Constraints > Parallel

Command call:

The Parallel constraint can be applied only to straight line segments and axes of ellipses.

This constraint moves the segments/axes so that they are parallel.

When applying the constraint to an ellipse, it is applied to major axis. If you edit the ellipse later, so that the axis, which was major at the moment of constraint's creation, becomes the minor one, then the constraint will be automatically reapplied to another axis.

 

If positions of both objects are not fixated by other constrains, then, upon applying a parallel constraint, the object selected second will be moved, while the first object keeps its position. If position of the second object is fixated, then the first one will be moved. If positions of both objects are fixated, then the new constraint will throw an error.

 

Length of segments/axes does not change, as they're moved.

 

The constraint allows to select multiple second objects.

 

Icons of constraint are displayed near midpoints of each constrained object.

By default, a numerical index of a constraint is displayed near its icon in drawing. Indexes display may be disabled in system options.

Examples

Parallelism of several straight line segments

First, select the segment, which other segments should be parallel with, then sequentially select other segments in any order with the help of , then end input using or <Ctrl>+<Enter>. The parameters window will indicate that several second objects have been selected. In this case, all second segments have moved to become parallel with the first one.

Five constraints were automatically created for the six segments: one constraint for each pair of object 1 lines with object 2 lines. When editing or parameterizing any of the six segments, the positions of the others change in such a way that parallelism is preserved.

 

Parallelism of the straight line segment and axis of the ellipse

Having selected the parallelism constraint, we select, with the help of , the ellipse and the straight line segment. The segment becomes parallel to the major axis of the ellipse.

If you edit the segment or the ellipse, the parallelism of the major axis of the ellipse and the line will be preserved.