Ok so is this a bug? If you think it might be, I can upload the file let me know if you want to look att...
No, No, and No. Not normal, not the way it's supposed to work, and there should be no need for an additional object in the file.
Henry H
Well yes, you are correct if one uses symbols and the library, there is no need to have multiple instances via copy-paste of the same object in a drawing file.
However, the fact remains, that the copy-paste tool is still there and can provide this functionality, and is able to provide multiple instances of the same surface in the same drawing. No where in the manual did I see any reference to the effect -
do not place multiple copy and paste objects in large drawing files, because if you do, if the objects are a few thousand drawing units away from the world origin, work plane errors can occur.And as a novice user, if I see copy - paste in the menu, beginners tend to use that. Not on the scale that I did, but it's a sure bet that I am not the only one who has used copy and paste to paste multiple objects in the same drawing file instead of using the library palette. So if it is to be defined as a bug, then it should be corrected. However if this is just the way Turbocad is, and is defined as a "quirk", then a reference should be made to this effect in the documentation as to this issue, so that beginner users are aware of it and don't waste precious time.
I did a search of my TurboCad Vesion 19 users guide for the term "world origin", and found not one reference to the term. This was a copy of the manual that came with a fresh install that was emailed to me from TC Tech Support just two days ago for the latest TC build.
...also, your attachment above shows seven digits. I dug this out of the wiki:
"The World Coordinate System (WCS) is the internal,
high accuracy (10 digits) and absolute coordinate system. " So even though my objects are way far away from the world origin, they are within seven digits to the left of the decimal point. The wiki however states, that the world co ordinate system is accurate to within ten digits. So something is definitely amiss here - the wiki is not congruent with my experience. Either that or it should be stated that if an object is (at least) in distance seven or more digits away from the world origin, workplane problems can occur.
In the mean time, I may have to re do about 90 drawings so I can get dimensioned prints out of them. I'll have to check every one because I have a lot of parts with keyways in them and if they are slightly skewed - or off relative to a workplane I set for paperspace, the front and side, top views etc won't show up in paperspace well due to hidden lines that are not supposed to be showing and slightly crooked or non perpendicular (to a workplane) bores.
The reason why I did not catch this earlier - I was focusing on doing un dimensioned iso views only for the patent filing. Had I set a few viewports in paperspace, showing front, side etc views - instead of isometric views from the start, I would have caught this earlier and prevented a lot of extra work. It never occured to me to do that though, as long as the iso views looked OK I was happy.
I admit that most folks probably don't have large drawing files with duplicated 3d surfaces repeatedly copy and pasted into them - but that's the way I started out because at the time it seemed a convenient way for me to do it - since I have to show several different configurations of my widgets in perspective views for the patent filing. So I liked the idea of having sometimes up to a half dozen pages in paperspace - in the same drawing file(s) - with the same widget showing in different positions. It is easier to keep track of my paperwork given that I have 53 pages of drawings with over 200 drawing figures broken up over about a dozen or so drawing files.
Each page in paperspace sometimes has about a half dozen drawing figures (viewports ) on it of the same widget, shown in different positions - which is the correct format for patent filings. That's why I was copy pasting the same widget into the same drawing file - and changing the positions of the components in each drawing figure. Doing this though created a huge drawing file and that's why I suspect I had the problem because of the World origin issue you mentioned above.
If anyone at Turbocad management is reading this, if you want proof as to how frustrating this problem has been, go back in this thread and read the post I made on March 19. Because I had been trying to figure out what was wrong with my dimensioned prints at least since that time, and have been spending weeks and weeks trying to figure this out, and only found the answer two days ago, thanks to the good help I had from Henry.
It took 8 weeks to get a definitive answer as to what the problem is for apparently a well known problem (or documentary) omission. One person even suggested that I do not understand 3d space despite the fact that I have been tinkering around electonics and computers since 1974, designed e-commerce sites for many years which took in millions of bucks in sales, and have been an amature printmaker (artist) for over a decade doing woodcut prints and am a woodworker who can make dovetail joints with a .0015 inch glue gap, and built from rough sawn lumber in my garage 18 kitchen cabinets that the commercial suppliers can not hold a candle to LOL.
Next time I won't do it that way and break up the drawing files into much smaller file sizes, so these drawing errors won't occur. I guess the moral of the story is that one can not have huge drawing files in Turbocad because in these situations the workplane axes will be slightly off - so break up your file sizes to managable sizes. And using the library palette as an alternative to repeatedly copying and pasting the same part into the same drawing might help too.
It would be an interesting test to put several of the same symbol in a huge drawing file and see if this same World origin issue occurs with workplanes as it does with copy - pasted surfces.