Dimension length

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Frank60
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Dimension length

Post by Frank60 » Wed May 14, 2014 5:38 pm

How do I read/edit a dimension's length in the property editor?

Frank

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andrew
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Re: Dimension length

Post by andrew » Wed May 14, 2014 10:06 pm

Good point. Currently, you can only see the measured value in the drawing and only if the label is not overwritten with a fixed text and the linear factor is 1.

I've made this property visible as read-only property for the next release:
Screen Shot 2014-05-14 at 23.00.29.png
Screen Shot 2014-05-14 at 23.00.29.png (13.37 KiB) Viewed 19400 times

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Clive
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Re: Dimension length

Post by Clive » Fri May 16, 2014 9:47 am

andrew wrote:I've made this property visible as read-only property for the next release:
Just curious Andrew, why only 'read only' ? - wouldn't it be useful if one could edit also?

Edit: I understand the reasons for dimensions to be grouped as it were, but maybe an option in the property editor to explode any dimension would be useful, then the text only could be edited! It would save a trip to the standard explode command in such circumstances.
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Frank60
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Re: Dimension length

Post by Frank60 » Tue May 20, 2014 7:26 am

Excellent, I would also like to be able to edit the length to enter exact dimensions from older paperdrawings.

Thanks,


Frank

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Husky
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Re: Dimension length

Post by Husky » Tue May 20, 2014 8:22 am

Clive wrote:I understand the reasons for dimensions to be grouped as it were, but maybe an option in the property editor to explode any dimension would be useful, then the text only could be edited! It would save a trip to the standard explode command in such circumstances.
Hi Clive - why I have to explode a dimension to be able to edit the text? Is the Label function in the Property editor not enough to get it done ... without an "extra trip"?
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Husky
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Re: Dimension length

Post by Husky » Tue May 20, 2014 8:40 am

Hi Frank,
Frank60 wrote:Excellent, I would also like to be able to edit the length to enter exact dimensions from older paperdrawings.
You are already able to overwrite a dimension value in the Property editor. Just select the dimension, go to the property editor and put the desired value in the "Label" Field.
Husky-2014.05.20-01.png
Husky-2014.05.20-01.png (20.25 KiB) Viewed 19323 times
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Re: Dimension length

Post by Husky » Tue May 20, 2014 8:42 am

andrew wrote:I've made this property visible as read-only property for the next release:
Nice!!! :D
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Re: Dimension length

Post by Frank60 » Tue May 20, 2014 9:50 pm

Husky wrote:Hi Frank,
Frank60 wrote:Excellent, I would also like to be able to edit the length to enter exact dimensions from older paperdrawings.
You are already able to overwrite a dimension value in the Property editor. Just select the dimension, go to the property editor and put the desired value in the "Label" Field.
Husky-2014.05.20-01.png
Husky, thanks for the help.

But....I do not want to edit the text/label, but the length/measurement itself. Enter a value and the dimension changes to this new value. This is standard in practically all CAD and drawing programs. In QCAD this is already possible for lines, but not for dimensions.

In QCAD the only way to change a measurement now is graphically.

Thanks,

Frank

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andrew
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Re: Dimension length

Post by andrew » Tue May 20, 2014 10:02 pm

Frank60 wrote:But....I do not want to edit the text/label, but the length/measurement itself. Enter a value and the dimension changes to this new value.
Please consider the following simple drawing:
Screen Shot 2014-05-20 at 22.58.24.png
Screen Shot 2014-05-20 at 22.58.24.png (9.65 KiB) Viewed 19302 times
Let's say the user changes the measurement of the dimension from 20 to 25 using the property editor. Which of the three options below (or anything else) would be the expected result and with what reasoning behind it?
Screen Shot 2014-05-20 at 22.58.40.png
Screen Shot 2014-05-20 at 22.58.40.png (9.76 KiB) Viewed 19302 times
Screen Shot 2014-05-20 at 22.58.51.png
Screen Shot 2014-05-20 at 22.58.51.png (10 KiB) Viewed 19302 times
Screen Shot 2014-05-20 at 22.59.17.png
Screen Shot 2014-05-20 at 22.59.17.png (10.09 KiB) Viewed 19302 times
This is standard in practically all CAD and drawing programs.
I cannot find this functionality in any of the CAD systems I have access to. Can you point me in the right direction? Thanks.
In QCAD this is already possible for lines, but not for dimensions.
This is a fair point. If that logic is applied to the example above, the first option would be the one you would expect.
To me, changing the length of a line seems more natural (clearly, the end point moves) than changing the 'length' or dimension of a dimension entity somehow. But maybe that's just me.

