Ortho Turns Off After Entering Rectang Command

[can.balkan]

Hello everyone,

I am using AutoCAD 2019 student version. I noticed this problem today, and it has never happened before. So what happening is I am drawing with ortho on most of the time. But when I enter RECTANG command, ORTHO just turns off. I can still draw my rectangle at 0, 90, 180, 270 degrees and that is not the problem. The problem is because of my project when I'm drawing rectangles I usually enter dimensions and each time I have to pick up a distance on screen instead of typing it (because I don't know the distance), and to that I have to turn ORTHO on manually. It may not seem like a big problem but when I have to repeat this over and over it gets very time consuming, tiring and annoying. 

Photo has my commands history. In the video for some reason history doesn't show up but if you see the ortho button at the bottom right of my screen it turns off and on, I am entering and canceling RECTANG command. When I enter, it turns off, and cancel it turns on.

So if there is anyone to help me I would appreciate.

Thanks for taking your time and reading this. 

[Kent1Cooper]

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@can.balkan wrote:

.... I noticed this problem today, and it has never happened before. ....

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I don't think that can be true -- it's normal behavior.  What would be the point of having Ortho on during the drawing of a RECTANGle?  The opposite corners can't be orthogonal to each other, or you get effectively a line.  At the beginning of this snippet, Ortho is on, and while you can't see me typing in the RECTANG command, you can see the Ortho icon go off when I do, then toggle as I press F8 a few times during the command:

Whenever Ortho is on, it's making a "rectangle" with no dimension in one direction, which is why the command turns Ortho off [but back on when it's done].

 

[Edwin.Rense]

I have the same in AutoCAD 2018, 2020 and 2021, so it seems to be standard behavior.

Most probably because rectangles are 'always' drawn parallel to X and Y.

[can.balkan]

Frankly I didn't pay attention to ortho turning on and off with rectang command before. But I have been working on this project for the last 3 days and only today this happened, so I didn't need to turn ortho on manually every time for the last two days. Yes, you're right about that I don't need ortho when I'm drawing rectangles. And my problem is not the need of drawing rectangles orthogonal but it is the need of ortho when I'm selecting dimensions for rectangle on screen. When I'm picking distances since ortho turned itself off I have to turn it on manually. So sorry but this was not the answer I'm looking for but thanks for taking your time explainig it.

[Kent1Cooper · Accepted solution]

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@can.balkan wrote:
... my problem is not the need of drawing rectangles orthogonal but it is the need of ortho when I'm selecting dimensions for rectangle on screen. ....

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Maybe this isn't always the case, but in the video situation, Ortho is not necessary if you have running Osnap on with some appropriate mode(s) set, such as PERpendicular for the first distance, and PERpendicular and/or ENDpoint and/or INTersection for the second.

[can.balkan]

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@Kent1Cooper wrote:

"...Ortho is not necessary if you have running Osnap on ..."

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I think that answer is good enough for me and thanks for replying  again. Instead of trying the same method over and over, I can achieve the same thing with another method and that is what I love about AutoCAD: There is not only one way to do things. I will be using OSNAP with PERPENDICULAR and INTERSACTION more often from now on.

[dandersonYYNJ2]

THE PROBLEM IS WHEN I SELECT A FROM POINT ITS NOT IN ORTHO SO I HAVE ETO GO AND TURN IT BACK ON EVERY TIME I USE THE RECTANGLE COMMAND

[Kent1Cooper]

If Ortho is on before I start a RECTANG command, it goes off during it but always comes back on afterwards.  If that is not happening for you, do you have all software updates?  Does it happen in all drawings, or only some?  Does it happen always, or only sometimes?  In case you have something that is defining the command differently for you, try using .RECTANG with the preceding period, to force use of the native command definition.  If that makes it work, look for what is changing the definition, in something like an acaddoc.lsp file, or in the APPLOAD Startup Suite, or a .mnl file associated with your menu.  As a last resort, does re-installing AutoCAD fix it?

[dandersonYYNJ2]

THE PROBLEM IS THAT I NEED ORTHO DURING THE COMMAND SO THAT THE FROM COMMAND IS ORTHO BASED

[Kent1Cooper]

The FROM Object-Snap mode doesn't appear to be "ortho based" in other commands, either, in which case RECTANG is no different.  What steps exactly are you intending to take?  Start a RECTANG command, enter FROM, then...?  Maybe what you need is to use Osnap Tracking instead, in which it can be set to lock onto the orthogonal directions when your cursor position is close to one from the tracking base point.

[pendean]

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@dandersonYYNJ2 wrote:

THE PROBLEM IS THAT I NEED ORTHO DURING THE COMMAND SO THAT THE FROM COMMAND IS ORTHO BASED

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F8 toggle ortho on while in RECTANG command: but you will quickly see why Autodesk turns that off based on when/where you use it.

Why don't you just LISP a dumber "box drawing tool" and use that instead, assuming you really only wish to draw 4-sided boxes and not much else when you need ORTHO on?

(defun c:4SIDEDPOLYLINE (/ pt1 pt2 pt3 pt4)
        (setq pt1 (getpoint "Pick first corner: "))
        (setq pt3 (getcorner pt1 "Pick opposite corner: "))
        (setq pt2 (list (car pt3) (cadr pt1)))
        (setq pt4 (list (car pt1) (cadr pt3)))
        (command "pline" pt1 pt2 pt3 pt4 "c")
);end