Osnap with center and tangent activated with tab

[ardo]

I never been able to have theses 2 selected together, and having tangent selected with the tab key. Acad always choose the CENTER snap and never goes to the TANGENT option, everytime I have to type TAN <space bar>, this is quite annoying. Does anyone has an answer ?
Thanks

 

[borgunit]

It depends how you invoke it. If you are drawing a line to the circle, then tangent should work. If you are trying to create a tangent first from selecting a circle, then it cannot geometrically create it. Also, OSMODE variable should be set to 260.

 

[ardo]

Hi Borgunit, Sorry to say I do not see your point.......

why if you put 2 circles on a drawing and place the variable osnapmode = 260, and then put the TANGENT and CENTER active, when trying to create a line tangent to the 2 circles it will always pick the center option even if you use the tab key to make it go through all the selected osnap modes (tangent, center, etc.). Instead, it stays on the CENTER option. If I type TAN <space bar>, to override the selected osnaps, it works, but I have to do it for the 2 points.

 

[borgunit]

Hi,
AutoCAD can draw a tangent line between two circles, but you are correct, it will only do this when tangent mode is forced and after both circles are selected. In geometry, the tangent is drawn the same way. You must know both circles first, their radius, and distance from each other. What you want would probably fall under a wish for Autodesk but probably will not make it to the product. One shortcut you can try is to pick SHIFT-RIGHT CLICK to invoke the shortcut menu, and then pick TANGENT from there. Sorry.