Turbocad copy in place missing

I posted this on the TC forum as well, but no answers yet.

It took me a while to realise I couldn't copy in place unless I had any form of hidden line switched off, but today it has disappeared from my edit menu and won't come back whatever I do, even if I create a brand new drawing with everything at default.

The help (from February) claims it isn't in the 64-bit versions which is patently untrue as I've been using it for a couple of years.

Is it possible there's some switch flicked I don't know about?

The only odd thing I've done is drag and drop a PDF to import it, but ALL files are affected.

Please help, producing any drawing with repeating elements is next to impossible without copy in place as ordinary copy loses every transformation.

Neil

Edited By Neil Wyatt on 19/10/2017 15:28:48

No suggestions?

Gratefully solved on the Turbocad forum.

It's a mystery where it went, but someone showed me how to get it back.

Neil

Neil

I didn't know the answer either...but am curious why you use that particular tool. My favoured method would either be 'rubber stamp' or copy/paste from the right-click drop-down menu. Or, if several copies required, drag it to a block and just drag back onto the drawing. That's extremely useful for modding lots of parts at the same time.

Interesting that John R uses a different method altogether, but that loses the D or 'snap' point if moved from the original.

Pete

Copy in place is useful because it copies with all transformations intact, so if you have something rotated and/or stretched and you want to place a copy in an exact relationship to it its great. I often place object in a rectangle around 0;0 for example. Position first object, copy in place, make X negative. copy in place make y negative, copy in place, make x positive. Job done.

But to be honest I hadn't found most of the commands that ave come up today.

I looked at TurboCAD, think I bought a copy. IIRC the tool path was parallel XY lines rather than following tidemarks so I gave up on it PDQ. They still send me upgrade offers which I ignore.

Has it improved?

Robin, me too! tried, tried and tried but never could make anything of it so back to me pen paper and drawing board !

That description sounds like a CNC program not TurboCAD which is a drafting program.

For drawing I had AutoCAD. You might think that after that I would have gone for anything that would do a reasonable 3D surface but the thing that drew me to TurboCAD was that it would output a tool path.

I eventually wrote my own software to cut 2.5D from AutoCAD. I give lines, arcs and circles elevation and thickness then stack 'em up.

I then drew in 3D with Alibre design for 3D printing. I am now making the switch to Fusion360 because it will output a toolpath.

I know I have been here before but hey, hope springs eternal

You can get a CAM plugins for TurboCAD and AutoCAD but its not a part of either as the main program. Maybe you found a bundle deal?

It was a long time ago

When required for cnc purposes my output from Turbocad is in *.dxf format. That file is opened in an obscure program called XMC-E which is what formulates the G code output to the Pacer cnc machine. As far as I know, 'ordinary' Turbocad will not output G code directly to any cnc machine.

Pete

Correct, I bought a Plug In

A word in support of TurboCAD.

I've used it ever since getting Version 4 DL free (CD on the front of a computer mag). I've passed through v9 & v15 since then. I guess I've been using v15 for about 5-6 years now (as I buy older versions) and it was fine till I upgraded to Win10 (64bit) recently. It still worked but I had to keep re-entering my registration number. Do'able but a bit irritating - and not TCv15's fault given it's vintage.

So I was very pleased to buy a copy of TC 2016 (fully Win10 ready) yesterday at the Midlands Show for not very much money (a few quid a year at my current renewal rate). I had a small problem with installation but Paul (the CAD) came immediately back (last night after my email) and it's all running very well now. So I've been using TC for about 20 years, can get updates at an affordably low price and there's excellent support for the product.

With regards to how hard TC is to use - well I originally taught myself how to use it - and made many mistakes back then. Now Paul has some really good YouTubes (obviously all free) showing you how to do CAD the right/best way. Like any really powerful software tool, you need to invest a bit of time learning it but it really is an excellent product for 2D drawing (which is all I need).

In terms of CNC - I've sent my TC drawings as .DXF files to laser cutters and got some very nice laser-cut parts back in exchange. So whilst others might need some intermediary software to translate their .DXF files to G-code etc in order to CNC their parts themselves - TurboCAD is all I've needed to get to the same end result. For the amount of CNC I need doing, I think this is an excellent and affordable way to go - e.g. I draw it and someone else cuts it. Seems to suit me.

I should add that I've recently also tried F360 and whilst I'm sure it's very good - I don't really like the 'Cloud' nature of the product and since I already know and like TC - I'm probably not going to bother learning anything new.

It's Horses for Courses (as always) - but as you may have gathered I'm a very satisfied TC user.

Regards,

IanT

That's pretty impressive...being able to actually find the disk.

Pete

DXF is simply a 2D drawing format (vector graphic) developed by Autodesk for outputting Autocad. It's not a toolpath, so the laser cutters are actually doing that last step and creating the actual toolpath. You wouldn't have much luck going near a CNC machine with a DXF file....

Murray

Yes, I'm well aware of that Murray - but my real point was that (in reality) I'm probably never going to go the CNC route now and where/when I do need something doing - TC gives me the capability to design & draw whatever I want and then someone else (with their expensive laser/CNC mill/extruder - whatever) can do the rest for me...

I don't 'do' my own castings either (although I've still not completely given up on doing that yet)

Regards,

IanT

Out of interest only, TurboCAD does export to STL, so I design all my 3D prints using it:

Turret rendered in TC:

The hatch and cupola from the above printed:

I'd wondered where Copy In Place had gone, but found it disguised as a pair of footprints as a symbol.

I use it a lot, then moving or resizing the copy as needed (such as concentric circles).