Creating a bounding box

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RayHari
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Creating a bounding box

Post by RayHari »

In Vcarve Pro 8.5 for ShopBot how do I create a bounding box of selected items? There is a button on the drawing menu that says "vector boundary" that allows you to create a rubberband boundary. What I need is a rectangular boundary that encloses all selected items.

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mtylerfl
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Re: Creating a bounding box

Post by mtylerfl »

Hi. Just draw a rectangle around the objects then.
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RayHari
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Re: Creating a bounding box

Post by RayHari »

Drawing a rectangle is not the same as finding the bounding box. When you draw your own rectangle it may be off by say 0.0001 or so and it is a trial and error process to get the rectangle exactly right. A lot of CAD tools have the ability to find the bounding rectangle of selected objects. And it is especially helpful to have the system compute the bounding box when curved objects are involved especially after curve fitting a bunch of vectors.

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mtylerfl
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Re: Creating a bounding box

Post by mtylerfl »

Select all your objects. Then make note of the x and y dimensions (shown as W and H) displayed at the bottom right of the display. Then draw a rectangle with these same dimensions. Use the alignment tools to align the rectangle to your outermost objects. It will be the perfect sized enclosure.

I'm curious. What are you cutting that demands 0.0001" accuracy. Can't be wood. :D
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mtylerfl
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Re: Creating a bounding box

Post by mtylerfl »

Ha! I just remembered there is a Gadget called "Square Around" that is quicker.

Select all your objects, select the Square Around Gadget and type 0 for Offset values. Click ok and you'll have a perfect enclosure.

My original method works too, but the gadget is quicker

BTW, Ryan at ShopBot wrote that Gadget!
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mtylerfl
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Re: Creating a bounding box

Post by mtylerfl »

One more BTW...

If/when you upgrade to version 9.x of the software, the Snapping Tools will allow you to draw a rectangle freehand by "waking up" appropriate geometry of your outermost objects. A vector-drawn box enclosure will snap exactly at the boundaries of the object selection!
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RayHari
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Re: Creating a bounding box

Post by RayHari »

I don't really need that precision but I gave 0.0001 just as an example of why a system function is better than a manual creation of a rectangle. I was wondering why vectric did not provide an extra option in the "vector boundary" menu item. A choice between 'rubber band' or 'bounding box' or just a 'vector boundary'.
Anyway thanks for the other options you mentioned. I will give them a try.

RayHari
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Re: Creating a bounding box

Post by RayHari »

I tried downloading the Square_Around_Gadget_Install.exe for v8.5. When I try to install there are no items in the list box that I can select to install. I had a similar problem a few months earlier with the gear maker gadget and someone provided a zip file of a directory that I can copy to the gadgets folder for that. Is there a similar folder for the square around gadget?

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Re: Creating a bounding box

Post by 4DThinker »

Under Transform Objects, select the Distort selected objects tool. Once open there is an option to select the bounding box option. Once selected hit Apply.
Of course if this is not what you mean by bounding box then you can draw 4 individual vectors, horizontal and vertical on each side of the group, that are each longer than the group of items you want to surround. Then select each line one at a time, followed by the item in the group that is closest to it. Use the align objects tools to snap each segment to its relative edge of the group. Now scissor trim any overlapped corners where the lines overlap at the corners. You should now have a rectangle that perfectly bounds all the objects.

4D

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mtylerfl
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Re: Creating a bounding box

Post by mtylerfl »

RayHari wrote:I tried downloading the Square_Around_Gadget_Install.exe for v8.5. When I try to install there are no items in the list box that I can select to install. I had a similar problem a few months earlier with the gear maker gadget and someone provided a zip file of a directory that I can copy to the gadgets folder for that. Is there a similar folder for the square around gadget?
If I recall, the .exe is just an auto extracting zip file. It doesn't actually "install" like a software program.

Once the files are extracted (unzipped), you can manually move or copy those files into your VCP Gadgets folder (accessed via File->Open Application Data Folder)

Restart VCP afterwards, then the Gadget should appear in your Gadgets Menu
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RayHari
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Re: Creating a bounding box

Post by RayHari »

When I run the .exe file the install program presents a list box with no components to select the components to install. it may be due to the fact that the .exe file was created using some old version of windows and does not work with windows 10 install. Even though it may be a .zip file changing the .exe extension to .zip and trying it also does not work. If you have the square around gadget could you please zip that folder and post it here?
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mtylerfl
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Re: Creating a bounding box

Post by mtylerfl »

Here are the files you need. Create a sub-folder called Square_Around in your VCP 8.5 Application Data Gadgets folder, then put these files in that folder.

Let me know if that works for you.
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RayHari
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Re: Creating a bounding box

Post by RayHari »

Thank you very much Michael.

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mtylerfl
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Re: Creating a bounding box

Post by mtylerfl »

My pleasure!
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Adrian
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Re: Creating a bounding box

Post by Adrian »

Out of interest what is it used for in relation to CNC work? I use the rubber band boundary a lot but I've never come across the need for a rectangular box.

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