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polar tracking and object tracking


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Hello,

 

I posted a message not too long ago about having issues with polar tracking. It has been driving me insane. Well, I found out that autocad 2005 lite doesnt have object tracking, that's what I have been dependent on for years. Here is what I must overcome. Any help would be great. Imagine a detail section of a wall with headers, studs, drywall, windows, etc. I need to draw lines off of each of these entities with straight lines to the horizontal. I want to use the section and draw these lines to make an elevation drawing if this makes sense. I use to snap to say the top of the header drag over to the right a little and the object tracking would show I was still in line with the top of header so I would start my line knowing I was there to start an elevation. I would continue this process for all other entities in the section so that I would have exact elevations. The only thing I can think of is to draw lines away from the entities and then draw the elevation from those. I run into another problem. You cant object snap to that first line so that all each additional lines will perfectly line up with the first lines endpoint. Only thing next I can think of is draw all the lines and then a vertical line and trim from that so they are all in line. This is crazy to me. There must be an easier way. Please reveal something I might be missing or I do not know what I am going to do.

 

Tnx!!!

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2005?

 

Since you don't have Object Tracking, you might get help with Ortho turned on. Then your cursor will be forced to either 180 deg or 90 deg depending on which way you move the cursor. You will still have to lay in a vertical trim line. You can start with an end point at the desired line on your section, move to either side to draw a line and your line will stay perfectly level with Ortho on. The lines don't have to be exactly the same length. Lay in a trim line that will catch them all when you are done with the horizontal lines.

 

Even with Ortho on, you can still force in a diagonal line, say for a grade change, as long as you have end points to snap to, which will override Ortho.

 

The same goes for vertical lines. I typically project upward from a floor plan for my vertical elevation lines and them trim the horizontal lines to them . With Ortho on, the lines will stay perfectly vertical.

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yes, that is my exact thinking. I just cant believe that object tracking is not in lite. That just sux. And yes 2005. I learned from 2009-14 but this company uses 2005 lite. Drawings are not super hard but you have to do crap like you mentioned. You cant even trim multiple lines. Thanks for your reply though. I think that probably is the only way. This company has five users. Upgrading to regular autocad would be impossible to convince this old owner.

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I have never used LT, do you have the Dynamic Input option available?

Have you tried using the Extension O snap?

Have you tried using full length crosshairs on your display?

What are your auto tracking settings, if they exist on the Drafting tab,

as shown in the snip.

I too started on 2009, with the Dashboard!

auto track settings in options.JPG

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yes, that is my exact thinking. I just cant believe that object tracking is not in lite. That just sux. And yes 2005. I learned from 2009-14 but this company uses 2005 lite. Drawings are not super hard but you have to do crap like you mentioned. You cant even trim multiple lines. Thanks for your reply though. I think that probably is the only way. This company has five users. Upgrading to regular autocad would be impossible to convince this old owner.

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ill double check tomorrow. almost positive there is no object tracking in lite. it has tracking after you start to draw but you cannot drag off something that tracks off of that to start at an exact level. I use a large crosshair but using that to line up to something away from where you are is not exact. Then applying dimensions would not be exact which is maybe one of the first things i learned, draw everything to scale or it will eat you alive later.

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i think ortho and then trim and start from the trim line is best option as of now. It isnt too big but later on something might be much larger and more detailed. Maybe Ill start looking for a better job, lol. Problem solved.

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Polar tracking should be there, try pressing the F10 key, or look at the settings. Another method I like, take a look at point filters in the help file, it takes a bit of figuring out (OK it took me a while, you might understand it straight away, I'm a bit slow) but it's a quick way of referencing just the x or y (or z) of existing geometry it saves all that trimming.

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Polar tracking should be there, try pressing the F10 key, or look at the settings. Another method I like, take a look at point filters in the help file, it takes a bit of figuring out (OK it took me a while, you might understand it straight away, I'm a bit slow) but it's a quick way of referencing just the x or y (or z) of existing geometry it saves all that trimming.

