auto lock on align

[Martin P]

Have added this to every wishlist for past 2 years.....
I Always have to zoom out and find the padlock, a pick box for "lock" when aligning would be nice!! (alos a pickbox for disjoin!!!)

could this be the last time....???

[JamesVan]

I have to disagree with you on this one, Martin. I've seen many people botch up drawings because they just do without thinking. I can just see troubleshooting a Revit file where everything is locked together! Users need to think about their actions before committing something as powerful as a Lock.

If you're suggesting a lock pick-box, it's still one extra click of the mouse. I think it's quite intuitive the way it functions now.

[gregcashen]

How about if the lock just defaulted to appearing in the view in which the elements are aligned? Right now the lock always appears at the midpoint. IF you are zoomed way in, you have to zoom back out to see the lock. Why not have the lock display immediately after the align command in the current view?

Greg

[jbalding48677]

Martin -

If I am understanding you correctly, you are asking for a check box that will lock upon aligning. I too have been asking for this for some time now. I know for sure they hear us on this request. Hopefully this thread will push it higher on the priority list.

[beegee]

How about if the lock just defaulted to appearing in the view in which the elements are aligned? Right now the lock always appears at the midpoint. IF you are zoomed way in, you have to zoom back out to see the lock. Why not have the lock display immediately after the align command in the current view?

Greg

I certainly agree with this. It can be really frustrating to be zoomed in on the detail and constantly zoom back out to grab the lock icon.
Just a simple thing, but would save heaps of time.

beegee

[christopher.zoog51272]

Agreed, I'd be happy if the padlock would show-up centered on screen, not centered on the object, which could be way off screen :!:

[Martin P]

I have to disagree with you on this one, Martin. I've seen many people botch up drawings because they just do without thinking. I can just see troubleshooting a Revit file where everything is locked together! Users need to think about their actions before committing something as powerful as a Lock.

If you're suggesting a lock pick-box, it's still one extra click of the mouse. I think it's quite intuitive the way it functions now.

it is quite intuitive, but you have to hunt the padlock first! :lol:

[PeterJ]

Hunting down the padlock is something of a pain in the backside, so it does need to view on screen, but Martin has a good point, if there were a check box for lock aligned it would be a timesaver on multiple aligns.

P

[gregcashen]

Back to the top of the wishlist...do we need to poll this one? This is my new #1 for today!

[beegee]

A lock check box get my vote ... again.

[jbalding48677]

Did you guys notice that it is there when you are picking lines in sketch mode???

[Scott D Davis]

did now! Thanks JB!

[Chad Smith]

Maybe in the same fashion that you can press the spacebar to flip an object before placing it, how about if the space toggled the pad-lock before selecting the aligning objects.

Picture this. You have multiple object you would like to align to another. Start the align command, press that space to activate the pad-lock, align the first object. The second object you want to align but not lock, so you press the space (mid-command) to turn the lock off, then align, and so on.

[bclarch]

Definitely needs some improvement. Locks should appear on screen at a minimum but a checkbox would be a nice addition for multiple alignments.

[gregcashen]

I could be wrong, but I believe that this wish has been granted in release 6.1. I ran a few simple tests, and it seems that aligning now brings up a lock roughly centered on the screen. If someone could please verify, I will add the word GRANTED to the header of this thread. Also, if you notice any other wishes that have been granted but not mentioned, please bring them to my attention.

[Martin P]

mmmm... not sure it has as the wish was for a lock on align rather than the padlock being centred. I think I'd still like a pick box for lock when using the align tool, although the padlock being centred is an improvement :)

[Allen Lacy]

I'm not sure if this is new to 6.1 or not, but we have a lock toggle when picking (instead of drawing). That's a great feature in the family editor.

[Wes Macaulay]

If someone could please verify, I will add the word GRANTED to the header of this thread.
I can confirm this. This is a change from earlier versions...

[Martin P]

but not a wish granted? still would like the option to lock on align as well as having the padlock appear in the middle.....

I dont want to appear argumentative, but the original wish was for lock on align, exactly the same as the lock that you can do when sketching by pick in 6.1 - I conceed that the padlock in the middle helps a lot though

[Wes Macaulay]

I always see a lock icon after using the align command... am I missing something here?

[Martin P]

ok, lets say its granted its not very important anyway.

