This tool allows you to position bridges on rotary rules.
Rotary rules are significantly different to flatbed rules, so the bridging has to be handled quite differently. The picture below shows a representation of a cross-section of a piece of rotary rule. To create a bridge on the rule it is necessary to remove one of the teeth. This means that bridges can only be placed where there is a tooth on the rule.
You will need to identify a path of connected entities that will be made from a single piece of rule (this could be just a single entity), and then specify the bridge positions along this path.
Cross-section of a rotary rule
When the tool is started it launches the Draw>Path finder tool and the edit bar will look something like this:
Interactive - Switching this mode on has several effects:
- Infer direction - instead of clicking once to select the start entity and then again to select the direction, simply click once on the start entity and the direction will be inferred to be away from the end of the entity clicked closest to.
- Auto-accept - when the path reaches its finish condition (as defined below) it will be automatically accepted.
- Path finish conditions - you can specify which finish conditions to use; either Max number of entities, Max length or Max number of bends.
Use max number of entities - in Interactive mode switch this option on if you want the path to stop once it contains the specified number of entities.
Use max length - in interactive mode switch this option on if you want the path to stop once it reaches the specified length.
Use max number of bends - in interactive mode switch this option on if you want the path to stop once it contains the specified number of bends. You can also specify a bend threshold value, so that small bends can be ignored.
Select the required Master Tool Settings.
From the drop-down list select one of the following options:-
- Gap at end
- Gap at path centre
- Gap at specific point
- Gap at start
- Tooth at end
- Tooth at path centre
- Tooth at specific point
- Tooth at start
This defines how the piece of rule will match up with the path of entities. The above picture shows a tooth at one end of the rule and a gap at the other end. If either of the specific point options have been chosen then you will be prompted to identify that point.
The next four edit bar options are the same as for the Draw>Path finder tool. (Direction, Stop at ends, Stick to palette and Rewind.)
Breaks
Press this button to start the Breaks sub-tool. Here you can add markers to temporarily split entities so that the path does not have to include complete entities.
All selected
Press this button to automatically generate a path from the selected entities in the drawing.
Once a path of entities has been defined the tooth locations will be calculated and bridges added according to the settings. These positions are displayed as small and large markers respectively. The Rotary Bridge Floating Toolbox is displayed, which allows you to manually alter the tooth and bridge positions.
Rotary Bridge Floating Toolbox
Nudge
Enter the distance for moving the tooth positions along the path. This value is used in conjunction with the minus and plus buttons. When one of the buttons is pressed, the current bridge positions are remembered. The teeth are then moved along the path by the specified distance, either towards the start of the path (minus) or towards the end (plus).
Width
Enter the required bridge width. This will not immediately affect any bridges.
Set
All selected bridges will be given the specified bridge width.
Move Bridges
Press either the Left or Right buttons to move all selected bridges along the path to the previous (Left) or next (Right) tooth position.
Drag
Use the Drag sub-tool to pick up the identified path, together with all the tooth and bridge positions, and drop it somewhere else on the drawing. The path can be rotated and mirrored using controls on the edit bar in the same way that the Transform>Drag tool allows this to be done.
All
Use this button to select all bridges on the path.
None
Use this button to deselect all bridges on the path.
Toggle
Use this button to toggle the selection status of all bridges.
Apply
This button adds the bridges to the actual geometry, but keeps the floating toolbox open.
Ok
This button adds the bridges to the actual geometry and closes the floating toolbox.
Cancel
This button closes the floating toolbox without adding any bridges, unless the Apply button has already been pressed.
Bridges can also have their status changed by clicking on them as follows:-
Shift-click
Use this to select a bridge.
Ctrl-click
Use this to toggle the selection of a bridge
Alt-click
Use this to toggle the conversion of a bridge to a bridge-entity. A bridge-entity, represented by a diamond shaped marker, is just an entity in the same position and the same width as the bridge. The entity's palette is defined in the MTS.
Click
Use this to remove the identified bridge, or to add a bridge to the identified tooth.