newbie here

Hi there, I am trying to learn LibreCAD so that I can put together some structural engineering drawings for my dad. I am a bit stumped on two things:

1. how do i specify exact length in segments of a polyline i.e. i need to show the stress points in a cross section of a concrete beam and the measurements are very specific but i have so far only worked out how to specify exact length in an ordinary line.

2. is there a way to convert an ordinary line to a poly line or to join two ordinary lines so that they become a poly line. that way i could specify their exact length first.

oh, and a third thing which is probably very basic but i need to check. the drawings are done to a 1:25 scale. am i right in assuming that this is a fraction so the decimal i should use in 'general scale' would be .04 or is there something else entirely going on there :}

TIA to anyone who can help.

1. I will check the length of polyline later;
2. Yes, under Draw Polyline, there's a method of "Create Polyline from";
3. It's recommended to always draw in the real dimensions: if you the object is 1mm, draw as 1 mm; if the object is 1Km, draw as 1 Km. Leave all scaling to printing stage. The general scale of dimensions is used as a way to simulate unit changes.

nodeular wrote

Hi there, I am trying to learn LibreCAD so that I can put together some structural engineering drawings for my dad. I am a bit stumped on two things:

1. how do i specify exact length in segments of a polyline i.e. i need to show the stress points in a cross section of a concrete beam and the measurements are very specific but i have so far only worked out how to specify exact length in an ordinary line.

2. is there a way to convert an ordinary line to a poly line or to join two ordinary lines so that they become a poly line. that way i could specify their exact length first.

oh, and a third thing which is probably very basic but i need to check. the drawings are done to a 1:25 scale. am i right in assuming that this is a fraction so the decimal i should use in 'general scale' would be .04 or is there something else entirely going on there :}

TIA to anyone who can help.

Specifying segment length in polylines should work the same as in ordinary lines, but as I just have tried out in LC 2.0.9 (portable version) it doesn't. I have never used that version to really draw, but always have been in the latest nightly version. It works right there.
You can can make a polyline out of existing elements - polyline - create polyline out of existing elements.
 'general scale' is about the graphical size like text and arrow size of dimensioning elements on paper, or plan, not the measuring value. For scale 1:25 you have to set 25, you have to make them bigger as in printing they will be scaled down. Alternatively you can set these values individually.
Note that 'fixed dimension line length' is broken in 2.0.9.
It could be worth trying out the latest nightly version, might solve your problems.
   

On Mon, Apr 11, 2016 at 12:08 PM, nodeular [via LibreCAD]
<[hidden email]> wrote:
>
> Hi there, I am trying to learn LibreCAD so that I can put together some
> structural engineering drawings for my dad. I am a bit stumped on two
> things:

Nice.

I have also interest in structural drawings. Though I don't draft much
myself. I am more interested in producing drawings through coding.
Macro support in LC will boost that.

Width of polyline is also yet not in LC.

--
H.S.Rai

On Mon, Apr 11, 2016 at 5:21 PM, dellus [via LibreCAD]
<[hidden email]> wrote:
> Specifying segment length in polylines should work the same as in ordinary
> lines, but as I just have tried out in LC 2.0.9 (portable version)

Works fine in Version: 2.1.0-alpha.

Also make use of layers for managing various entities in a better way.

--
H.S.Rai