Rendering a point.rst

Tutorial - Rendering a point

Let’s learn by example.

In this tutorial, we will learn how to render a point using the :class:`qsketchmetric.renderer.Renderer` module.

We’ll assume you have :ref:`QSketchMetric installed <installation-section>` already as well as QCAD Professional and have already done the :ref:`rendering tutorial <rendering-tutorial>` as well as :ref:`parametrization tutorial <parametrization-tutorial>`

First download the tutorial.dxf file from the QSketchMetric repository. It is an example of a parametric DXF file that we will use in a tutorial.

To do so, open it and click Ctrl+S to save it to your computer. As a convention, we’ll assume you saved it in a file called tutorial.dxf.

Open tutorial.dxf in QCAD Professional, the result should look like this:

tutorial.dxf opened in QCAD Professional

Rendering a point is dead simple with QSketchMetric. All you need to do is to create a POINT entity on the :ref:`VIRTUAL_LAYER`. (Draw -> Point -> Single Point) The ``POINT`` must be connected to the other entities!

Next you need to add a parameter to the point. To do so select the point and scroll down the Property Editor to the Custom section. Click on the red plus button and add the parameter.

• Name should be: name.
• Value should be: variable_name you desire.

variable_name will be returned by the renderer with new rendered coordination of the point.

Added point should look like this:

Added point

That is all! Now you can save the file and render it with :meth:`qsketchmetric.renderer.Renderer.render` method:

from qsketchmetric.renderer import Renderer
from ezdxf import new
from ezdxf import units

output_dxf = new()
output_dxf.units = units.MM
variables = {'h': 50}
renderer = Renderer('tutorial.dxf', output_dxf, variables)
variables = renderer.render()
print(variables)

output_dxf.saveas('rendered_tutorial.dxf')

tutorial.dxf will be rendered on to the output_dxf :class:`ezdxf.document.Drawing` and rendered variable from the :ref:`VIRTUAL_LAYER` will be contained in the variables dictionary with the following content:

{
    "foot_point": (20, 10)
}

(20, 10) is the rendered coordinate of the point.

Congratulation you renderer your first point using :meth:`qsketchmetric.renderer.Renderer.render` method!