Relative Coordinates in Angles

Use the “@” prefix to enter the angle from the last given segment

You can now use the “@” prefix to enter relative angles just like you are already used to for relative distances. This unique ability simplifies significantly the coordinate input when you draw successive lines or polyline segments.

ARES Commander is introducing in this version a small but innovative feature that can interestingly improve coordinates input. It is the possibility of adding polar coordinates with relative angles.

Using the ”@” Command

Let’s see how it works, In the video above, we are going to draw a pentagon with 5 equal sides of 5 meters and angles of 72 degrees. Obviously, we could have used the POLYGON command for that purpose but we just want to make a conceptual example to explain the new feature.

Defining polar coordinates

We start with a line and define the second point with polar coordinates. Nothing new here, we enter a distance of 5 and an angle of 0 For the next segment, we could also use the traditional method for polar coordinates or leverage from the new feature. To do this we will write, “@” followed by the distance from the last point 5, then use the tab and write “@” followed by the angle from the last point, which in this case is 72°.

Typing in commands using ‘@’

At this stage, there is no big advantage in using relative angles because the previous angle was 0. Let’s continue, for the next point, we enter simply again @5 TAB @72 while with the previous technique we should have calculated 72+72=144 and then, entered @5 TAB <144. If we continue with relative angles we just need to enter again @5 TAB @72.

Learning to use Relative angles in polar coordinates

For the last section, we could type C to close or just enter again @5 TAB @72. The old technique is still supported but let’s do the same example without using relative angles to show you better how relative angles are simplifying everything We draw a line, and then write the relative polar coordinate with “@5”, the symbol “<” and the angle, which in this case is zero.

For the next segment, we write “@” with relative distance five, the symbol “<” followed by the angle, which this time is 72 degrees. The problem comes from the following point, since to define it we will have to write “@5”, and after writing the symbol of “<“, the angle. But the angle this time is with respect to the zero indicated by the X (positive) axis. So we need to add 72° to the previous angle 72° and enter “<144”.

The next segment, we would write “@5,” followed by “<216” after remembering the previous angle was 144 and adding 72. Since, again, the angle is relative to the zero indicated by the X axis in the positive direction.

In the figure shown later in the video, we see that the angle is 36 degrees, but we need to add the 180-degree turn that occurs up to that point, so the total is 216 degrees. And we could continue to finish this form.

With this simple example, we could demonstrate how the relative angles in polar coordinates will simplify your life compared to the old technique and avoid many mistakes.

While you can keep working like before, we hope you will enjoy this new feature that, to the extent of my knowledge, has no equivalent in other DWG editing software.

To learn more about this, and other functions of ARES Commander, do not forget to visit the HELP offered by the program by pressing F1.

Learn more: Amit Kumar explains how Relative Angles function in Coordinate Input.

To learn more about ARES Commander, visit our product page: ARES Commander.