BricsCAD V19's Best Three New Functions
NearestDistance variable toggles a dynamic dimension that reports the nearest distance between two selected entities. (This function does not work when three or more entities are selected.)
To use the nearest distance function, just select two entities. The distance appears on a blue dimension line.
Shortest distance shown between the circle and line
The distance reported is the shortest distance. You can edit the distance to move the last selected entity. In the first figure, I picked the circle first, and so it has the dot on the dimension line; I picked the line second, and it has the arrowhead -- meaning it will be the entity that moves. Type in a new distance, and then press Enter. This lets you move blocks or lines into position; it even lets you change the size of complex entities like rectangles.
When You Can't Move. When two entities intersect or connect, the distance is zero. When an entity cannot be moved, the dimension field is read-only and shown in gray (not editable). For instance, you cannot move two lines that intersect, or the entities that make up a block. (Go into the new BEdit block editing environment to change block elements.)
Distance between intersecting entities is 0, and cannot be changed
Hold down the Ctrl to select sub-entities, such as two of the polyline segments that make up a rectangle, polygon (see below), or even a donut! (On a donut, the distance is 0 and cannot be edited.)Hold down the Ctrl key when selecting the individual polylines making up this polygon.
Here is the result after I changed the distance to 0.75 units:
Shape of polygon changed by editing the distance
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