#line avoiding text
4 messages in this thread
Hi all, I've got a problem and I'd be very appreciative of any suggestions
you might be able to offer. What I need to do is draw a line that
automatically breaks if it is crossing any text. For example:
————- G ——— W — A ————–
The way I accomplish this now is to draw a circle around the letter, draw
the line, use trim to trim the part of the line inside the circle, and then
delete the circle. As you can imagine, this gets very tedious very
quickly. I noticed a LISP routine in a recent issue of either Cadalyst or
Cadence which will let you draw a circle "over" a line and automatically
trim the line. This would be an improvement, but I was wondering if anyone
can think of an even better way to automate this. I'm an AutoLISP novice
(written a handful of simple utilities), but I'm willing to learn if that's
what it takes. Thanks!
Frank,
This is an idea, and an untried one at that. I think it might work.
When you're hatching, the hatching 'avoids' the text if the text is
highlighted when choosing objects to hatch.
Create a special hatch pattern that will draw only one line.
Move the snapbase to the point you want to start your line from, and
using the new hatch pattern, hatch any two boundaries between the starting
point and the ending point of the line, selecting all text in the way.
Explode the resulting hatch (one line), and that should be it.
I guess this could be automated completely with a LISP routine. Or it
may be done in a simpler manner using LISP without the hatch.
Mark.
I appreciate the suggestion Mark, but in all honesty that doesn't seem to
be much of an improvement (to me anyways).
In thinking about this over the weekend, I'm thinking that a LISP routine
that would:
a) draw a circle (with diameter based on the height of the text)
b) trim the line inside the circle
c) erase the circle
would suit my needs just fine. Looks like I'll have to dive into my Inside
AutoLISP book. If anyone can think of a better approach, I'm all ears!
Frank – "Inside AutoLISP" should take you a long way. You could start with
their BUBBLE routines near the front of the book and take it from there.
Dave