Turn off Offset

ScottA · May 2017

Okay, another question. I'm trying to populate my city with buildings, and I'm having no end of hassle with the offset command. I don't want it -- I want to just place everything manually. As I'm placing building symbols along roads (lines), I'm having problems with them offsetting at weird angles, etc. I understand that happens with repeated use of the same symbol, and as I'm trying to fill a warehouse district, I'm using lots of the same symbol. I see in The Tome of Ultimate Mapping how to do everything with offset command except turn it off! This one has me pulling my hair out!

Loopysue · May 2017

When you say they keep turning at odd angles that's probably more to do with them finding the edge of another polygon or a line other than the road.

And I mean ANY polygon.

It used to drive me nuts when I was doing Merelan City. In the end I had to hide all but the sheet with the road on it, and the sheet I was placing the houses on. LOL!

If you start turning things off with the smart symbols you will end up having to manually rotate and align them, which is far more of a pain than just hiding the sheets you don't need to see so that you can use the smart behaviour in relation to the actual road.

[Deleted User] · May 2017

When you go to place a symbol, right click and turn off smart symbols and turn on disable smart tracking. You may need to do this occasionally for other symbols, but in general it remembers what you have done. But take heed of Sue's comments above.

ScottA · May 2017

SHAZAM! That did the trick! I turned off everything but the roads, but while it still happens occasionally it's no longer hair-pulling-out maddening! Never occurred to me it was OTHER polygons beyond just the buildings! Thanks so much

Dogtag · May 2017

To be clear, we're talking about the auto-align feature of the Smart Symbols, not the offset feature, right? City/building symbols typically align to nearby entities but, once you click the entity you want it to align with, you can move the cursor perpendicular to that entity to offset the symbol. The problem here is that the symbols flip around before you click at all, right? I just want to clarify which feature we're discussing here for anyone happening upon the discussion later.

Loopysue · May 2017

Sometimes it isn't possible to click the road exactly where you want the house to be placed because there are other polygons or lines underneath the road, for example two shades of grass or rock that just happen to join at that point.

Would it perhaps be better if you could click the road in a place that you knew was clear of intersecting polygons and lines, and then be able to move the aligned house along that road, I mean as well as being able to move it closer or further away from it?

Dogtag · May 2017

I just edited my comment to clarify and came back to find your reply. D'oh!

It's more trouble to click a clear area and then move the symbol down because once you click, the Smart Symbol offsets perpendicular to the entity at the point you clicked. You can't move it along the entity, just toward or away. You'd have to set it and then move it. Blech.

Your solution is simple and elegant. I just wanted to clarify for folks that the issue isn't the offset feature so much as the auto-align feature.

Loopysue · May 2017

Just a thought here, but since roads are lines, and polygons are polygons, maybe something of a half way solution would be to make the smart buildings ignore polygons, and only respond to the proximity of other buildings or lines?

That wouldn't stop them from reacting to the presence of other lines in the map that aren't roads, of course, but in most cases lines that are not roads are usually borders or rivers, and are more visible than say, a polygon with a an edge fade inner on it.

Dogtag · May 2017

There are other Smart Symbols besides buildings, though. Also, you may want to align your buildings to a town square, which is almost always a polygon.

Edge Fade Inner is really only an issue if you have effects turned on, and even then it shouldn't be too much of a problem unless the fade is really high. But, if you have effects on and it's a problem for some reason, I'm sure the Attach mode and the various attach modifiers can help to make it a non-issue.

Frankly, I think your suggestion to hide sheets (or layers) that might cause interference is a quick and simple solution.

ScottA · May 2017

To answer Dogtag -- yes, I already had smart tracking unchecked. It was the placement of the symbols. The first one went down without an issue wherever I wanted it, but when I tried to do a second, identical one the symbol would flip around and move only up and down on the axis of the cursor crosslines. Even getting it somewhere I wanted and clicking, it would be placed somewhere else close by or on top of something else at some weird angle. And the command bar in the bottom left was showing offset coordinates. That's why I assumed it was all the offset commands. Hiding everything else did the trick and was so obvious and quick and simple as to be an elegant solution.

JimP · May 2017

If this gives me undo problems, I place the symbol in the vicinity of where I want it. Then I drag it over to the correct location using drag.

Dogtag · May 2017

Hmm, interesting. If a symbol jumps to a nearby location instead of where you click, that's often related to your snap settings (which is also typically related to your grid).

ScottA · May 2017

Hm... well, I have both snap and grid turned off. Any stray symbol that gives me trouble I do what JimP said -- I use the tools to rotate and move them where I want, and while a little tedious that works.

JimP · May 2017

Its the smart tracking that sometimes causes me problems. I don't typically use snap. I have had to hide any grid when placing symbols.

Dogtag · May 2017

ScottA wrote:Hm... well, I have both snap and grid turned off. Any stray symbol that gives me trouble I do what JimP said -- I use the tools to rotate and move them where I want, and while a little tedious that works.

So weird. But, the workaround seems to work for you, and that's the important thing. Rock on.

HelenAA · December 2018

Posted By: QuentenWhen you go to place a symbol, right click and turn off smart symbols and turn on disable smart tracking. You may need to do this occasionally for other symbols, but in general it remembers what you have done. But take heed of Sue's comments above.

Thanks from me too, Quenten. I'm having exactly the same problems as ScottA, but searched on "offset" before posting my How-Do-I questions.

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Turn off Offset

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