Continuing Dimension by Hovering Over Extension Line Editing Dimensions (Oops, I Placed That Dimension Incorrectly) Without having to exit the command at all, you simply hover over the extension line, and the dimension continues automatically (totally awesome!). For example, you have already placed a dimension and you want to continue it to place additional dimensions along your data. Of course, if the tool is not grabbing the exact geometric points that you need, you can always use AutoCAD snapping to get the dimension point.īy the way, the Dimension Tool is not only smart enough to work with regular AutoCAD objects, but also works with dimensions that are already placed. Dimension Tool Command Line Window Options Simply click on the Command Line option link or type the capital letter displayed to invoke the desired option.
Now, as I always tell people I am helping with AutoCAD, “When you don’t know what to do, look to the Command Line window!” The Command Line window displays any options that are necessary to place any kind of dimensions. After hovering, the tool will immediately begin the appropriate dimension tool (e.g. The beauty of the Dimension Tool is that once you run it, all you have to do is hover over an AutoCAD object, and it’s smart enough to know what object you are hovering over. You can dimension anything with the Dimension Tool - seriously, anything. The Dimension Tool in AutoCAD is by far one of the best tools ever designed! It is literally the one-stop-shop for dimensioning.
Notice the difference in the arrowheads and the display of units:Ĭreating Dimensions (The Best Tool in AutoCAD!) In the example below, two dimensions are shown, each using a different dimension style. AutoCAD organizes dimension style settings into convenient tabs as shown below: To automate dimensioning standards at your company, you could add dimension styles to your company-wide drawing template, making it very easy for all users to follow them.Įvery characteristic of your dimensions is controlled by the dimension style, including symbols and arrows, text height, and units. Building Layout Dimensioned Dimension Styles (Automate Those Dimensions)ĭimension Styles are used to manage and automate every aspect of your dimensions, and allow you to maintain consistency in your drawing annotations and to organize your dimensions. However, with annotation scaling all dimensions will look the same size no matter what viewport they display in, and you can set dimensions to display in specific viewports at specific scales as shown here. Now, before annotation scaling functionality existed, you would have to calculate the dimension height times the scale of the viewport to have dimensions display at the correct size, and if you had other viewports at different scales, you would have to calculate those dimension sizes as well. Remember, when you plot from a layout, you plot the sheet 1:1, but the viewport is set to a scale.
What this means is that dimensions are scale-dependent when plotted from paper space. AutoCAD Dimensionsĭimensions are considered an annotative object. In fact, most of your drawings are not complete until you have added dimensions. You use dimensions in drawings to communicate the size and specifications of data in your projects. Architecture, Engineering and Construction.Architecture, Engineering & Construction.