Anyway to do dotted lines?

[Greasetattoo]

I'm back.... : )

You guys are probably sick of me, but here I go...

I was in the drawing mode of VCarve pro..
Is there any way to draw a dotted line or dashed line?

If not, next version maybe?

thanks....

[RoutnAbout]

Grease,
The only way I can think of is.
Draw a vertical or horizantol line and then do an array.
Or, draw your line and cut the line where you need to.
I know its not the answer your looking for.
But the only way I know.

[Greasetattoo]

Yeah, It isn't that important, but it would help.
For reference stuff.

Like I say, maybe the next version.

Or, if you could do, color your lines..
Just a thought.

[Regnar]

Grease if you go to the rulers that are on the top and left side and click and drag it will produce a dotted line for reference. You can also place these more percise if you right click the guide line.

[BrianM]

Yeah, It isn't that important, but it would help.
For reference stuff.

Like I say, maybe the next version.

Or, if you could do, color your lines..
Just a thought.

Grease,

If you put the construction lines on a new layer you can set them to any colour you like (and optionally lock them to prevent them being edited).

Brian

[Greasetattoo]

Hey Brian,

Good tip, I will keep that in mind!

Thanks all!

[Greasetattoo]

Brian

The color thing worked like a charm....

Dotted lines would be nice, but the colors look GREAT too!

[ArtistInFla]

How about drawing a segment and then copying it with a space in between the two. Then copy the two and so forth to create the desired length.

A bit of work, but we always run into these situations.

Mark

[Regnar]

Mark if you right click the guide line you have options to do what your asking for and you don't even have to cut copy paste. You just input the distance in between and how many you would like. I see your in Clearwater, I am up in Tarpon so if you need a hand just let me know.

Just read re read your post. You might also want to check out "Array Copy"

[Decibel Guitars]

Sorry for the necrobump of this topic, but i figured it was better to bring up an old topic than to ask a repeated question.

I'm making some acrylic templates for pre-drilling pieces before they get mounted on my machine. I'd like to scribe centre lines down the templates, and in my experience, dotted or dashed lines work best when trying to align a template on a workpiece that has a centre line drawn on it.

Is there any way to take vector lines (both straight lines and circles) and generate G-code that cuts dotted or dashed lines? Re-drawing lines as arrays of small line segments seems like a lot of work for something so simple.

I was surprised there wasn't a "dotted/dashed line" option in the Profile, V-Carve or Fluting tool path options. This would be a very useful addition!

[PaulRowntree]

Could tabs on the profile toolpath be used to lift the tool that high?

[Dadof2and2]

Dash in text?

[PaulRowntree]

Could tabs on the profile toolpath be used to lift the tool that high?

Here is a preview of doing dashed profile on vectors using tabs to lift the toolpath out of the material. THe profile depth is 0.02", the thickness of the tabs is the material thickness, tab length is 0.1", and it is set to do 0.3" between tabs. To get the patterns to work you need to define the V-bit or engraving tool to have a small diameter, regardless of what you really do use.

[Greengecko]

One other way I found to do a dashed line is to use the "Copy along vector" button. You set it draw a specific number of circles and then use the Snip tool to cut them out. I chose 0.1" diameter circles, but you can adjust the size to the length of the space you want between the dashes. The attached images shows a rough sample (I left out the arrowhead from the preview). My example is a circle but it works on any vector.

[sharkcutup]

If you are using either V-Carve Pro or Aspire you could always use the EasyLineTypeMaker Gadget provided you are looking to do just straight lines.

Just a Thought!!!

and BTW --- Those methods posted here on this thread are some very interesting and creative ways of creating dashed lines Too!!!

Sharkcutup