# Make a protractor that we can lock to a point and work out angles

**URL:** <https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/make-a-protractor-that-we-can-lock-to-a-point-and-work-out-angles/2651>\
**Category:** Modeling Questions\
**Created:** [July 23, 2018, 6:17pm UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/make-a-protractor-that-we-can-lock-to-a-point-and-work-out-angles/2651 "2018-07-23T18:17:29Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 9\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Angie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ec9cab/32.png) [@Angie](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/Angie)\
**Post date:** [July 23, 2018, 6:17pm UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/make-a-protractor-that-we-can-lock-to-a-point-and-work-out-angles/2651/1 "2018-07-23T18:17:29Z")

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Hi, guys. I thought if you can make such a great programme then it would be easy for you to make a protractor, either 360 degrees or 180 degrees that can be clicked on and then locked to a point on line or circle to work out angle. Angie

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**Author:** ![GeraldVowles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/57b2e6/32.png) [@GeraldVowles](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/GeraldVowles)\
**Post date:** [July 25, 2018, 4:33pm UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/make-a-protractor-that-we-can-lock-to-a-point-and-work-out-angles/2651/2 "2018-07-25T16:33:05Z")

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I really like this idea. It raises the question whether that capability perhaps already exists in the app - in an information display perhaps?

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**Author:** ![Angie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ec9cab/32.png) [@Angie](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/Angie)\
**Post date:** [July 25, 2018, 7:31pm UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/make-a-protractor-that-we-can-lock-to-a-point-and-work-out-angles/2651/3 "2018-07-25T19:31:23Z")

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Dear Gerald, I am not being mean . I suspect your answer may be a little sarcastic. I will have a look but so far I havn’t quite found what Would help me progress more quickly. I accept that it is probably because I don’t understand a lot of the commands and terms because I don’t. I will stick at it and eventually I will understand. Kind regards Angie

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**Author:** ![GeraldVowles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/57b2e6/32.png) [@GeraldVowles](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/GeraldVowles)\
**Post date:** [July 25, 2018, 8:19pm UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/make-a-protractor-that-we-can-lock-to-a-point-and-work-out-angles/2651/4 "2018-07-25T20:19:46Z")

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```
 Actually, not in the least Angie. I'm very likely not as far along the Shapr3d learning curve as you but I am a big fan of things that make sense, especially for dinosaurs like me who are used to 2D drawing apps. 
 The latter part of my comment was really directed at seeing if the developers might point out an existing means of accomplishing this in some part. I was kind of thinking about the little info bars (not sure of the correct term) that appear along the bottom of the sketches and models with dimension info.

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Best to you too Angie 🙂

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**Author:** ![Istvan](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.shapr3d.com/istvan/32/23668_2.png) [@Istvan](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/Istvan)\
**Post date:** [July 25, 2018, 8:27pm UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/make-a-protractor-that-we-can-lock-to-a-point-and-work-out-angles/2651/5 "2018-07-25T20:27:20Z")

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We are working on a bunch of sketching improvements. One of those is allowing the user to set the angle of an arc.

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**Author:** ![Angie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ec9cab/32.png) [@Angie](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/Angie)\
**Post date:** [July 25, 2018, 8:51pm UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/make-a-protractor-that-we-can-lock-to-a-point-and-work-out-angles/2651/6 "2018-07-25T20:51:03Z")

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Thanks guys. 🙂

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**Author:** ![GeraldVowles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/57b2e6/32.png) [@GeraldVowles](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/GeraldVowles)\
**Post date:** [July 25, 2018, 9:04pm UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/make-a-protractor-that-we-can-lock-to-a-point-and-work-out-angles/2651/7 "2018-07-25T21:04:34Z")

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Not sure what happened there?

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**Author:** ![tommyn](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.shapr3d.com/tommyn/32/1714_2.png) [@tommyn](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/tommyn)\
**Post date:** [July 25, 2018, 11:32pm UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/make-a-protractor-that-we-can-lock-to-a-point-and-work-out-angles/2651/8 "2018-07-25T23:32:46Z")

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Actually you can do this today. Draw two lines from a point. Consider one the reference and the other the working line. Choose Transform- Move/Rotate/Scale. Select the working line et voila!

![540A0A74-A8A7-4D98-B385-72F21358B254](https://cdck-file-uploads-us1.s3.dualstack.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/flex002/uploads/shapr3d/original/2X/6/6a7efedb70b5fa4bfc1a4ce784ada0740e91dcf5.jpg)

![3AF5AB18-23E6-4B8C-8BC4-569AB16EABB2](https://cdck-file-uploads-us1.s3.dualstack.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/flex002/uploads/shapr3d/original/2X/7/72e9b096b63f6167b1a6217519883d4f5cf18450.jpg)

Looking at this a bit more, you probably only need 1 line initially positioned as the reference. In the following screenshot, Line was initially horizontal. And now at 42 degrees. The angle readout can be viewed as you move the line angularly by dragging the small arc segment. Hope this helps…

![C17003D5-D2B1-4101-A255-75BD4DF0315A](https://cdck-file-uploads-us1.s3.dualstack.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/flex002/uploads/shapr3d/original/2X/8/879fb464c1b95d67fdb6ce6f0e01fc0b7204b9e6.jpg)

Best,

Tommy

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**Author:** ![Angie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ec9cab/32.png) [@Angie](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/Angie)\
**Post date:** [July 26, 2018, 4:34am UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/make-a-protractor-that-we-can-lock-to-a-point-and-work-out-angles/2651/9 "2018-07-26T04:34:00Z")

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Thank you Gerald and Tommy.