[gregcashen]

[quote:4ebbfb40c8="FreeRangeMonkey"]How about if the lock just defaulted to appearing in the view in which the elements are aligned? Right now the lock always appears at the midpoint. IF you are zoomed way in, you have to zoom back out to see the lock. Why not have the lock display immediately after the align command in the current view?

Greg

I certainly agree with this. It can be really frustrating to be zoomed in on the detail and constantly zoom back out to grab the lock icon.
Just a simple thing, but would save heaps of time.

beegee[/quote:4ebbfb40c8]


Sorry guys, When I discovered this, I simply did a search for the post above and never really looked at the main heading. I forgot this was a bit of an OT subject within the main thread.

Martin, I disagree that this is a minor thing. It may not be the main point, but it was a very frustrating issue before. If you are aligning a lot of things, the next best thing to having it lock on align is to have the lock appear in a place where it is unobtrucive to lock it manually. Before, if you locked a family to a long wall and you were zoomed way in, you had to zoom all the way out and then look for the lock to lock it. That adds several steps to each align/lock command. This elminates a tremendous amount of repetitive unnecessary zooming, panning, hunting...the lock is always on screen. Thanks factory.

[Archman]

I agree with Martin. I think that it is nice that the lock icon now shows in the center of the view when aligning, but it would be nice to be able to choose wheather the objects will be locked before completing the align command.

Example:

1. Select the align tool.
2. Toggle a check box on the options bar to "lock after align"
3. Align the objects and they are automatically locked.

This would be especially useful for multiple alignments. I think it should default to off though. I wouldn't want to be locking stuff accidentally.

[Martin P]

Hi Greg, there is a bit on confusion here I think. I agree that the padlock in middle of the view is a great addition, I'd be a bit mad if I didnt ! :) what I was saying was not really important was the original wish that starts off this whole thread for a lock pickbox... it would be useful for multiple alignments, but its not that important to me.

[gregcashen]

I agree that the padlock in middle of the view is a great addition, I'd be a bit mad if I didnt ! :)

It didn't used to prior to 6.1. So we are both happy and can agree to agree with each other on this one! ;)

[luigi]

OK, this is on old wish, and not many people voted on this....will it be revisited? I almost put this as a wish, but did a search first and found this thread.

I am spending a lot of time to align and find the lock pad (no, the lock pad in version 8.1 doesn't always show up in your immediate screen) takes wayyyyy to long. I stopped locking it and just aligned because it was taking too long....not being able to lock it with a quick align command will most likely bite me later when I need to move something that would force everything to be aligned once again.....

Please vote yes! and Wes, if this format of a wish is outdated (which it is) maybe we need to update it? Either with a new wish, or by modifying this?

Peace,
Luigi

[janunson]

I think the real problem is that the lock, EQ, and Make Dimension little blue icons are so consistently placed offscreen. If that were solved, I don't think the checkbox to automatically lock would be nearly as popular.

[david.kingham]

I would love for there to be a checkbox in the options bar, just a simple "Lock on Alignment" this would save loads of time

[iru69]

I would love for there to be a checkbox in the options bar, just a simple "Lock on Alignment" this would save loads of time
Ditto.

I would find this especially handy when creating parametric families where I'm aligning a lot of elements to reference planes.

[Martin P]

I think the real problem is that the lock, EQ, and Make Dimension little blue icons are so consistently placed offscreen. If that were solved, I don't think the checkbox to automatically lock would be nearly as popular.


I dont agree, why add an extra pick if you are locking 20 objects thats 20 extra picks? its when you are doing multipe locks that this is required, not really for individual ones - the padlock is fone for that...... Even if defaulted to off the next time you went to the align tool - that should resolve any of the no votes based on accidentally locking....

[luigi]

I dont agree, why add an extra pick if you are locking 20 objects thats 20 extra picks? its when you are doing multipe locks that this is required, not really for individual ones - the padlock is fone for that...... Even if defaulted to off the next time you went to the align tool - that should resolve any of the no votes based on accidentally locking....I agree about the disagreement....:confused:

What I meant to say is that I agree with Martin P. FActory made progress with the blue lock to appear in the screen (but not perfected it), but the ability to have automatic Lock is valuable regardless of the perfection of the blue lock on screen.

Peace,
Luigi

[BWG]

Ask them for both. Check box in the option bar for lock on alignment and the blue lock icon in the visible portion of the view, center of the alignment taking place as an override option. That way you can use either one or both.