more clear. The more I think about it, this might help a lot.
Now, in a more practical world, the way we implemented it is the only thing the framework supports right now.
1 Like
Lightburn (which supports all of these array things) does not allow you to drag while you’re building the array. It puts up a modal dialog with the parms of the array and you can’t do anything until you either accept or dismiss the dialog.
EDIT: I like what you’re doing better, frankly. I’d just like the array tools to be consistent in behavior
Looks to me like the behavior is consistent. When you drag the base object, it updates the array / pattern based on it’s position. In the linear array, there is no center, positions are relative to the base object. In the circular array, you can move both the base object, and change the center.
BTW, Linear array - “Gap Between” spacing doesn’t behave as expected with negative spacing. Although I suppose this could be an “undocumented feature” if I wanted the spacing measured to the outside of the objects, rather than the space between them??
1 Like
We just uploaded 642 to add a reference circle that should add clarity without changing the core behavior.
2 Likes
OK…I think I understand what’s going on. So in Circular array tool, there’s no way to move the center of the array…no way to relocate the array. Whereas in Linear arrays, moving one item relocates the array.
What is this behavior? I start with this:
and click on the center dot and see this:
Maybe if I grab the center dot and move it, the whole array should move to the new center location without resizing?
I see that I can click on the “Select Center in Window” and then click on the grid to relocate the center - although, the size seems to change.
Another issue:
Starting with this:
and now change the number of items to 4:
It actually IS 4 items, but the one that was highlighted is now duplicated:
Press OK
Move the key item to reveal the duplicate:
I wrote a bit about this at:
which may help — will update it for the new version this evening.
You unselected everything, so there’s no more array, but we should hide the arc in that case.
We’ll add a message in the left pane to make this more clear.
Can you give me the exact steps to make this happen?
1 Like