Dimensions are perfect for showing the true size of your shapes and objects in your MacDraft document. Dimensions are smart system, that calcukates true sizes and displays them, no matter what scale is set. You can also use the dimension tools to measure walls, doors and other areas of drawings that have been sent to you.
The dimension tools
An overview of the different dimension tools and their uses.
Moving and editing dimensions
How to manage and edit the dimension obects in your drawings.
Area and perimeter
How to automatically display the area and perimeter of objects.
Linked dimensions
Understanding how to link and unlink dimensions (Pro only)
Dimension formatting
Manage and edit the dimension options (Pro only).
The dimension tools are located on the left panel below the drawing tools. There are nine different tools in total, each one allowing you create dimensions or measure.
Horizontal dimension tool:
Creates dimension lines that are constrained to horizontal orientation.
Vertical dimension tool:
Creates dimension lines that are constrained to vertical orientation.
Slope dimension tool:
Create dimension lines between edges running in any direction on a drawing.
Perpendicular dimension tool:
Creates dimensions perpendicular to lines or to the edges of square-cornered rectangles, polygons, and polylines.
Diameter dimension tool:
Creates dimensions showing the diameter of the selected circle, ellipse or arc.
Radial dimension tool:
Creates dimensions showing the radius of the selected circle, ellipse or arc.
Circle Center Mark tool:
Allows you to indicate the centre of circles, ellipses and arcs.
Angular dimension tool:
Lets you display and print the angles between different lines or edges, whether they intersect or not.
Measure tool:
Lets you quickly measure between two points on your drawing, to display the size.
Open the Welding Bracket.md70 file. Let’s create a Horizontal Dimension which shows the total length of the part in the top view.
Tips and information
You can now use the skills learnt and experiment with the different dimension tools. Try to place dimensions in different positions and use different start and end points to understand how the dimensions work.
Once you have placed your dimensions you can edit their position. You can move the dimension text part, so that it’s easier to read or away from a key part of the drawing, so let’s move it up slightly.
Tips and information
Another way to make dimension text more readable when overlapping other objects, is to select the dimension and change the fill color. This will change the background color of the text element. A good example would be, if your page is set to white, then set the dimension fill color to white.
One of the tools in this toolset isn’t infact a dimension tool. The Circle Center Mark tool is used to create a circle center lines to identify the center of circles and arcs.
Although not directly part of the dimension tool set, the Show Area and Show Perimeter options should get a special mention here. They are very easy to use and allow you to show the area or perimeter of the selected shape quickly and easily.
By default, dimensions in MacDraft Pro will be linked to the object they are measuring. What this means is that should you resize that line, rectangle or circle (or anything else) the linked dimension will automatically update to show the new size.
Tips and information
In MacDraft PE these dimensions wouldn’t have been attached to the object and instead, when you resized the rectangle, the dimension would have stayed where it was, this is called an Unlinked dimension. MacDraft Pro users can select their linked dimensions and unlink them should they wish to, using the Unlink or Unlink All tools in the Advanced Tool section of MacDraft.
There are many advanced settings you can apply to selected dimensions or to all future dimensions within the Dimension Format dialog. This can be found on the Dimension Options section of the Properties panel. Select a dimension then click on the Format... button to reveal the dimension format dialog.
The Text Display option defines the vertical alignment of your dimension text. You can have it appear above, along or below the dimension line. You can show or hide the witness lines, add a frame around the text, center the text on the dimension line and add the arrows to the outside of the dimension line (inside by default). You can also set your tolerances, leader and dimension round off here too.
Tips and information
Some options for editing a dimension, such as the font type, style, size and dimension end marks, can all be edited directly inside the Properties panel, any time a dimenion object is selected.
Using the Welding Bracket.md70 file, zoom in on the Front view of the drawing.
As you can see we have replaced the dimension itself with a label. This is a very powerful tool which will allow you to write whatever you want on your dimension lines.
Take your time to use the rest of the dimension tools in this document on your own. Although each tool has its own unique characteristics, the way you will use each one will be the same, its as simple as placing your points then placing the dimension itself.
With this tutorial you should now be familiar with creating, editing and formatting your dimensions. Experiment with the skills you have learnt and start to markup your drawings with dimensions and custom labels, all formatted to your precise needs.
Related Links
MacDraft User Guide
Keyboard Shortcuts
Contact the Microspot team
Related Tutorials
