Eagle 6.3 Can you select no-snap for group move?

[Sylvi]

Hi

I'm using Eagle 6.3 after many years of using 4.16r2. Overall the new version is pretty easy to use once you relearn where everything has been placed that you use all the time.

There is an annoyance in the group move function:  In the old version, you could select 'Group' in the side bar and box the area of components, and then you could select what you wanted to do with them. To move the group you select 'group' on the side bar then right-click anywhere on the group and it would highlight and you could move it around.

In 6.3 the 'Group' blocks the area in a shaded box. Then you can right-click on the group and a menu of options is displayed. The 'Move' option is down at the bottom of this menu and when you click on it, the box snaps to the cursor. I find this very annoying as I usually only want to make a small move of the group.

Is there anywhere that I can select that the parts do not snap to the cursor?

I think the only work-around is to zoom way in before selecting the move function and have the grid lines 'on' to see a relevant dimension. Life is full of improvisations.

On a different subject, it seems very odd that the file management places the Eagle projects in a folder called "Eagle" that is inside a folder called 'Projects'. One cannot place a new project directly into the Project folder as in the older versions of Eagle. There is also an "Examples" folder in the project folder that you cannot get rid of.

Other gripes:  I see there are many new options in the 'Change' menu, the top six or so I will never use and all the ones that relate to the schematic or board are further down and in a different order than before. All the new features I believe were part of integrating Eagle with other mechanical and simulation programs. I use Eagle to make mechanical drawings for my machine shop guy, and it seems well enough as 2D. I've managed so far to keep all 3 Ds aligned as they should without the universe imploding ... just as in olden tymes...

[jpanhalt]

The only versions of Eagle currently on my machine are 7.x.  Group move has always been to a grid.  It's not a problem. That's how it should be.  I use Options>Assign to assign F5 and F6 as single keystrokes to show or allow me to change grid.  "Alt" toggles between the normal size and alternate (usually finer) size on the fly.

There are two ways I know to do what you seem to want to do:

1) Use "Properties" to find your group location.  Then set the alternate grid the amount it needs to be to get where you want the group to be.  Since you will probably want the X and Y moves to be different, you need to do each axis separately.  I find it easier to have the group a little further from its desired position than as close as possible.  That is, a move of 1.00023 mm is easier to do than one of 0.00023 mm, unless you are awfully steady with a mouse. 

2) Determine where you want the group and use the command line to move it.  I use this method usually when I import a DXF and want it to line up with the origin.

I think the grid as a tool is one of the best features of Eagle.  Some people disagree.  I've had individuals shout that changing the grid during routing or while making a library device is "crazy" or worse.  The main problem is that if you forget about the grid and do stupid stuff, you will get unconnected traces/nets.  That was a bigger problem in early versions.  Newer versions snap to a connection on pads within reason.

You mention your "tools" moving around with newer versions.  You can set classic and keep the old.  That's what I did.  I never could understand why a company paid competent people just to change icons.

[floobydust]

I can't think of any reason to block move with no snap.
Altium used to allow you to press and hold shift during a move, which divided the snap by 10 as long as the shift key was held on.
This was great for parts that had oddball or fractional pitch, yet you wanted to place on the main grid.

[boB]

Make the grid size REAL small ?  Almost like no snap.

What I would have liked to have seen was to be able to use the arrow keys to nudge the group or object in a direction.

[Karel]

On a side note, why don't you use the latest Eagle V6 which is 6.6.0?

Or, if you don't have a license and you are using the free version,  why don't you use V7 (7.7.0)?

You can download them here: http://eagle.autodesk.com/eagle/software-versions

(I don't recommend the versions higher than 7.7.0, they are buggy like hell.)

[jpanhalt]

I forgot to mention that I have used Eagle since v. 3.x.  Maybe your impression of a change is that the alternate grid may have been set to "finest" as default and you didn't change it.  On v. 7.2, finest is 3.125 x 10^-6 mm.  That would certainly be imperceptible.

(I have also had my morning coffee.)

[westfw]

Click “group” and highlight the group.  click “move” and then right-click anywhere in the group, and it will pick up the group at that point, suitable for small movement.  I think.

[jpanhalt]

Eagle will always snap to a grid.  However, you can set the grid quite small (see previous post).  Where you grab a group doesn't matter.  That point will still snap.

Edit: There is an exception, that is when you use the command line, you can do a move to coordinates.  However, it appears the TS is only interested in the GUI.