Drawing perpendicular lines?

[GrumblingHive]

Hello, does anyone know any software that allows me to draw (vector) perpendicular lines without typing like 65 ridiculous commands first and without having to rotate a square (many, many) hundreds of times?

Like, draw the first line at any old angle, the next line is at a right angle to the first, the next line is at a right angle to the second, etc. etc. etc. etc.

Then, when i finally click the first point again, it closes the shape, fills it with a colour, and then allows me to start on my second shape without requiring me to right click 2,000 times or click the toolbar or reboot my computer first.

Man, that sounds like great software...

[waldronate]

Most any CAD package provides a "perpendicular to" modifier when drawing entities. Campaign Cartographer 3 from ProFantasy ( http://www.profantasy.com/products/cc3.asp ) is based on such an engine. They have a demo available. I really recommend investing a couple of hours in doing the tutorials before arriving at a judgement of the software, however. Its basic principle of action-object is somewhat different from the currently-popular object-action principle found in most desktop software.

[GrumblingHive]

I could not seem to locate a demo version of CC3 on the profantasy ste, only a promise to refund my cash within 14 days if I bought it. I s'pose I'll download the video tutorials anyway. Thanks for the suggestion anyway.

[Midgardsormr]

Profantasy discontinued the demo when they released CC3. It's built, I believe, on top of FastCAD, though, which does have a demo. I have no idea how dissimilar the interfaces between FastCAD and CC3 is, but that demo might at least give you some idea if the software can do what you need it to do.

[atpollard]

Like, draw the first line at any old angle, the next line is at a right angle to the first, the next line is at a right angle to the second, etc. etc. etc. etc.

Just FYI, the third line in your example will be parallel to the first, the fourth will be parallel to your second, etc.
So that if you have a situation where most lines are either parallel or perpendicular to each other, it might be easier to draw them horizontal and vertical and rotate the entire drawing after all the lines are drawn.

If each small group of lines has its own orientation (like buildings in a village) then software with a simple select-and-rotate or draw-perpendicular command would probably be better.

Good luck on the software search.
[I use Autocad, but with a thousand dollar price and hundred hour learning curve ... I don't really recommend it for your needs.]

[Jaxilon]

Google Sketch might have something like that. I know you can at least create an object and drop it over and over again so if you wanted a bunch of squares, no biggie.

[GrumblingHive]

[QUOTE=atpollard;187730]Just FYI, the third line in your example will be parallel to the first, the fourth will be parallel to your second, etc.

Aah! Not necessarily! Because what if I want to draw an L-shape filled shape? So then I'll be going up, right, down, right, down...
Plus, probably very few of the shapes will be lining up with one another (I'm making a town, and it will most certainly not be in a grid)

Thanks for the tip about fastcad midgardsormr, I'll give it a go.

@ Atpollard: I have tried autocad and I found it's snap to perpendicular functions are unreliable and annoying. Unless I was doing it wrong. Like, it did not reliably snap to perpendicular exactly. Plus like you say it's probably a bit overkill...

[RobA]

Inkscape supports arbitrary guidelines, and can snap to guide intersections. I made a quick video to show how you can set up an arbitrary grid of guidelines in Inkscape to help do what you want:



-Rob A>

[GrumblingHive]

Looks quite interesting, didn't know inkscape could do that. But, it looks like (I had to skip through the video a bit because my bandwidth sucks) I have to set up the guides for one group of angles, then build all the stuff that fits that angle and then start again on the next set of angles. Is that right?

I think my basic problem is a severe case of dolls house syndrome or whatever you call it. I seem to end up making too many ittle gardens and pathways and stuff like that. And, on more reflection, I don't know if perpendicular/tangental/parallel lines are that critical anyway. A town is a complicated place after all.

I hope I manage to finish this one day...thanks for the help everyone.