 

Sure steven, "you're a bit slow", as one of the forum's foremost LT alchemists, the only reason you might seem slow, is because you come up with so many outside the box approaches and solutions,

to make the software do things that it CAN'T (supposedly). :beer:

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Object Snap Tracking is like Ortho on steriods. It pretty much eliminated using construction lines for me. So maybe that is something you haven't used much. Instead of using AutoCAD to detect an object snap, we did it manually. If you know you need something to be a certain distance from an endpoint, you would just draw a constuction line. There is nothing special about them, they are just a line possibly put on a non-plotting layer so that if you forget to erase it, it won't mess up your plot. Construction lines, a little creative geometry, and the previous tips will get you where you want to be.

 

BTW, you can trim multiple objects. What exactly are you trying to accomplish? I'm sure there is a way.

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ill double check tomorrow. almost positive there is no object tracking in lite. it has tracking after you start to draw but you cannot drag off something that tracks off of that to start at an exact level. I use a large crosshair but using that to line up to something away from where you are is not exact. Then applying dimensions would not be exact which is maybe one of the first things i learned, draw everything to scale or it will eat you alive later.
Not having object snap tracking or Polar Tracking is not a LT thing. If it existed for either version in 2005, it is in both full and LT. I have only been using LT since 1995 so I am too young to remember that far back. I'm only 67.:lol: To remove any doubt, run the command DSETTINGS to see if you have the Polar Tracking and Object Snap tabs on the dialog. You do have the Object Snaps selected properly and turned on, right? How tracking works depends on which snaps are activated.

 

Someone mentioned dynamic input. That was introduced in 2007. (maybe 2006).

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yes, that is my exact thinking. I just cant believe that object tracking is not in lite. That just sux. And yes 2005. I learned from 2009-14 but this company uses 2005 lite. Drawings are not super hard but you have to do crap like you mentioned. You cant even trim multiple lines. Thanks for your reply though. I think that probably is the only way. This company has five users. Upgrading to regular autocad would be impossible to convince this old owner.
Tell your boss that a single seat license for 2015 LT only costs $45.00 per month on subscription and will probably be less per seat for multiples. I figure if he can't afford that, he's doing more wrong than just being cheap on software.
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Just to clear it up. From looking at a screen shot of AutoCAD 2005 LT, there is Polar Tracking and Object Snap but not Object Snap Tracking.

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Object Tracking was introduced in R14, and not R2014 but R14.

 

There is no Object Tracking. It's Polar Tracking that was introduced before 2005. The OP is asking about Object Snap Tracking which is different.

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There is no Object Tracking. It's Polar Tracking that was introduced before 2005. The OP is asking about Object Snap Tracking which is different.

 

I'm surprised to learn this, but everything I've found also indicates that LT did not have OSnap Tracking at that time.

 

"From" Osnap is still one of my favorites to begin drawing at a known distance from existing geometry.

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I guess what we are referring to as Object Tracking is actually meant to describe Object Snap tracking because Object Snap Tracking is what I am thinking when I say Object Tracking. Object Tracking as an AutoCad noun does not exist.

 

If polar tracking is available in 2005 why can't it work for this as long as the angles of 180 and 90 are in the tracking angles used?

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BTW, you can trim multiple objects. What exactly are you trying to accomplish? I'm sure there is a way.

 

You can use 'F' For fence while trim or any other command is active and you have to select multiple objects in one line. This was present even in 2013 when I started, but it was never listed in options of object selection, so many does not know about it.

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Object Snap Tracking has been refered to as Object Tracking by many people for a while now so while it may not be an official Autodesk term it is one that has come into general usage by many. A quick search on the web will confirm. Also, I have a book by Ralph Grabowski and in his book he uses Object Tracking to mean Object Snap Tracking.

 

I opened AutoCAD 2002 and the OTRACK button is there, so although I am unable to determine when it was introduced I can confirm it was in the program that far back.

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