Draft Dimension

Description
The Dimension tool creates an object that measures and displays the distance between two points; a third point specifies the position of the dimension line.

The tool can measure edges or lines directly attached to solid bodies; if the body changes, the dimension updates itself. The tool can also measure a diameter or radius of curvature such as those produced by a Draft Arc, or by the Part Fillet, Sketcher CreateFillet, and PartDesign Fillet operations.

The resulting dimension is placed in the 3D view, and is considered a Draft object. This object can be displayed on a TechDraw Workbench Page, using the TechDraw NewDraft or TechDraw NewArch tools. Alternatively, TechDraw has its own tools to display dimensions, such as TechDraw Dimension Length and TechDraw Dimension Radius; however, these tools are meant for preparing technical drawings, so they create the dimensions only in the drawing page, and not in the 3D view.



How to use

 * 1) Press the  button, or press  then  keys.
 * 2) Click a point on the 3D view, or type a coordinate and press the  button.
 * 3) Click a second point on the 3D view, or type a coordinate and press the  button. The first two points define the measured distance.
 * 4) Click a third on the 3D view, or type a coordinate and press the  button. The final point defines the position of the measurement line.

The dimension can be edited by double clicking on the element in the tree view, or by pressing the button. Then you can move the points to a new position.

The measuring points can be changed after creation by changing the start and end properties.

The position of the measurement line can also be changed after creation by changing its direction property.

Available dimension types
Release the modifier ( or ) after picking a point or an edge.


 * Linear dimensions: hold the key, or click on the  button, and pick a straight edge, then pick a second point to draw the dimension line parallel to that edge.
 * you can also pre-select the edge before calling the tool.


 * Horizontal and vertical dimensions: pick one point, then pick a second point, then hold the key and move the pointer horizontally or vertically, then pick a third point to draw the dimension line parallel to either the X axis or the Y axis.
 * click and hold and move the pointer in different directions many times until the dimension line aligns to the desired axis. Clicking  while the pointer is far from the first point will usually align the dimension to the X axis; if the pointer is close to the first point it will usually align the dimension to the Y axis.
 * instead of picking two points, pick an edge while holding.


 * Diameter dimensions: hold the key and pick a curved edge, then pick a second point to draw the dimension line.
 * Radius dimensions: hold the key and pick a curved edge, then hold the  key and pick a second point to draw the dimension line.
 * Angular dimensions: hold the key and then pick two straight edges, then pick a point between the two edges to show the acute or obtuse angle, or elsewhere to show a supplementary or explementary angle.
 * the displayed angle largely depends on the original position of the selected edges. If you would like to display a particular angle, you may have to add auxiliary Draft Lines that extend from the original edges, and measure these extensions.

by pre-selecting an edge, or by picking it with or, the dimension will become , that is, it will remember which edge it is bound to. If the endpoints of that edge move later on, the dimension will follow them, and adjust the displayed measurement.

Options

 * Press, or  after a point to constrain the next point on the given axis.
 * To enter coordinates manually, simply enter the numbers, then press between each X, Y and Z component. You can press the  button when you have the desired values to insert the point.
 * Press or click the checkbox to toggle relative mode. If relative mode is on, the coordinates of the next point are relative to the previous one; if not, they are absolute, taken from the origin (0,0,0).
 * Press or click the checkbox to toggle continue mode. If continue mode is on, the Dimension tool will restart after you give the final point, allowing you to draw another dimension without pressing the tool button again; the following dimensions will start from the final point of the previous dimension, and will share the same baseline.
 * Hold while drawing to force snapping your point to the nearest snap location, independently of the distance.
 * Hold while drawing to constrain your next point horizontally or vertically in relation to the previous one, and to switch between diameter and radius modes.
 * Press or the  button to abort the current command, and finish continued dimensions; dimensions already placed will remain.

Data

 * : specifies the start point of the distance to measure.
 * : specified the end point of the distance to measure.
 * : specifies a point through which the dimension line must pass.
 * : (read-only) indicates the measured length.
 * : if it is it displays a diameter dimension; otherwise it displays a radius dimension; this property only works if the dimension is attached to a circular arc.

View

 * : specifies the maximum length of the extension lines that go from the measurement points to the dimension line.
 * : specifies the additional length of the extension lines beyond the dimension line.
 * : specifies the additional length added to the dimension line.
 * : specifies the size of the symbol displayed at the ends of the dimension line.
 * : specifies the type of symbol displayed at the ends of the dimension line, which can be "Dot", "Circle", "Arrow", or "Tick".
 * : specifies whether to flip the orientation of the symbols at the ends of the dimension line; it only works if these symbols are arrows.
 * : specifies the font to use to draw the text. It can be a font name, such as "Arial", a default style such as "sans", "serif" or "mono", a family such as "Arial,Helvetica,sans" or a name with a style such as "Arial:Bold". If the given font is not found on the system, a generic one is used instead.
 * : specifies the size of the letters. If the dimension object is created in the tree view but no text is visible, increase the size of the text until it is visible.
 * : specifies whether to flip the orientation of the text indicating the measurement.
 * : specifies the position of the text in absolute coordinates, referred to the origin (0,0,0); leave this property at its default value (0,0,0) to display the text next to the dimension line.
 * : specifies the space between the text and the dimension line.
 * : specifies a custom text to display instead of the actual measurement. Use the string inside the text to display the measurement value.
 * : specifies the number of decimal places to display on the measurement.
 * : if it is the unit is displayed next to numerical value of the measurement.
 * : specifies a unit in which to express the measurement, for example, "km", "m", "cm", "mm", "mi", "ft", "in"; leave this property blank to use the default units.

Scripting
Draft API and FreeCAD Scripting Basics.

The Dimension tool can be used in macros and from the Python console by using the following function:

There are various ways to invoke this function, depending on the arguments passed to it:


 * Creates a linear by measuring the distance between points  and.
 * Creates a linear linked to, measuring the distance between its vertices indexed  and.
 * Creates a circular linked to, with  being the index of the curved edge to measure, and  being either  or  to specify the type of dimension.
 * in the first call, and in the other two, specify an optional point through which the dimension line should go.
 * All points are defined by their.

To create an angular dimension use the following function:


 * Creates an angular from the given  point, the  list with two elements, and the point  through which the arc should go.
 * If, the displayed angle is the difference ; otherwise, the explementary angle is displayed,.
 * The angles should be given in radians; the function can be used to convert angles given in degrees.

The view properties of can be changed by overwriting its attributes; for example, overwrite  with the new size in millimeters.

Example:

Links

 * Video tutorial: Projecting dimensions on a Drawing Page, FreeCAD 0.14