Constraint Visuals / Solver Messages in Sketcher - Questions

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Cat Oregon
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Constraint Visuals / Solver Messages in Sketcher - Questions

Post by Cat Oregon »

Hello!

I am wondering, is it possible to hide the Constraint Visuals when there are many closely spaced contraints? Red may be the new black (is it?), but it's also the new color of my entire screen and it's very hard to find things without zooming into infinity.

Another question I have is in regards to the Solver Messages in Sketcher, and more specifically, I am wondering if there is any way to ecourage the Solver Messages to be even just slightly more detailed when it comes to Sketcher Constraints. It's difficult for me to read "Unconstrained Sketch - X Degrees of Freedom" over and over again without knowing where to start looking for the specific degrees of freedom, particularly in a complex Sketch!

Kindly,
~Alex at CAT
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DeepSOIC
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Re: Constraint Visuals / Solver Messages in Sketcher - Quest

Post by DeepSOIC »

Cat Oregon wrote:I am wondering, is it possible to hide the Constraint Visuals when there are many closely spaced contraints? Red may be the new black (is it?), but it's also the new color of my entire screen and it's very hard to find things without zooming into infinity.
At the moment - no, it's impossible.
Cat Oregon wrote:It's difficult for me to read "Unconstrained Sketch - X Degrees of Freedom" over and over again without knowing where to start looking for the specific degrees of freedom, particularly in a complex Sketch!
Yes, a known problem. There's a Macro Shake Sketch intended to reveal the DOFs by moving every point in the sketch. Also, it is generally fine to leave a sketch under-constrained, as long as it serves the purpose.
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NormandC
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Re: Constraint Visuals / Solver Messages in Sketcher - Quest

Post by NormandC »

Hello Alex,

So you are two different FreeCAD users at CAT? Cool.

Similar requests have been made before and this would certainly be very useful. They have been reported on the bug tracker, here's to hoping one of the devs decides to tackle this at some point.

issue #1041 Highlight unconstrained features of a sketch (might be more useful than more verbose solver messages)
issue #1629 Object visibility settings for sketch edit mode

Actually that last one does not specifically mention hiding constraints. I'm sure it was mentioned here, I thought there was a bug report but I'm unable to find it.
DeepSOIC wrote:Also, it is generally fine to leave a sketch under-constrained, as long as it serves the purpose.
My punctilious nature had me cringe at that affirmation. Heresy, I say. Thou shalt always fully-constrain your sketches is the first commandment I follow. ;)
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Re: Constraint Visuals / Solver Messages in Sketcher - Quest

Post by jmaustpc »

If you posted your Help about FreeCAD data, then we would know what you are talking about....

A lot of what you are complaining about has already been fixed or improved one way or another, if not in 0.14.3703 then in 0.15dev versions.

If you want to ask for "new" features its always best to make sure you have tried the latest development versions so that when you ask for a "new" feature etc. you can be sure it has not already been dealt with.
Cat Oregon wrote:I am wondering, is it possible to hide the Constraint Visuals when there are many closely spaced contraints?
What you can do that in most cases resolves the problem is, just grab the visuals with the mouse and drag them in various ways and to places relevant to the constraint type.
Cat Oregon wrote:Red may be the new black (is it?), but it's also the new color of my entire screen and it's very hard to find things without zooming into infinity.
If you don't like the default colour in somewhere or other....then go into your preference and change the colour to what you do like.
Cat Oregon wrote:I am wondering if there is any way to ecourage the Solver Messages to be even just slightly more detailed when it comes to Sketcher Constraints. It's difficult for me to read "Unconstrained Sketch - X Degrees of Freedom" over and over again without knowing where to start looking for the specific degrees of freedom, particularly in a complex Sketch!
This has not been completely or directly dealt with but there are several advancements in 0.15dev that help in some of the common error situations. E.G. the elements selection widget (highly valuable in locating semi-hidden sketcher elements, e.g. very short lines, geometry lying over another, accidentally added points), the single click to select redundant/conflicting constraints, "select elements associated with this restraint" and the reverse "select the constraints related to this element".
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Re: Constraint Visuals / Solver Messages in Sketcher - Quest

Post by NormandC »

jmaustpc wrote:A lot of what you are complaining about has already been fixed or improved one way or another, if not in 0.14.3703 then in 0.15dev versions.
No, it hasn't.

There is currently no way to hide all constraint visuals to display only the geometry.
jmaustpc wrote:
Cat Oregon wrote:I am wondering, is it possible to hide the Constraint Visuals when there are many closely spaced contraints?
What you can do that in most cases resolves the problem is, just grab the visuals with the mouse and drag them in various ways and to places relevant to the constraint type.
In cases of complex sketches this does not help, constraint icons and dimensional constraints can take up most of the screen and hide the geometry or at the least distract from it.
jmaustpc wrote:
Cat Oregon wrote:Red may be the new black (is it?), but it's also the new color of my entire screen and it's very hard to find things without zooming into infinity.
If you don't like the default colour in somewhere or other....then go into your preference and change the colour to what you do like.
It's not about color, Jim, you may change it to black or blue or whatever color, it's about the actual geometry not being visible at all under all the red constraint icons and dimensional constraints.
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Re: Constraint Visuals / Solver Messages in Sketcher - Quest

Post by mrlukeparry »

It would be nice to give a refresh to Sketcher GUI as it hasn't really changed over the last two+ years. I am quite surprised little tasks related to the GUI / user interaction haven't been achieved by now...
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Cat Oregon
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Re: Constraint Visuals / Solver Messages in Sketcher - Quest

Post by Cat Oregon »

NormandC wrote:Hello Alex,

So you are two different FreeCAD users at CAT? Cool.
Hey there,

This is Mark now, I thought I'd respond on Alex's behalf because he won't be back on until Friday. Yeah we have a couple FreeCAD users here at CAT, we want to get more. I'm responsible for learning it and teaching it to Alex and, eventually, others. Alex is an apprentice for the bicycle design program here so he does a lot of machine work in addition to FreeCAD.

Thank you for the responses!
-Mark, CAT
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