Newbie- Closing Shapes

[batraintech]

Ok this is an extremely newbie question but I can't figure out how to close a shape when making geometry. I placed some arbitrary points and used two splines to make a shape. The splines are blue, and they share end points, but the end points are yellow squares which my 2007 help file says should be blue squares.

I also tried selecting the two splines and doing the Connect/Disconnect command which did nothing, and also selected a point and did the command and it did nothing.

I tried extruding it and got the error message that I need to select a shape. How do I turn these two splines which look connected to me into a shape?

[jeffcnc2]

Just delete all yellow point and then connect line to blue point.
Welcome to JEFFCNC: http://jeffcnc.spaces.live.com/

[batraintech]

Thank you for the advice. Unfortunately it still isn't working. I deleted all the points but I can't get rid of the 2 end points (the square yellow points). Also I've never seen green points.

I've tried a few different combinations:
- When I select a single line the connect command is greyed out.

- When I select both lines and hit the connect command a dialog box asks me to select a feature. I click on the lines to no effect but when I click on a point the OK button appears. Pushing it doesn't seem to affect anything.

- When I select a point the connect button appears. Hitting it does nothing.

- When I select everything the connect button appears. Hitting it does nothing.

Any combination I can think of keeps the end points yellow.

[cadman]

Terminator points are yellow, connector points are blue. There are no green points, and they are points, not squares.


When you connect splines you are going to have duplicate terminator points, so delete all of them. It only took a few seconds to connect your curves. Ctrl A to select all of the geometry, hold down the Ctrl key and select (deselect) the two splines, now delete the points. Select either end to connect. You'll be asked which feature; select both ends, enter, now both ends are connected.

[batraintech]

It worked, thanks! I wasn't able to delete the end points because the lines were blue, so I disconnected them and then was able to delete them.

Thanks again.

[jeffcnc2]

Originally Posted by cadman Terminator points are yellow, connector points are blue. There are no green points, and they are points, not squares. When you connect splines you are going to have duplicate terminator points, so delete all of them. It only took a few seconds to connect your curves. Ctrl A to select all of the geometry, hold down the Ctrl key and select (deselect) the two splines, now delete the points. Select either end to connect. You'll be asked which feature; select both ends, enter, now both ends are connected.

Yes, connector points are blue. But they are different points, circle points and square points. Maybe you use old version, no square points.
GibbsCAM Macros Programming: http://jeffcnc.spaces.live.com/blog/...0DA!399.entry/

[batraintech]

I'm still having trouble deleting end points, I have 2 end points (yellow squares) on a curve. The curve is blue I assume because of the end points. I try various combinations of selecting end points, lines, multiple lines / end points, etc and hitting the connect/disconnect and yet the blue curve stays blue and the end point stays square. But it seems like randomly something works and a blue curve turns yellow and I can delete the end points. But it happens rarely, after maybe 40 attempts.

Update: I found if I change the curve from Wall to Air, hit disconnect, then turn it from Air to Wall it will successfully be yellow. Very strange.

[cadman]

I'm always current with GibbsCAM, so I always have the most current version (currently V9.5.19).

Since batraintech mentioned square points in the help file, I actually looked and surprise, the help file says the connectors & terminators are square. Actually, I vaguely recall reading that in the geometry documentation since its probably been about 10 years since I went through the manual.

[cadman]

Originally Posted by batraintech I'm still having trouble deleting end points, I have 2 end points (yellow squares) on a curve. The curve is blue I assume because of the end points. I try various combinations of selecting end points, lines, multiple lines / end points, etc and hitting the connect/disconnect and yet the blue curve stays blue and the end point stays square. But it seems like randomly something works and a blue curve turns yellow and I can delete the end points. But it happens rarely, after maybe 40 attempts.

Are you deleting all of the points before trying to connect?

[batraintech]

Originally Posted by cadman Are you deleting all of the points before trying to connect?

If I delete all the points, when it comes time to connect two curves, the curves warp in a zig zagish fashion. Maybe this version is just buggy.

I just found something that works though.... if I double click the curve (so it also selects the two points), then do a Wall->Air command on it, then hit Connect/Disconnect, then Air->Wall the curve will be yellow. I don't understand why but it is indeed reliable.

[cadman]

Is this the same file you posted earlier?