There are a variety of tools you can use to dimension your plan.
These tools can be categorized into three types, temporary dimensions,
manual dimensions, and automatic dimensions.
When you first start drawing,
you might notice the temporary dimensions that display as you click and drag to
draw walls. If you do not see them and you want to,
they can be toggled on or off by going to the view menu and then choosing
temporary dimensions.
When you click and drag to draw a wall,
a temporary dimension will display parallel to your action.
This gives you a quick visual of the length.
Temporary dimensions will also display when you have an object selected and will
report the distance between that object selected edge and other objects.
You can dimension a project and plan section or elevation views
using the manual dimension tools. Click CAD,
and then dimensions to view the list of manual dimensions or click on the ruler
icon on the toolbar to display the manual dimension tools in the tool palette.
The manual dimension tool creates dimension lines that locate all eligible
objects positioned between their start and end points.
Just click and drag across the objects you would like to dimension and anything
within 24 inches of that drag line will be located and dimensioned.
The end-to-end dimension tool creates dimension lines that locate an eligible
object at its start and end points, but ignores any objects in between.
So when we do that click and drag,
it'll grab the first point and the last point ignoring all the objects in
between.
The angular dimension tool measures the angle between any two straight edges,
including walls cabinets and the straight sides of polyline based objects.
Just click and drag in an arc to create the angular dimension.
The interior dimension tool creates dimension lines that measure the interiors
of rooms.
The point to point dimension tool creates dimension lines that locate an
eligible object at their start and end points if possible.
If no object is present at either location,
a point marker is created and the dimension line locates that instead.
Since the point to point dimension tool can create a dimension without locating
any objects,
be careful that you know exactly where those point markers are going when you
click and drag your dimension.
The baseline dimension tool creates a series of dimension lines that all share
the same origin instead of continuing from each previous location.
The running dimension tool is similar to the baseline dimension tool in that it
produces multiple measurements from a single point of origin.
It is different though,
in that these measurements display on the same dimension line rather than on
multiple lines.
The center line dimension tool is available in floor plan and cross section or
elevation views.
It allows you to locate the centers of a variety of object types using special
center line extension lines,
which can be distinguished by a dash line style and a C L symbol.
Use the tape measure tool to draw a temporary dimension line between any two
points in the drawing area.
The tool will place temporary markers at the start and end points of a dimension
line. The tape measure line,
and its start and end points will all disappear when you release your mouse
button.
Automatic dimensions can increase your productivity by placing most of your
dimensions automatically.
Access the automatic dimension tools by going to CAD automatic dimensions
or by clicking the automatic dimensions tool on the toolbar.
The auto exterior dimensions tool generates dimensions around a plan's exterior
plan view, locating walls and openings.
The NKBA auto dimensions tool can be used to measure kitchen and bathrooms in
plan view, and locate walls and openings in accordance with NKBA standards.
The auto elevation dimension tool generates dimensions that locate walls and
other objects and cross section and elevation views.
The NKBA auto elevation dimension tool generates dimensions that locate walls
and other objects and cross section and elevation views and accordance with the
NKBA standards.
The auto story pole dimension tool generates elevation markers and dimensions
that locate walls and other objects in cross-section elevation views.
Also, if we select one or more rooms,
we can see the auto interior dimension tool on the edit toolbar at the bottom of
the screen.
Click this to generate interior dimensions that measure each wall of defining
the selected rooms.
Also note we can access the NKBA auto dimension tool on the edit toolbar as
well.
All of the dimension tools discussed can be controlled through the dimension
defaults. Access these defaults by going to edit and then default settings,
or by clicking on the wrench icon on your toolbar.
Once in default settings expand the dimension category. Here,
there are three items listed. In prior versions you might see more in this list.
Let's start with temporary dimensions.
Most of the behavior of temporary dimensions is governed by the currently active
dimension default, which we'll get into in a moment. However,
there are some behaviors for temporary dimensions that are separated from the
other dimensions, which is what we see in this list.
The main thing to note here is how the temporary dimensions locate walls.
We can see that right now with wall selected is set to locate wall
dimension layer and locate primary wall side,
which means the temporary dimension will locate the outer side of the structural
or framing layer of the wall. Currently we're using the residential template.
If we were in the kitchen and bath template, locate wall surface and locate,
both wall, sides would be selected instead.
