Civil 3D 2017 Random Command #3

[DisturbedCorner]

So the first 2 different and seemingly random things Civil 3D has done so far that I've posted about people have said it was somehow my mouse and/or keyboard. It's never really made sense to me and it's something I can't change so I just continue to work around it.

Here's a 3rd completely different incident:

I have a 3d poly line already made. I left-click select it and hover over the blue grip at the end to get the option to "add vertex." I left-click select that and drag my mouse over to and left-click select a cogo point. The whole time during the command of "add vertex" I have the preview line moving with my mouse confirming that I'm about to add a new vertex. As soon as I left-click on the cogo point, suddenly, my line disappears. I look at the command prompt to see that it just changed commands from "add vertex" to "remove vertex" as soon as I left-clicked on the cogo point. I pan down my line and sure enough, the grip that I just began the whole process with is gone and the line is shortened to the previous vertex.

How in the world, while clearly in the middle of one command, does Civil 3D 2017 justify switching commands to something that would normally take several SPECIFIC steps to do have anything to do with a keyboard/mouse driver doing RANDOM things? Please don't tell me it's the mouse and/or keyboard, that just makes no sense.

[DisturbedCorner]

Sorry for the bump, the site won't let me edit my post.

I just grabbed a mouse from home over lunch, a logitech G403, completely different from the office HP Wireless Mouse x4000, and Civil 3D just did this exact same thing again. So the probability of being the mouse is now very low.

[Anonymous]

Super weird.  Best bet is to provide a screencast to show exactly what's happening.  If it is some crazy bugged out software behavior Autodesk probably won't believe it until they can see it themselves.

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/community/screencast

[Dexterel · Accepted solution]

stop opening weird sites 🙂
check your ctrl key, maybe the key is stuck

[DisturbedCorner · Accepted solution]

Dexterel,

I found the problem and you almost said what it was here. I didn't know what you meant at the time.

It's pressing the Ctrl key twice in somewhat quick succession.

I just did it by accident and saw the vertex I was about to drag to a cogo point vanish before I clicked and saw the command line change just like the screen shot in the OP. I press that key a lot during the day and sometimes I just don't keep it pressed down hard enough when I'm debating if I need a certain O-snap or if I can just go straight to a cogo point. I've never felt the key come back up under my finger until just now.

Now that I know pressing the Ctrl key twice changes my command from "Add vertex" to it's opposite "Remove vertex" I just want to say that is a TERRIBLE default setting. I'm too new to using the CUI to tell if that's something I can change. I don't see a keyboard "shortcut"  labeled as "CTRL+CTRL" so I'm not sure what else to look for to disable it, but I guess now this requires a different post.

[Dexterel · Accepted solution]

ctrl cycles through hover menu menu (see attached image). 1 ctrl = strech, 2 ctrl=add vertex, 3 ctrl= convert to arc/line.

If you have problems with ctrl you can hover the vertex and type A for adding vertex and R for removing vertex.

Hovering over mid point (as shown in attached image) type A for adding vertex and C to convert to arc or line.

[DisturbedCorner]

That is a really neat alternative! Thank you Dexterel, I will start using that method. Not only will I avoid my problem in the OP but it is also more efficient.