Copyright Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc.
192
AutoCAD and Its Applications—Advanced
In Figure 8-16B, the
Array Creation
ribbon tab is shown after selecting the
Measure
option. The number of items is set to 8 and the distance between items is set to 25 using
the settings in the
Items
panel. The result is shown in Figure 8-16C.
The
Align items
option is used to align the arrayed objects tangent to the direction
of the array path. The
Z direction
option is used to change the Z axis direction of the
arrayed objects. By default, the Z axis of each object is aligned in the same orientation
used by the original object. If the
Z direction
option is set to No, the Z axis of the object
changes direction to follow the path as the path changes direction.
The
Rows
and
Levels
options allow you to create an arrangement in rows and
levels. The options are similar to those used with the
ARRAYPOLAR
command. In
Figure 8-17, an oval table is created using the
Levels
option. The table feet and middle
supports are created as a 3D path array. One of the feet is arrayed along an elliptical
path to create an array consisting of two levels. In this example, a non-associative array
is created. This allows the middle supports to be edited as individual objects after
creating the array. The middle supports have a smaller diameter than the feet and
a longer length. To complete the table, the bottom shelf is copied along the Z axis to
create the top.
A
B
C
Number of items
and spacing between
items specified
Measure
option
selected
Figure 8-16.
Using the
ARRAYPATH
command. A—Specifying 10 items to array and using the
Divide
option. B—Using the
Measure
option to specify 8 items to array and a distance of 25 units
between objects. C—The resulting array.