How to Determine the Distance between Two Points

The distance between two points can be obtained by using the "Inquire" capabilities in Superdraw, the Superview IV Results environment and the FEA Editor environment.

In Superdraw, use the "Inquire:Point Position..." command sequence. The "Point" pop-up menu will appear and the status bar will prompt you to "Select Point." Right click on the first node and then on the second node. The dialog area will show the DX, DY, DZ and DS values for the distance between the nodes.

In the Superview IV Results environment, use the "Inquire:Distance and Angle" command sequence.  The "Inquire:Distance and Angle" pop-up window will appear. The dialog area will prompt you to "Please click on a node to begin." Left click on the first node and then on the second node. The window will show the distance values. Clicking on a third point (which forms two vectors) will give the angle between the two vectors. Clicking on a fourth point (which forms a quad region) will give the fold angle and mid-warp angle of the quad. Be sure to click in a consistent direction to measure the warp angle: click either clockwise or counter-clockwise. 

In the FEA Editor environment, use the "Selection:Shape:Point" command sequence to specify selection of objects by point-and-click. Use the "Selection:Select:Vertices" command sequence to specify selection of vertices. Left click on the first vertex. A magenta circle will appear on the selected vertex. Press and hold the <Ctrl> key and left click on the second vertex to add it to the selection set. If you position the cursor on top of one of the selected vertices, a pop-up message will appear temporarily indicating the distance between the vertices. If you right click anywhere in the working area, a pop-up menu of options will appear for the selected objects. Choose the "Inquire" option and the same pop-up message will appear. Press any key (such as <Esc>) or click anywhere to clear the message.

For more information about the "Inquire" capability, see the ALGOR User's Guide.