[Feature Request] Rectangle from 3 corners

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NewJoker
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Re: [Feature Request] Rectangle from 3 corners

Post by NewJoker »

drmacro wrote: Tue Jul 26, 2022 10:35 am But, the response to this thread has not been overwhelming.
As pretty much always here ;-) Responses on this forum are rarely representative because only a few people reply and they are mostly FreeCAD veterans.

drmacro wrote: Tue Jul 26, 2022 10:35 am But, there is nothing wrong with useful macro/Python.
Yes, macros are nice but for rarely used functionalities, not needed for most users. This case is different in my opinion. Rectangle from the center was similar and (thankfully) it was added to 0.20 as a built-in tool. Most people don't want to wonder which basic sketcher tools are hidden as macros.

drmacro wrote: Tue Jul 26, 2022 10:35 am I see this particular tool as occasionally useful, certainly not something I'd use daily...maybe not even weekly.
I think that it really depends on the applications and individual preferences. Jee-Bee said that he uses this tool in Creo pretty much all the time and that he would even like it to be the default mode for rectangles in FreeCAD. I would also use it quite a lot and I think that many users would agree with me.

drmacro wrote: Tue Jul 26, 2022 10:35 am Alternatively, continuously adding "useful to some" and corner case tools could be seen as bloatware.
I don't think that adding two items to the drop-down list for rectangle tools would be so costly in terms of space and computational power. But paddle's solution would make it even less invasive - it could have a form of additional buttons (very user-friendly ones) for his tool settings widget.
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NewJoker
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Re: [Feature Request] Rectangle from 3 corners

Post by NewJoker »

Jee-Bee wrote: Tue Jul 26, 2022 11:04 am If talking about bloatware in the sketcher are more useless(wrong word but i assume everybody understand what i meant) features.
Like the Snell's Law constraint. This thing is no niche that it shouldn't be a built-in tool that confuses users but rather a macro, in my opinion.
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adrianinsaval
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Re: [Feature Request] Rectangle from 3 corners

Post by adrianinsaval »

drmacro wrote: Tue Jul 26, 2022 10:35 am What, IMO, would really be a great update would be user defined toolbars. That would allow libraries of macro/Python "features" and/or existing tools to be added, as needed, by the user, not by a random developer or a committee.
what do you mean update? This has been available in FreeCAD for as long as I can remember. At most you can ask for better UX, but that could be asked of basically everything :lol:
Jee-Bee wrote: Tue Jul 26, 2022 11:04 am It is possible to use something similar that forces a straight rectangle and so that the second point is not needed(basically only point one and tree are used and two is added automatically)...
I would rather have it reversed, rectangle by two vertices by default, press a modifier to use 3 points. This is because I draw horz/vert aligned rectangles way more often than tilted rects. But if we're gonna make it work by pressing a key a mode switch key is probably better than a modifier as it would also allow for other methods, like center-vertex or possibly center-vertex-rotation for example.
NewJoker wrote: Tue Jul 26, 2022 11:34 am Like the Snell's Law constraint. This thing is no niche that it shouldn't be a built-in tool that confuses users but rather a macro, in my opinion.
Agreed but past mistakes is no excuse to add everything under the sun to the main tools (note that I agree with this thread's request). Remember that you also have to think about maintainability.
Also I disagree with the notion that having functionality as macros is inherently a bad thing, the extensibility of FreeCAD is one of it's main features, it even has a manager for discovering and installing macros, IMO choosing to stay away from macros is a mistake.
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Re: [Feature Request] Rectangle from 3 corners

Post by drmacro »

adrianinsaval wrote: Tue Jul 26, 2022 12:57 pm
drmacro wrote: Tue Jul 26, 2022 10:35 am What, IMO, would really be a great update would be user defined toolbars. That would allow libraries of macro/Python "features" and/or existing tools to be added, as needed, by the user, not by a random developer or a committee.
what do you mean update? This has been available in FreeCAD for as long as I can remember. At most you can ask for better UX, but that could be asked of basically everything :lol:
You can easily add to an existing toolbars and you can add to the global toolbar. But, can you create multiple user defined toolbars?
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drmacro
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Re: [Feature Request] Rectangle from 3 corners

