PowerCADD Forum

Good morning


Something seems to be going wrong with my Datum Tool.

I have not used it for a long time but I remembered that I had found it to be quite useful in the past once I had figured out how to work with the tool.

In the past, re-setting the baseline and flipping the Y Axis allows this tool to become an efficient way of marking hts on building elevations and also grades in cross section.

Not sure if this is just me not setting the tool up correctly or if there is a little programming tweak that might be able to help fix this buggy behaviour.

A ‘CLICK’ with the Datum Tool does produce the checkered circle / target external object symbol but the automatically generated text does not appear alongside the symbol as it is supposed to (yes, I have played with the settings a bit). There looks to be clear text boxes embedded within the external but these are invisible and un-editable.

However, when I explode the external symbol, the associated geodetic info is
available but not displayed (as if white pen or ‘0’ line weight or or something else involved). I am able to apply an EYEDROPPER / NEEDLE sequence (picking up font info from a text object nearby) and only then does the geodetic info appear next to the target symbol. The Needle trick does not work on the unexploded ‘Live’ External Object.

The Datum is displayed with the dimension ht set correctly (at that exploded location). Being exploded it is no longer a ‘Live Datum Object’ and therefore unable to update the elevation reading as the symbol is moved up or down with Y-Axis acting as the Z-axis in this case working with building elevations.

Another strange behaviour is that the Datum Tool is ‘sticky’ and hitting the ‘ESCAPE’ key does not work to force a fall out - it requires a really fast single ‘SUPER-FAST CLICK’ to deactivate the tool. A CLICK that is too slow just adds another symbol

BTW the somewhat similar Baseline Dimension Tool is working correctly which I may be able to use in the meantime - it does not create a ‘Live’ marker (the dimension is fixed at the clicked location).


Thanks dF

Running PCadd 9.1.11 + WildTools 10.6 (5k iMac 2017 w/ 40GB ram)
Another long time user (Late 80’s PowerDraw and up) stalled out at Mojave 10.14.6 solely in order to keep Pcadd up & running.

Please explain what the WT Datum tool is.

What tool palette is it located in, and what is the tool name shown when you have the mouse over the tool icon?

Alfred

Matt Arnold says you are talking about the Datum Dimensioning tool in the Dimensions tool palette.

PowerCADD Preferences Tools has a choice of “Tools Fall Out on Shift Click” which I have always on.

WildTools Preferences have a choice “Fallout on Quick Click” which I have always on.

I see that the Description does not show as you are moving the mouse. I think that’s an error.

Suggest you experiment with Bozo Technology!

Alfred

dF,

Have you tried changing the font?

Thanks everyone - the problem seems to be that I had a preset font for this Datum Dimensioning tool in a drawing template that was not displaying correctly. Changing this font has now 'fixed' the problem.

I had tried changing the font before posting my question but had not done a full system restart (guilty) and suddenly everything is good again this morning - somewhat embarrassed to admit (!)

Thanks for pitching in with your ideas & helping to solve this quirk I was experiencing.



dF

I had the “bright idea” of working on this and updating the display to show the Description, and all I got for my efforts was a lesson in humility! Nothing I tried worked.

BTW, it’s very common for users to lose track of what keys they press. The Command, Shift and Option keys are used, but I don’t think I’ve ever done anything with the ESC key in WildTools.

A bit humbling also to watch the Apple event today.

Alfred