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Marc
Joined: 03 Jan 2008
Posts: 16
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 Posted: Thu Jan 03, 2008 9:33 pm Post subject: Doors and Windows |
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New, yes I am, not only to the the forum, but as well to Powercadd, itself. I work in the historic restoration and preservation field, and our company's bread and butter resides in custom wood doors and windows. I often find myself in a situation where I need to divide spaces equally, i.e. muntin layout within a piece. Are there others wearing much the same shoes as I? At any rate, I find the blend tool method inconsistent at best. For equally dividing a certain dimension into equal parts, what is the best way?
Cheers! -MP |
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huc
Joined: 13 Apr 2004
Posts: 658
Location: ::caddpower.com:: (Aurora, CO)
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| Posted: Thu Jan 03, 2008 10:19 pm Post subject: |
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welcome aboard 
Try the Arrange menu > Align...
That dialog can look a bit intimidating but review the corresponding section in the manual for a full description. It will allow you to distribute objects and align them at the same time -- and keep the spacing (width) equal which sounds like what you're after
Again, welcome aboard
Cheers
Brian |
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pbacot
Joined: 15 Apr 2004
Posts: 837
Location: Northern California
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| Posted: Fri Jan 04, 2008 12:47 am Post subject: |
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Welcome.
PC and WT have a lack of tools for this sort of layout. The Align...command is probably the best. What is needed is a tool that gives equal spaces between objects, or creates rectangles with equal gutters between, fit into a finite space, with or without perimeter gutters.
If you have muntins or mullions to space equally you might make a group of each one (for example a group of two parallel lines), make extra ones and place at each side of the open space (glass etc.), select them all, then use the Align... menu command to space them, then clean up, join the ends to the rest of the frame, sash etc. If you are just laying out single lines it's easier, and if the edge lines of your glass area are made of lines, easier still.
See WT "Points along" tool and the WT Linear Distribute tool if you just want to set points or objects equally over a distance. See the Transformation Tools palette. Lots of good stuff there.
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Peter B |
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Marc
Joined: 03 Jan 2008
Posts: 16
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| Posted: Fri Jan 04, 2008 6:51 am Post subject: |
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| Thanks all! I'll give it a go. |
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Alfred Scott
Joined: 15 Apr 2004
Posts: 633
Location: Richmond, VA
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| Posted: Fri Jan 04, 2008 9:51 am Post subject: |
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Marc,
A bit off topic here, but my daughter has a degree in historic preservation and we have a historic old property in Virginia and at this very moment we are doing a lot of work inside the house. If you're interested in seeing this take at look at
http://www.rosegill.com/Private/Bidness.html
Which is one thing that I work on when I'm not working on WildTools.
Alfred |
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Rob C
Joined: 14 Apr 2004
Posts: 529
Location: Southern Connecticut
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| Posted: Fri Jan 04, 2008 9:43 pm Post subject: |
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I do this task all the time with custom lite patterns. I use the Wild Tools distribute tool to accomplish it. It's easier to actually do than to describe, but:
1 Start with the overall glass opening
2 Duplicate it and tab into the edit box and type in the muntin width.
3 Move this starter muntin so that, say, the right edge of the muntin abuts the left edge of the glass.
4 With the muntin selected, option click the Wild Tools distribute tool and set the number of copies to the number of lites (not muntins) you want.
5 Click and drag from the LEFT edge of the starter muntin to the right edge of the glass so that it abuts on the opposite side.
6 You now have your distributed muntins PLUS an extra one at each edge of the glass, so you can go back and delete the unnecessary end ones.
I typically go one to do a bunch more work in order to get a graded wash effect that spans across all the lites in the window. It requires a sandwiched group of lines, polygons with no borders, and so on in the right order, so it is a bit of work to create one from scratch, but it's easy with the move points tool in Wild Tools to make variations.
_________________
Rob
www.robertcoolidge.com |
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Marc
Joined: 03 Jan 2008
Posts: 16
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| Posted: Wed Jan 09, 2008 8:48 pm Post subject: |
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Thank you, Alfred and Rob.
Rob, I look forward to implementing your technique.
Alfred, that's one hell of a nice property! Any plans for the kitchen?
BTW...... The use of boats as decor is a nice touch.
Cheers!
-MP |
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Alfred Scott
Joined: 15 Apr 2004
Posts: 633
Location: Richmond, VA
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| Posted: Thu Jan 10, 2008 8:22 am Post subject: |
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Marc,
We are putting a new kitchen in now and it's nearly finished. We've given the house a major going-over, with new electrical service (the entire farm in on one 200-amp service), air conditioning, new kitchen with new electrical there plus upgraded electrical in other places, refinished floors, etc. I actually didn't intend for it to be so extensive but just repainting has been a major job with an enormous amount of time spent on scraping down the walls. There's also wall paper, washer and dryer, ...
I like the boats, too, but they belonged to a doctor who was a tenant at the time. He doesn't like development, so he moved out, bought a house across from an Exxon station and then has gone to war with us. One letter a week to the local paper, getting his facts wrong, etc. Zoning brings out a side of human nature that you wouldn't believe until you've been through it, and retired doctors are something else. So, don't look for him around our property any time soon!
Alfred |
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Rob C
Joined: 14 Apr 2004
Posts: 529
Location: Southern Connecticut
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| Posted: Thu Jan 10, 2008 9:33 pm Post subject: |
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| Alfred Scott wrote: | Marc,
... Zoning brings out a side of human nature that you wouldn't believe until you've been through it, ... |
Boy, you can say that again!
_________________
Rob
www.robertcoolidge.com |
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Alfred Scott
Joined: 15 Apr 2004
Posts: 633
Location: Richmond, VA
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| Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2008 8:26 am Post subject: |
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For what it's worth, we had a planning commission hearing last night for the preliminary site plan approval, which was approved unanimously. I've never heard such words of praise from a planning commission—blown away, overwhelmed, phenomenally impressed.
Alfred |
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Rob C
Joined: 14 Apr 2004
Posts: 529
Location: Southern Connecticut
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| Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2008 9:14 pm Post subject: |
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Good to hear. Isn't it interesting that you can get so jaded that when things actually go well and you get praise, you feel shocked?
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Rob
www.robertcoolidge.com |
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