With wall opening selected means if you have a door or window selected.
In the residential template it'll locate the wall dimension layer,
which is typically the structural or the framing layer of the wall.
In the kitchen and bath template, once again,
locate wall surface will be selected instead.
Let's take a look at the auto story pole dimension defaults next.
On the general panel,
we can choose what sides of the elevation dimensions will generate, left, right,
across the bottom, and across the top;
as well as which dimensions are necessary if we wanted to exclude the inner
dimension or only include the highest ridge, for example.
You can specify the format for the inner and outer dimensions,
as well as markers using these format panels
though,
most customization for auto story pole dimensions is going to be done in the
locate elevations panel.
Here we can designate important elevations select,
from the available marks and then click add to include them or select from the
included marks and choose, remove to subtract them from the list.
At the top of the list as dimensions,
this area contains the defaults for the majority of the dimension tools.
When edited a list of saved dimension, defaults are presented.
Most saved dimension defaults are associated with saved plan views,
section views, or CAD detail views. In the residential template,
there are dimension defaults for a wide variety of tasks.
In the kitchen and bath template,
the dimension defaults are more targeted to that industry.
At the bottom of the save dimension defaults dialog,
the currently active dimension default can be seen.
We're currently in the working plan, view saved plan view,
and the currently active dimension default is the plan dimension defaults.
We can also see this information in the saved plan view, specification dialog.
Lets go to view, and then project browser and expand the list for plan views.
Then right-click working plan view and choose edit on the selected
defaults panel. We can see the plan dimension defaults I selected.
Let's look at the electrical plan view.
And here we see that the electrical dimension defaults are selected.
Let's go back to our default settings.
Select a saved dimension,
and then click edit to see and modify its properties on the general panel.
It's possible to specify the line separation for baseline dimensions and how
close to an object we have to draw dimension line in order for it to be located
using the reach setting.
On the setup automatic panel specify settings that apply to all the automatic
dimension tools. On each of the locate panels,
we can specify how each dimension tool will locate objects when used.
For example, when using the manual dimension tool,
we can have that tool locate wall surfaces or the wall dimension layer.
Notice that at the moment,
the manual dimension tool is also locating opening sides and the lines,
sides, ends, corners, call-outs, markers,
and clip lines of CAD objects. Switching to the locate end-to-end panel,
we can see that if we were to use the end to end dimension tool,
it would locate cabinets, fixtures, openings, CAD objects, primitives, framing,
electrical, and plants.
On the primary format panel, we can specify if feet and inches are used,
or just inches, the smallest fraction used,
the position and orientation of the text on the dimension line,
as well as the display of angular dimensions.
On the secondary format panel,we can specify if a secondary format is used.
If you wanted to show a metric and imperial on the same dimension line,
for example.
We can specify the spacing from marked objects on the extension panel.
Choose what layer the dimension draws on using the layer panel,
change the arrow size and style on the arrow panel.
And we can specify what text style is used for the dimension on the text style
panel. Once dimensions are drawn,
they can still be modified. Here are some automatic exterior dimensions.
Though the following steps will work for any dimension on screen,
regardless of how it was generated.
Using the select objects tool, select one of the dimension lines.
We can see quite a few edit handles appear.
If a dimension number is in an inconvenient location,
use a small move handle next to the number to better position the text.
Use the rotation handle next to the text to rotate any dimension number.
If you want to rotate all the dimension text,
it is easiest to modify the dimension default,
or if you want to modify just this dimension string,
you can open object to get to the dimension specification dialog,
where you can set the angle on the primary format panel.
Extensions can be added by selecting a dimension line and then using the diamond
edit handle next to where you clicked.
Click and drag that diamond edit handle to the object needing to be dimensioned.
Extensions,
be removed by selecting the dimension line and locating the diamond off the end
of the extension line that is locating the object you do not wish dimensioned.
Click and drag that diamond so that it no longer snaps to that object or any
other object, and it will disappear.
Segments can be added to a dimension line using the circle at the end of the
dimension line.
This dimension segment will locate objects based on the defaults being inherited
within the dimension specification.
Individual extensions can be marked as a center line by selecting the desired
extension line, notice the red edit handles,
and then clicking the mark as central line edit tool.
Using these techniques, you can dimension your plan efficiently.
For more information on dimensions,
please review our other videos or the help built into the software.