How Do I Fix Geometry, But Not Location?

[glencandle]

I have the following sketch.  I would like to "fix" the geometry, but in a way that allows me to still move it as a group.  

I want to be able to sketch a center point of the whole group (A) and then Coincident it to the construction line (B).

Currently I only know how to select all the points and then drag by hand. But I would love a more precise solution.

How would I pull this off?

[davebYYPCU]

Create the source point - you have the destination point.

Select the objects to move
Move - Point to point.

Might help…..

[glencandle]

Dave, I'm confused.  When you say "create the source point" - do you simply mean draft a center point A, but don't link any of the geometry, then drag it all (with the new center point) by hand to snap to Point B?  If so, that's what I'm trying not to do. 

I an hoping to find a more elegant way to lock in the shape, without locking the location.  Can you group sketch objects?  Or automatically lock all of their relationships to each other?  This would make iterating design changes a total snap (pun intended).

Cheers.

[TheCADWhisperer]

@glencandle 

Sounds like Sketch Blocks in Autodesk Inventor Professional.

[davebYYPCU]

No, it was not obvious that you have a source point.

Create one, then window Select all that you want to move, they will move as a single selection.

Might help....

[TheCADWhisperer]

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@glencandle wrote:

…but in a way that allows me to still move it as a group.  

How would I pull this off?

---

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

[glencandle]

Thanks Dave, I get what you're saying.

My thing is I am trying to figure out if there is a method for avoiding having to do it this way.  It sounds like there isn't, and I guess I'm barking up the wrong tree.

Reasons why I don't want to have to do it this/your way:

1. It's cumbersome, having to always select all of the geometry in question, every time I want to move the group
2. It's inaccurate, having to manually drag the group and drop it where you want (what if there are multiple snap points in the same area and you don't have the canvas zoomed in to know which point you are snapping to?)
3. Prone to causing mistakes, for instance if you want to put your group into an area where there is already a lot of clutter, then you decide to move it later- how do you window select your group from the clutter without also selecting the clutter?

It seems to me this is simply a limitation of the software.  For all its usefulness, I'm surprised there is no such thing as A) a geometry group, or B) a way to lock a shape without also locking it's translation.  

I do appreciate the effort to help though, cheers!

[jeff_strater]

"It seems to me this is simply a limitation of the software.  For all its usefulness, I'm surprised there is no such thing as A) a geometry group, or B) a way to lock a shape without also locking it's translation."

Yes, it is a limitation.  However, to be honest, this request does not come up all that often, which is why it is still a limitation.  It is a reasonable request, it is just a matter of priority.  I'm interested in why you have the need to move these as a group frequently.  Not saying it is not a legitimate ask, just wanting to understand the workflow.

Given that, if I had this requirement, I would approach it one of two ways:

1. fully constrain the geometry within itself.  Add dimensions and constraints that will effectively create a rigid group with just those geometries.  This can be painful, but effective.
2. use a selection set.  This gets around the "It's cumbersome, having to always select all of the geometry in question, every time I want to move the group"

[glencandle]

Thanks Jeff.  It sounds like a selection set is what I'm after, but incidentally when I try and do it in this case I get this:

Any idea why error occurs?

I would clean up my project file and share it but I'm slammed at the moment (can happily do this later).  

To answer your question- the reason I would like to do it this way is to be able to develop a procedural workflow (to sketching) as I iterate my designs.  I come from a CG background so I'm used to building things procedurally and in groups, so that I can easily go back to a source group (or math formula) and translate/scale/etc. 

For instance:

One thing I've not figured out how to do is create a formula within a sketch, so that I can dimension each line according to a formula.  I've found that Fusion will do this in a basic sense (simple addition, multiplication, etc), but as soon I try and get more complication Fusion breaks down.  I.e. I want the length of an edge to be a percentage of the length of another edge, while that edge is calculated by subtracting the length of one edge from another, then divided by two... etc.  The goal is that my 'source edge' can be changed and everything else will be resized formulaically.  But, I've discovered that as soon as I get more than one-relationship deep in Fusion I start to get errors.  (And forget about using projected geometry in a formula, I'm still wrapping my head around why that is so temperamental.)

Anyway, I'm just trying to finding the boundaries of what Fusion can do, and what workarounds there are doing procedural type things that make life easier when you want to make changes later.

Cheers.

[timeset2500]

It's incredibly dirty and you may well run into a variety of other unique problems, but you could fix these lines into their own sketch within a separate component, and then use joints to position as needed and/or project this geometry back into another sketch later in the timeline. Again, certainly not something I would necessarily recommend, but it could be leveraged as a work-around, so long as you understand what you're getting yourself into. In particularly complex and borderline-experimental models I have used this to duplicate sketch geometry around a model (usually for some very exciting loft profiles).

[Ceecis]

I personally encounter this when I trace a shape from a canvas using splines. Freezing the shape but not the location would be extremely useful for those as applying constraints to the whole shape gets messier and more tedious the more complex the shape is.

[Ceecis]

Using the move command doesn't help when the shape needs to be located accurately using constraints or when other design elements need to be located according to the shape. Applying constraints will almost always break the shape.

[g-andresen]

Hi,

Have you taken note of @timeset2500's answer?

günther

[davebYYPCU]

Did you read what you just wrote?

Sketch Move a window selection, that is a legal move, does it for me.

Would need to see your example.

The op example was all blue, did not have the source point.  
Create the source point, and move all to destination, can’t see how it is not intuitive.

Might help….

[davebYYPCU]

Referencing your original picture and message 7.

1.  How else would you do it?

2. Move - Point to Point - has no click drag involved, where did that come from?

3. What clutter, moving more than once, not relevant to the original references.  All bets off.

Other than to consider the component / joint suggestion.

Not critical, here to help if I can.

[Ceecis]

Yes and I almost suggested the same thing until I realized that it would be impossible to have that component and another sketch depend on each other.

[Ceecis]

Yes I read what I wrote?

You just reiterated what you had already said and in no way addressed what I said.

[davebYYPCU]

That’s fair, considering we are looking at your shape.

I would expect you have splines in your sketch.

[glencandle]

Feel like we might be getting a bit off the rails here but for the record:

1. Looking for a 'one-click to select all' solution, as opposed to having to manually select each piece of geometry individually, every time I want to move the group.
2. But the point isn't fixed to the geometry, so following this logic will only move the point, but the not the rest of the geometry. Unless you manually select all of the geometry, including the point, and then drag it as one.
3. Clutter meaning more than a few geometry elements (lines, curves, points, etc).  It is very much relevant to my original question, which is how to fix all of the geometry (i.e. clutter) but not the location.

Cheers.

[davebYYPCU · Accepted solution]

No, we are trying to get peeps to the same page.  We don't have Sketch blocks, it is what it is, 

Start Move Tool. set as Point to Point,

Window Select all items to move.

Select a reference source point, (my black mid point)

Selecting the Destination Point will make the selected group, move, and the source point will be snapped to the destination point.  Select Ok,

Window select the Source and Destination point again and make them Coincident, otherwise the moved point will not be locked there. and this can happen (with blue geometry).

As for the clutter, time for separate sketches. 

Might help....