Post by drmacro »

adrianinsaval wrote: Tue Jul 26, 2022 12:57 pm
drmacro wrote: Tue Jul 26, 2022 10:35 am What, IMO, would really be a great update would be user defined toolbars. That would allow libraries of macro/Python "features" and/or existing tools to be added, as needed, by the user, not by a random developer or a committee.
what do you mean update? This has been available in FreeCAD for as long as I can remember. At most you can ask for better UX, but that could be asked of basically everything :lol:
You can easily add to an existing toolbars and you can add to the global toolbar. But, can you create multiple user defined toolbars?
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan: Spock: "...His pattern indicates two-dimensional thinking."
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adrianinsaval
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Re: [Feature Request] Rectangle from 3 corners

Post by adrianinsaval »

drmacro wrote: Tue Jul 26, 2022 1:26 pm You can easily add to an existing toolbars and you can add to the global toolbar. But, can you create multiple user defined toolbars?
yes, why would I not? Have a look at this, the first two I create for demonstration purpuses as sketcher specific custom toolbars, the third is one I use as global custom toolbar.
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NewJoker
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Re: [Feature Request] Rectangle from 3 corners

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adrianinsaval wrote: Tue Jul 26, 2022 12:57 pm Also I disagree with the notion that having functionality as macros is inherently a bad thing, the extensibility of FreeCAD is one of it's main features, it even has a manager for discovering and installing macros, IMO choosing to stay away from macros is a mistake.
I'm not against macros as such. As I said, I think that add-ons (especially add-on workbenches) are a great advantage of FreeCAD. You can have a workbench for ship design or whatever is interesting for you and automate anything with macros. Putting all of that into master wouldn't make sense. But there are many features that in my opinion should be built-in functionalities, not add-ons. Those are tools that can be found in other CAD software and are commonly used there. Otherwise, release notes for each new version of FreeCAD would consist of just a list of updates in add-ons and FreeCAD's development would be limited to bug fixes. Even commercial CAD software is still updated with new features (plug-ins are also an option there) and FreeCAD is really far behind these programs in terms of available tools. Feature requests like this one are an attempt to catch up on those differences and make FreeCAD more user-friendly. That's also the goal of paddle's great work.
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Re: [Feature Request] Rectangle from 3 corners

Post by Jee-Bee »

adrianinsaval wrote: Tue Jul 26, 2022 12:57 pm I would rather have it reversed, rectangle by two vertices by default, press a modifier to use 3 points. This is because I draw horz/vert aligned rectangles way more often than tilted rects. But if we're gonna make it work by pressing a key a mode switch key is probably better than a modifier as it would also allow for other methods, like center-vertex or possibly center-vertex-rotation for example.
Fine up to me. You understand what i meant and that's most important ;)
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Re: [Feature Request] Rectangle from 3 corners

Post by GeneFC »

NewJoker wrote: Tue Jul 26, 2022 2:23 pm But there are many features that in my opinion should be built-in functionalities
That says it all. 8-)

At this time I do not see a need for a new type of rectangle creation. Go ahead and add whatever you want, but don't force me to switch my methods to match your methods or to press modifier keys.

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NewJoker
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Re: [Feature Request] Rectangle from 3 corners

Post by NewJoker »

GeneFC wrote: Tue Jul 26, 2022 5:40 pm That says it all. 8-)
It's rather obvious that those are all just our own opinions. Mine, paddle's and Jee-Bee's (to name just a few) opinion is that it should be built-in, yours and drmacro's is that it shouldn't and so on. Only a poll would reveal what most users want. Polls should be made much more frequently here because of the always occurring discussions like this one. The only problem is that likely the number of voters wouldn't be impressive.

GeneFC wrote: Tue Jul 26, 2022 5:40 pm Go ahead and add whatever you want, but don't force me to switch my methods to match your methods or to press modifier keys.
Why do you think that adding one more item to the drop-down list or one more button to paddle's tool settings widget (the usefulness of which has already been widely discussed so let's not question it here) would force you to change anything in your workflow ? You don't have to press these buttons and they won't occupy any space where other tools could be located.
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