Enclosing square geometry

[luke-ashington]

Hi all, is it possible to create a square geometry around shaped objects easily? I've tried the boundaries tool but not what i am after. I create piece parts for cnc machines so would like to create a "material" around the objects, which could be curved, angled etc. Thanks in advanced, LA

[AVCPlugins]

I am very familiar with this problem. When I was programming the contour preparation command for the CNC, I made an option for exactly this task - drawing a rectangle around the part. But I'm working with 3D solid parts. What are your initial data?

[Kent1Cooper · Accepted solution]

How about the DBBM command in DrawBoundingBoxMult.lsp, >here<?  The result would be square [I'm not sure whether you mean that specifically] only if that fits the selected objects, but it is always rectangular.  You could Offset the result outward slightly if you need some perimeter space beyond the actual extents of the objects.

[luke-ashington]

Thanks for your reply. Everything we draw is in 2D. I have a good "basic" knowledge of autocad so looking forward to becoming more advanced. Also, currently we are running cad lite if that makes any difference.

Thanks, LA

[luke-ashington]

@Kent1Cooper Just tried the code you told me about and the DBBM command is exactly what i am after. Thanks so much. Although it would be great if i could use this for individual objects. 

LA

[Kent1Cooper]

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@luke-ashington wrote:

.... it would be great if i could use this for individual objects. 

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You can.  Just pick only one.  If you mean you want to select a bunch of things collectively, and have bounding boxes drawn around each individually, try the attached DrawBoundingBoxes.lsp [DBB command].  I think it should be in the Forums somewhere, but I couldn't find it.

[vladimir_michl]

See also the BBox utility (2D or 3D, squares, circles, boxes or cylinders, UCS-aware):

https://www.cadforum.cz/en/highlighting-object-extents-by-bounding-boxes-tip6683

Vladimir Michl, www.arkance-systems.cz  -  www.cadforum.cz