Align a randomly angled object to another randomly object

[hnrkndr]

Rotate tool in Layout:

I still struggle to find out how to align a randomly angled object to another randomly rotated object.
See attached case: The task is to rotate the red batten (its a group) into the final position (shown dotted). Imagine for a second I would like to update the roof slope in an architectural section.

When objects starting angle is random, how can I manipulate the rotate tools blue ‘grip handle’ to set up a reference starting direction for the rotation operation? A bit like the protractor tool in SU, perhaps.

I was not able to harness any smart inferencing for this task. I tried in vain all possible modifier keys. To my knowledge there is no other tool available - an ‘align’ tool or such.

Surely there must be an easy way to draw - and more importantly to further modify - simple Layout objects for the drafting of an architectural 2D roof sections?

Help would be very much appreciated!

…after reading archived feature requests from the last 4 (!) years, it seems that the rotate tool`s grip still defaults to the horizontal position, which makes it impossible to further manipulate objects without explicit text input in the command line (the “measurement” box at the bottom of the screen)??

FYI, here are some links to relevant , but unsolved!, previous posts:

Rotating Objects in Layout

Hi This is a query that I’ve had for ages, so thought I’d post it. It’s not super critical, but I’m just curious to see if I’m missing something. When rotating objects in Layout, the little handle thing, (very technical terminology ), is grabbed and then rotated by moving the mouse with the mouse button pressed. Upon letting go of the mouse button, an angle can be typed if desired. All good. However, even though the object is at an angle, the little handle thing resets itself to 0 de…

Rotating in LO, horizontally or vertically

I know this way. It works well for simple things like text and objects constructed on axis. Not so easy when things get grouped or have been constructed off axis in the first place. [LO alignment]

Rotate in Layout with reference angle

It blows my mind how many years Layout has gone without the ability to do this - it’s almost always a headache when composing a site plan and aligning things to lot lines or anything else that is not orthogonal. The rotate tool in Layout works great the first time you use it. But unless it is text or a shape, when you try to rotate for a second time, the grip automatically defaults to the 0° horizontal axis. We need the ability to set a reference angle for the grip so that we can precisely rota…

[Box]

Do you mean something like this?

[hnrkndr]

Thanks for your prompt reply, Box.
In your example, the blue handle/gizmo-thing is fortunately aligned with the box, which makes thinks easy as you demonstrated.

Mostly (randomly?) though, Layout reverts this handle to the default horizontal position, especially after deselection of the object and especially if you deal with grouped items. Your solution is not available in these cases ;-((

I have not found a way to manipulate the pointing direction of this handle - i am talking about the “dot” at the end of the “lever”.

P.S.:
It could be a bug?.. but users have already pleaded to fix it in 2016…

[PaulMcAlenan]

Henrik,

I always try to have a spare ‘original’ orthogonal timber cross section element available.

As you’ve found, trying to rotate a copied element that has already been rotated off orthogonal is not possible.