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Moving an object

Started by DavidLR, February 12, 2023, 09:12:54 PM

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DavidLR

I add a rectangle to my project. When I try to move it my curser shows a circle around where I am pointing and when moving the object it changes shape and does not move. For the life of me I cannot find anyway to remove the circle. My projects are all LGB.
Thank you in advance for your assistance.
DaveR

David

To move a rectangle, or any polygon, drag it by one of the edges.
To delete it, select it first by clicking on one of its edges, and press DEL or the Delete button on the top menu.
David Hoogvorst. Founder and Owner of DRail Software. Creator of AnyRail.

DavidLR

Thank you David. Is there any way to make the circle smaller? If I want to move text that is close to the object I must first move any objects away, move the text, and replace objects.

BadBanana

When you say circle, do you mean the small circles at each corner of a rectangle or other shape that you have drawn?  These mark the control points for that object, and their size is adjusted in the Settings tab for the current layout.  Also, you can show or hide the control points in the Show options tab.

If your layout drawing is quite busy, I find it helpful to place text on different layers from other items.  Then if the visibility of that layer is turned off, the text will not be moved when objects at the same location and on visible layers are moved.  I also use layers for text so that I can print a layout with or without different types of text information, for example.  Any text that is already in place can easily be moved from one layer to another just by changing its assigned layer (shown in the ribbon when that text item is selected).  This works for multiple selections as well. 

TomB

Quote from: DavidLR on February 14, 2023, 06:13:21 PMThank you David. Is there any way to make the circle smaller? If I want to move text that is close to the object I must first move any objects away, move the text, and replace objects.

Yep - noticed the same thing.  Maybe it's just you and me, but it seems impossible to edit a circle object.  I can only delete them then insert others at different sizes when needed.

BadBanana

Quote from: TomB on February 15, 2023, 10:59:41 PM
Quote from: DavidLR on February 14, 2023, 06:13:21 PMThank you David. Is there any way to make the circle smaller? If I want to move text that is close to the object I must first move any objects away, move the text, and replace objects.

Yep - noticed the same thing.  Maybe it's just you and me, but it seems impossible to edit a circle object.  I can only delete them then insert others at different sizes when needed.

You can edit a circle by moving its control points individually rather than selecting the edge of the circle.  If the control points are placed in a square (using the Snap to Grid option in the Lines and Surfaces Settings if needed) then you will retain the circular shape with the radius being half the distance between two adjacent corners. The circle will distort while individual points are moved but will become a circle again when they are equally spaced.

TomB

#6
Quote from: BadBanana on February 16, 2023, 02:46:33 AM
Quote from: TomB on February 15, 2023, 10:59:41 PM
Quote from: DavidLR on February 14, 2023, 06:13:21 PMThank you David. Is there any way to make the circle smaller? If I want to move text that is close to the object I must first move any objects away, move the text, and replace objects.

Yep - noticed the same thing.  Maybe it's just you and me, but it seems impossible to edit a circle object.  I can only delete them then insert others at different sizes when needed.

You can edit a circle by moving its control points individually rather than selecting the edge of the circle.  If the control points are placed in a square (using the Snap to Grid option in the Lines and Surfaces Settings if needed) then you will retain the circular shape with the radius being half the distance between two adjacent corners. The circle will distort while individual points are moved but will become a circle again when they are equally spaced.
Nice to know.  However, it seems fairly obtuse, compared to being able to right-click, then change the radius.  Or, selecting it from the menu, which is how it was created in the first place (set radius and click).

BadBanana

#7
I agree, it would be great if the software could support a simpler method for editing a circle.  Hopefully this might be possible sometime in the future.

rlcross

You can also edit a circle by selecting a corner point, holding shift and dragging smaller or larger.  Holding shift retains the circular nature of the object.

BadBanana

Quote from: rlcross on February 16, 2023, 01:51:10 PMYou can also edit a circle by selecting a corner point, holding shift and dragging smaller or larger.  Holding shift retains the circular nature of the object.
Oh... How did I miss that?  It works for squares and more complex shapes too.  Thanks for the tip.

David

A circle in AnyRail is just a polygon with round corners.

So indeed, to size any polygon, hold SHIFT and move a point.

David Hoogvorst. Founder and Owner of DRail Software. Creator of AnyRail.