Hello, I am new to Stardraw, but have been using AutoCAD for 20+ years. I am wondering if there is a way to make a Stardraw symbol for Plan view that can have PART of it easily rotated? Or maybe a dynamic leader?

Like making a keypad icon with a round frame and pointer so that when the keypad is in a corner or other ambiguous location you can use the pointer to denote more specifically which wall it is located on but the text or icon related to the symbol remains non-rotated. In AutCAD parlance this is accomplished with a dynamic block.

Using Stardraw Design 7.4 you can edit part of a symbol using the Unlock Cursor.

The Unlock Cursor ignores the hierarchy of a group or symbol allowing you to select and make changes to parts of the group/symbol without having to break the hierarchy i.e. you can select part of the symbol and choose Arrange | Rotate (Alt+R) to rotate just the selection.

I mention SD7.4 specifically because this enjoys some updates that make editing under Unlock Cursor conditions more robust than in SD7.3, for scaling and rotation actions.


Kind regards,
Rob Robinson
Stardraw.com

+x

 

Rob Robinson - 2/17/2025 4:50:12 PM

Using Stardraw Design 7.4 you can edit part of a symbol using the Unlock Cursor.

The Unlock Cursor ignores the hierarchy of a group or symbol allowing you to select and make changes to parts of the group/symbol without having to break the hierarchy i.e. you can select part of the symbol and choose Arrange | Rotate (Alt+R) to rotate just the selection.

I mention SD7.4 specifically because this enjoys some updates that make editing under Unlock Cursor conditions more robust than in SD7.3, for scaling and rotation actions.

Thank you for the quick reply. I am still on a trial subscription, so 7.4 is not available to me.
But to clarify, are you saying that while I am in "project browser" I can insert a symbol, then "unlock" just part of that symbol and then rotate that portion? Or do I need to go to "symbol editior" which then edits the symbol permanently for all future uses of that symbol?

You can do both, but the best approach for a non-permanent, ad hoc change is to drag the product from the Product Browser into your drawing then use the Unlock Cursor to select the parts of the symbol you want to change, then make those changes.

Kind regards,
Rob Robinson
Stardraw.com

+x

 

Rob Robinson - 2/17/2025 5:37:21 PM

You can do both, but the best approach for a non-permanent, ad hoc change is to drag the product from the Product Browser into your drawing then use the Unlock Cursor to select the parts of the symbol you want to change, then make those changes.

Yes, but it seems (at least in 7.3) that "unlock" will only unlock a single line or a single circle, so to rotate a pointer would be tedious. It also looks like there are no "snaps" to snap the lines back to anchor points. And even the rotate command lacks a snap to a center point or a text entry for a fixed rotation amount, so rotating an object is also tedious.
Am I missing something?
Should I just be waiting for 7.4 to come out so I can try that instead?

With the Unlock Cursor you can select as many objects as you want; drag a selection marquee to select objects in a region, or use the Shift key to add to the selection and the Alt key to remove from the selection.
Rotate (Alt+R) displays a dialog for you to enter a fixed rotation.
Perhaps with 20 years of ACAD experience and being new to Stardraw Design 7 you might be assuming too much commonality; SD7 is not designed to do all the things ACAD can do, in the way ACAD does them, so you may face some un- or re-learning which we recognize is a challenge. You might find it useful to check out the movies at https://www.stardraw.com/sd7/movies


Kind regards,
Rob Robinson
Stardraw.com

+x

 

Rob Robinson - 2/18/2025 7:55:23 AM

With the Unlock Cursor you can select as many objects as you want; drag a selection marquee to select objects in a region, or use the Shift key to add to the selection and the Alt key to remove from the selection.
Rotate (Alt+R) displays a dialog for you to enter a fixed rotation.
Perhaps with 20 years of ACAD experience and being new to Stardraw Design 7 you might be assuming too much commonality; SD7 is not designed to do all the things ACAD can do, in the way ACAD does them, so you may face some un- or re-learning which we recognize is a challenge. You might find it useful to check out the movies at https://www.stardraw.com/sd7/movies

I am definitely willing to learn. It is one of my favorite things to do. I have watched several of the "movies", but not all of them yet. 

I tried to unlock the symbol and rotate part of it, but clicking the "rotate" toolbar command immediately exits the unlocked state and then rotates the entire symbol. I then tried the Alt+R command and that makes whatever unlocked components I am rotating move clear across the page and they are are no longer anywhere near the symbol. I can move them back as a group, but there is no snap mechanism for parts of symbols and on a busy drawing the unlocked pieces can be very hard to find once flung across the page in a seemingly unpredictable fashion.

Also, the Undo command seems to become inconsistent / unusable once the unlock command is part of the recent history. That is super disappointing.

I did see a movie on modular symbols for rack drawings. I tried create a modular pointer that could be added to my plan symbols, but I don't see any way to create anchor points in plan symbols, only racks and schematics.

I really don't want to do plans in AutoCAD and schematics/racks in Stardraw. There is a big cost for additional software and duplicate labor.

Depending on the symbol, in SD7.3 it can be the case that rotation or scaling actions under Unlock conditions can present unpredictable results, but this is fixed in SD7.4, now in Release Candidate version and due for full launch very shortly.
Perhaps we can back up and re-assess the specific problem you're trying to solve.  Images/screengrabs might be advantageous to this end.


Kind regards,
Rob Robinson
Stardraw.com