Pattern Along Path Distance Should Be 0 to 1 Percentage Like In Sweep Tool

[therealsamchaney]

I love the Pattern Along Path tool but I think it has a huge flaw holding it back which is the distance input.

The tool only allows the user to enter an objective distance measurement (milimeters, inches etc.) and not a relative percentage like you do in the Sweep tool.

The problem with that is that most of the time, the user has no idea how long the path is  and usually it would be difficult if not impossible to calculate. Imagine doing a pattern on a complex spline curve path. How long is the curve in millimeters? It would be impossible for the user to calculate. The only way to find out is to play a guessing game or dragging the little arrow handle around which can be very awkward with long, complex paths. The "measure" option doesn't usually help much because it will often just select a small segment of the path and not the entire thing.

We know Fusion is already capable of calculating the length of the path because it does so in the sweep tool. There, you just enter a value between 0 and 1, where 1 is always the full length of the path, regardless of how long the path actually is.

This is incredibly important in parametric design, because the user might have a parameter that changes the length of the path. This would be no problem for a Sweep feature because it uses a relative value. However, if you change the length of a path, a Pattern Along Path feature will fail because it will no longer have the correct distance value. The user will have to manually edit the feature and change the distance (and/or quantity) value any time the path length changes.

Please change the distance input in Pattern Along Path tool to be a 0 to 1 percentage of the total path like it is in the Sweep tool, or add the percentage distance as an option.

I have attached a screencast showing the issues with the current distance input implementation.

Thanks!

-Sam

[maik_staudt]

No answers yet ? Nothing has changed. I googled because I have to same problem. Especially it is impossible to parametrically control the path-pattern because you dont know the lenght of the path... 

[TheCADWhisperer]

Can you File>Export your *.f3d file to your local drive and then Attach it here to a Reply?

[HughesTooling]

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@therealsamchaney wrote:

We know Fusion is already capable of calculating the length of the path because it does so in the sweep tool. There, you just enter a value between 0 and 1, where 1 is always the full length of the path, regardless of how long the path actually is.


Thanks!

-Sam

What's even more puzzling is the start point is a 0-1 ratio! @jeff_strater Is there a request for the distance to use ratio as well. Also could do with some control over direction as well.

Mark

[therealsamchaney]

I can't upload this one in particular because it has some valuable IP for me but I will make a dummy file showing the same issue and upload that soon.

[HughesTooling]

I've been trying to remember which command was fixed recently that suffered the same problem and I think it was plan along path, now has the option for proportional or physical.

[jeff_strater]

originally, Pattern on Path was only a ratio (0-1), and it was after vocal complaints that it was switched to distance.  Yes, the ideal solution would be to support either distance or ratio.  And, yes, @HughesTooling it is Plane Along Path that has this implemented.  I can't promise that we will do this anytime soon, but I will pass the request along.

[therealsamchaney]

@jeff_strater I didn't realize that it used to be a ratio. I wonder why it was just changed to a measurement instead of adding that as an option so you could use either-or as that would be ideal. OK, thank you for passing on the request.

[maik_staudt]

 

Lets say I want to pattern this extrusion from start to end of the (constuction-)line 25 times. The distance between the holes should be equal.

I don't know the length of the path. That makes it hard to pattern it with equal distance between the holes.

Maybe I could measure the length of the path manually and insert this value, but when the length of the path changes (the dimensions of the construction-line could be changed in this example), then the value is wrong.

It would be good to have the ratio from 0-1 and the possibility to set the amount of instances of the pattern to get equal distances.

[g-andresen]

Hi,

Please share the file.

File > export > save as f3d on local drive  > attach it to the next post.

günther

[rangorino]

It is mind boggling that this have not been implemented yet. I have never needed to specify a specific distance along a path – If i ever were to, I would sketch the specific path length, and make the pattern 100% of that. 

In this particular example, I'm even trying to do the usual workaround, which is to do half the path, then snap the pattern to the end of this half outline, and mirror the whole thing – but it is not even working anymore, because It doesn't snap to points along the path anymore (I believe it used to?).