Advance Corel Question

[Michael Simpson Virgina]

While I model 3D things in AutoCad I find that creating basic 2D objects much faster in Corel.

For instance I need to model a Motor in 3D. I find it easyer to create a 2D top down drawing in corel. Once its perfected I then export to Autocad and use as a blueprint to make the 3D model.

Now for my question. Many times I have a shape like a simple square. I rotate it 45 degrees. Now it is impossible to accuratly resize the one of the sides. Since the sizing reference is now on the corners.

AutoCad and other tools give you a couple ways around this problem. You can change the actual reference to the part or you can edit its properties.

In Corel my only choice is the keep tweeking the sizing blocks a little at a time first one side then another. Or to rotate the shape back to its original position, the resize, then rotate back again to its rotated position.

Is there a better way to do this in Corel?

[Michael Kowalczyk]

Hey Michael,
Check out EZ metrics or look on macromonster.com at the cad tools or one of the other macros on there.

I am just the opposite of you sometimes. What is really simple for me in ArtcamPro, Bobcad or Rhino is sometimes like pulling teeth with a rope tied to a door and you slam the door.:eek:

So I am constantly trying to accomplish as much as I can in Corel Draw with out exporting to CAD and then re importing back into Corel Draw.

I did get several macros from macromonster.com that have helped tremendously. GDS Nest and Chopper are my faves right now. There is also a color selector that is much better than CD itself. Trying to use the CADtools macro also but the jury is still out on it.

Let me know if any of them work and ...

[John Noell]

If it makes you feel any better, I was gritting my teeth just yesterday over the same issue. I ended up having to rotate pieces back to clean vertical or horizontal orientation, resize the line, then re-rotate. Arghhh. If you find a good solution, please share!

[Mike Null]

Try using the polygon tool, convert to curves then break the curve apart and resize your line. This is easy to do in the vertical/horizontal plane.

If you need a color fill you'll need to close the curve first.

In re-reading John's response he may be suggesting a similar approach.

[Michael Conley]

In the case of a shape such as a square or triangle whose area is proportional to the length any of its sides, you can lock the ratio and then enter *new dimension/old dimension into either the width or height box and press the Enter key, assuming that you want the object's dimensions to remain proportional.

For example, to change a 3-inch square that has been rotated 30 degrees, lock the ratio and then enter "3.0*4/3" into either the height or width box and press Enter. The resulting object has a size of 5.464" x 5.464" and if you rotate it back to 0 degrees, it will measure 4 inches square.

[Michael Simpson Virgina]

I used a square as an example. In most cases the shapes are more complex. I guess this is why Corel is $200 and Autocad is $3000.

[Rodne Gold]

For $2800 , I might think that re rotating , resizing and rotating back is a cheaper option :)

[Michael Conley]

I used a square as an example. In most cases the shapes are more complex. I guess this is why Corel is $200 and Autocad is $3000.I also used a square as simplified example but the principle holds for any shape as long as you want to resize it proportionally. Obviously, the method that I suggested will not work if you want to change a square into a rectangle or trapezoid.