Trick to rotate angled parts vertically or horizontally
How to rotate angled objects to be nice and vertical or horizontal, which makes them easier to work with. This lesson applies to Vectric VCarve, Aspire, and Cut2D.
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Video Transcript:
Hello everyone. In this quick tip, we're gonna look at how to rotate objects to make them nice and straight. So sometimes when you import objects, like this example here, these were imported from an SVG file and they were drawn at an angle. So when I bring them into vectric software, it sometimes is a little bit difficult to work with them at the angle.
So if you want to rotate shapes, you can just double click on them and grab this little blue handle to rotate them. But it can be difficult to make them nice and straight across. And same thing if you wanted to make it vertical, it could be difficult to get it exactly 90 degrees. So in this lesson, we're gonna look at a quick trick on how to make those nice and straight.
So to do this, we're gonna use the rotate tool, but we don't know what angle we need to rotate it at. So the whole trick for this is by taking one of these shapes. Let's just take any one of these, we'll take this one and I will move it up here out of the way. And we need to know what angle we are working with here.
So there's two ways you can do that. You could go to the measure tool. And you can measure between two points and select the bottom point and then take a straight reference to the top point and it will tell us the angle here is 66 degrees, so that's one way we can do that. Another way that I like to use sometimes is by taking the line tool and I will draw a reference line, so I will snap at a nice pivot point.
And I will make sure the smart snapping is turned on at the top, and I will go nice at a zero degree angle or a 90 degree angle, depending on what I'm doing. And I will click a point there and then right click to exit the tool. Now this is just a temporary line that we're using to reference the angle for this that we need to rotate.
So we are going to use the dimension tool this time. And we wanna make sure the angle dimension is selected. And I also like to make sure my decimal places are around four decimal places. Otherwise, if it's less than that, it will round the number and you won't get a nice exact angle. So we'll work with four, and then we are going to snap at the pivot point first, then snap on our reference line.
And then come up and snap onto the line from the part, and that will give us this angle in between. So we just click there and click for angle. And you'll see we also get that 66 degree angle. Okay, so you can see that's two different ways you could do it. Of course, that first way we showed is less steps, so you can decide which one you wanna do.
So we're gonna click close. Now we know our angle. Now we can use that to rotate all of our parts. So I am going to delete the measurement we just did and that reference line, and then I could take this part and I can move it back down. And all of these are at the same angle, so I can select all of them at the same time now, and then go to the rotate tool, which the shortcut to open that is the letter R for rotate.
And in here we want to go to a relative move. So that's gonna be relative to where it's at now, and you'll see if we type in 66 degrees. And click apply. You could see that does not look quite right, and that's because it rotated in the wrong direction. So if that ever happens, that just means you have to put a negative in front of that number.
So if we go to Edit, Undo, and this time we are going to do negative 66 degrees and click apply. You'll see now that rotated in the correct direction. So a negative number will rotate clockwise, a positive number will rotate counterclockwise, and then we can click close. And there we go, now we have our parts at a nice straight zero degree angle, and you could double check that by clicking inside of the top ruler, bringing down a guideline and snap it onto one of the corners of the parts.
And you'll see that guideline is nice and straight across. And of course if you wanted to make these vertical instead now you would just simply select those, go to the rotate tool and go 90 degrees and click apply, and that would bring them all vertical. And either vertical or horizontal, that will make these much easier to work with rather than working at an angle.
All right, that's it for this quick tip. Hopefully it helps you out and if it does, make sure you like and subscribe for more.
So if you want to rotate shapes, you can just double click on them and grab this little blue handle to rotate them. But it can be difficult to make them nice and straight across. And same thing if you wanted to make it vertical, it could be difficult to get it exactly 90 degrees. So in this lesson, we're gonna look at a quick trick on how to make those nice and straight.
So to do this, we're gonna use the rotate tool, but we don't know what angle we need to rotate it at. So the whole trick for this is by taking one of these shapes. Let's just take any one of these, we'll take this one and I will move it up here out of the way. And we need to know what angle we are working with here.
So there's two ways you can do that. You could go to the measure tool. And you can measure between two points and select the bottom point and then take a straight reference to the top point and it will tell us the angle here is 66 degrees, so that's one way we can do that. Another way that I like to use sometimes is by taking the line tool and I will draw a reference line, so I will snap at a nice pivot point.
And I will make sure the smart snapping is turned on at the top, and I will go nice at a zero degree angle or a 90 degree angle, depending on what I'm doing. And I will click a point there and then right click to exit the tool. Now this is just a temporary line that we're using to reference the angle for this that we need to rotate.
So we are going to use the dimension tool this time. And we wanna make sure the angle dimension is selected. And I also like to make sure my decimal places are around four decimal places. Otherwise, if it's less than that, it will round the number and you won't get a nice exact angle. So we'll work with four, and then we are going to snap at the pivot point first, then snap on our reference line.
And then come up and snap onto the line from the part, and that will give us this angle in between. So we just click there and click for angle. And you'll see we also get that 66 degree angle. Okay, so you can see that's two different ways you could do it. Of course, that first way we showed is less steps, so you can decide which one you wanna do.
So we're gonna click close. Now we know our angle. Now we can use that to rotate all of our parts. So I am going to delete the measurement we just did and that reference line, and then I could take this part and I can move it back down. And all of these are at the same angle, so I can select all of them at the same time now, and then go to the rotate tool, which the shortcut to open that is the letter R for rotate.
And in here we want to go to a relative move. So that's gonna be relative to where it's at now, and you'll see if we type in 66 degrees. And click apply. You could see that does not look quite right, and that's because it rotated in the wrong direction. So if that ever happens, that just means you have to put a negative in front of that number.
So if we go to Edit, Undo, and this time we are going to do negative 66 degrees and click apply. You'll see now that rotated in the correct direction. So a negative number will rotate clockwise, a positive number will rotate counterclockwise, and then we can click close. And there we go, now we have our parts at a nice straight zero degree angle, and you could double check that by clicking inside of the top ruler, bringing down a guideline and snap it onto one of the corners of the parts.
And you'll see that guideline is nice and straight across. And of course if you wanted to make these vertical instead now you would just simply select those, go to the rotate tool and go 90 degrees and click apply, and that would bring them all vertical. And either vertical or horizontal, that will make these much easier to work with rather than working at an angle.
All right, that's it for this quick tip. Hopefully it helps you out and if it does, make sure you like and subscribe for more.
