A few shortcuts . . .

The goal of this stage is to present a few tips to help speed up the creation and editing of certain parametric objects.

• Simple move
  

An object can be moved just as if using Rhino commands.   In most cases, RhinoParametrics will offer to create a "Move" object, which remains editable and can be moved again.

• Multiple moves
  

Several objects can be moved at once, with the "Move" objects being created automaticaly. Moving a "Move" object created from an x,y,z coordinate set will not trigger the "Move" message.

• Points on a curve
  

If a point is created on a curve in Rhino command mode, the ensuing object will be a "point on a curve". This point can be moved on that curve without a formal editing procedure. On the other hand, if the point is moved off the curve, RhinoParametrics will propose to create a "Move" object.

• Multiple copies
  

In this example, a box and a cylinder are created and a Boolean subtraction computed. The result is used as a reference for a multiple copy, which creates a number of "Move" objects. Of course, each of these parametric objects can then be moved independently. If one modifies the the size of the box, all objects will be updated consequently.

• Dimension object / Linear dimension
  

A Dimension object can be created in both RhinoParametrics and Rhino command modes. The Dimension object uses points for its extremities. Moving a point will cause the dimension to update.

• Distance constraints
  

It is possible to define a distance (ex. here the height of the extrusion) based on a dimension (ex. here a relative point). To apply this to several objects (ex. several extrusion as in the example above), right-click on the target value (the relative point), which will highlight it "Highlight Distance". The point becomes blue. In parametric mode, extrude the baseline and type the desired distance from the highlighted blue relative point. All the extrusions will then use this relative point as a distance constraint. Moving the relative point will result in all the extrusions being updated. This function can also be used with a linear dimension object.

• Object / Angular Dimensions
  

An angular dimension can be created in RhinoParametrics or Rhino command modes alike. This object only measures the angle between straight segments. Moving any segment will cause the angular dimension to update.

• Angle constraint
  

In the example to the left, a "revolution" object was created from a polyline (using the fillet option).  Changing the angle between the two lines will change the revolution arc accordingly. Moving the extremity of the line will also cause the diameter of the body to update.