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Grouping

Started by Nick the Cabin Boy, May 20, 2010, 06:59:00 AM

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Nick the Cabin Boy

Hi David,

Just installed new version, and tried to group a shape - option is greyed out.  How do I activate it?  Even tried making a new shape, right-clicking gave me a highlight around the shape, but I still had Group greyed out.

Nick
Tasmania
Elizabeth Grove, South Australia
Building Pottersbridge, a fictional town a little North of London, served by a fictional Heritage Railway, in N

David

Have you selected at least two shapes or lines?

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

Nick the Cabin Boy

No, I was trying to group one shape - realise now from your reply that that is, of course, one line.  Other (defunct) software that I used up until I discovered AnyRail treated an x-sided shape as x lines - you could then group it and save it in a file for re-use.

So in AR I could, for example, group the three shapes that I have drawn to represent the Metcalfe Brewery kit and then move them around as one unit, correct?

Nick
Tasmania
Elizabeth Grove, South Australia
Building Pottersbridge, a fictional town a little North of London, served by a fictional Heritage Railway, in N

David

Exactly!

You can even give it a name in the Description box.

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

Nick the Cabin Boy

Same subject, different problem!

I have created four shapes, to represent the four shops in one of the Metcalfe kits.  I then grouped them and copied the group.  A group does not snap to grid (should it/can it?), so I ungrouped the copy to move the individual elements.  Two of them disappeared, but showed up (sometimes) if I hovered near them.  Only one of the four could be selected and moved - with the others I could select a control point but not the whole shape.

I thought perhaps I was running low on memory, so restarted PC and loaded AnyRail only, problem still there.

Sample file attached - something is obviously not right!

Elizabeth Grove, South Australia
Building Pottersbridge, a fictional town a little North of London, served by a fictional Heritage Railway, in N

Future-Digital

I found that occasionally a shape that I had grouped and copied would change position when pasted. That is to say, If I sent other things "Back" then it would appear again. It was UNDER something after being pasted. It should have been on top.

"I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book." - Groucho Marx

Nick the Cabin Boy

Yes, I've had that happen, but the sample file that I sent to David has nothing else in it, no layers, only two "sets" of shapes, one grouped, one not.

Nick
Tasmania
Elizabeth Grove, South Australia
Building Pottersbridge, a fictional town a little North of London, served by a fictional Heritage Railway, in N

David

Hi Nick. Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I can reproduce the problem with your example file. This means it's probably easy to fix.

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

David

The issue should be solved in version 4.5.4.

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

Russ

Been playing with grouping too - before you convert objects to a group, set the height of each object and make sure it is high enough to appear above the surface you place it on (although this lets you loose things under the layout just like real  :D ), - Russ

Jeff

I am trying to imagine a situation where you would want to place an object below ground level, but I'm having a tough time with it. If AR was capable of doing 3D, it would matter (as in the case of a lake or river). More so perhaps if we were able to create ground levels that slope as the track does. So, why not just have a default of placing objects appear at the current ground level of the spot where you place it?
Later,                                                AnyRail Fanatic
Jeff                      and Unofficial Guy Who Knows Almost Everything About It

Nick the Cabin Boy

That would work if you've only got one height at the "new" location.  I just got caught when I copied a shape at ground level, then moved it to a spot which was higher - it disappeared under all the stuff at that height.  Undo is a useful button!  Trick is, of course, to set the height before moving.  Another problem was that I had already put the copy into the layer it was to be in, so couldn't turn off that layer to uncover the shape

With your idea, Jeff, AR would have to know, say, the maximum height at the new location, which, to my mind, would be rather complicated.

Nick
Tasmania
Elizabeth Grove, South Australia
Building Pottersbridge, a fictional town a little North of London, served by a fictional Heritage Railway, in N

Jeff

I quite agree, it's not a practical idea. I think that the REAL practical answer is to drop any object as being on top of EVERYTHING else, then let the user adjust the height.
Later,                                                AnyRail Fanatic
Jeff                      and Unofficial Guy Who Knows Almost Everything About It