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Husky
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Re: Dimension length

Post by Husky » Wed May 21, 2014 9:15 am

Frank60 wrote:But....I do not want to edit the text/label, but the length/measurement itself.
I get the feeling that I understand you now ..... :wink:

You are looking for something like this ...
Husky-2014.05.21-01.png
Husky-2014.05.21-01.png (6.09 KiB) Viewed 19296 times
.... and you like to change the shape of this rectangle just with editing the "Dimension Values" , right?

Unfortunately this screen shot (not from QCAD!) doesn't shows a real dimensioning - it shows only the changeable dimension of this rectangle during the construction of this rectangle. And yes - you can change this shape any time later but it has nothing to do with a normal dimensioning in a drawing ....

Could it be that we are now on the same page?
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Clive
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Re: Dimension length

Post by Clive » Wed May 21, 2014 11:23 am

Husky
Editing the actual dimension size is what I meant and not the text label, sorry for confusion.

Frank60

What you are looking for is not currently available in QCAD ... yet! But the option to dynamically change dimension sizes as you have explained would definitely be welcome.

Please feel free to add a feature request here: http://www.ribbonsoft.com/bugtracker/

QCAD is in my opinion by far the best straight forward 2D CAD program out there,its strength is the strong set of editing/modifying and all round geometrical drafting tool sets
and of course Andrews steadfast commitment to development.
For the best support please state your operating system, QCAD version and add any supporting DXF/DWG files, screenshots etc...

Frank60
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Re: Dimension length

Post by Frank60 » Wed May 21, 2014 5:54 pm

andrew wrote:
Frank60 wrote:But....I do not want to edit the text/label, but the length/measurement itself. Enter a value and the dimension changes to this new value.
Please consider the following simple drawing:
Screen Shot 2014-05-20 at 22.58.24.png
Let's say the user changes the measurement of the dimension from 20 to 25 using the property editor. Which of the three options below (or anything else) would be the expected result and with what reasoning behind it?
Screen Shot 2014-05-20 at 22.58.40.png
Screen Shot 2014-05-20 at 22.58.51.png
Screen Shot 2014-05-20 at 22.59.17.png
This is standard in practically all CAD and drawing programs.
I cannot find this functionality in any of the CAD systems I have access to. Can you point me in the right direction? Thanks.
In QCAD this is already possible for lines, but not for dimensions.
This is a fair point. If that logic is applied to the example above, the first option would be the one you would expect.
To me, changing the length of a line seems more natural (clearly, the end point moves) than changing the 'length' or dimension of a dimension entity somehow. But maybe that's just me.

Andrew, Husky, Clive,

Yes for me the first option, the endpoint changes.
Visio, Corel Draw, TurboCAD, all serious 3D programs Creo, Alibre have this feature. I have never used Autocad much but I remember that anything could be done from the command line including changing dimensions.

My drawing process may differ from yours. I first take measurements of existing objects (parts of boats) and then make a 2D drawing of them to be able to reproduce them on our router. That means sometimes that I have to draw a line, circle, rectangle, whatever at xxxx.xx mm from a point, line, object, whatever. I then first draw a dimension, change it to the required length (only graphically now with a lot of zooming in and out and scrolling the screen to read the value) and then draw the line through the endpoit of the dimension. I also use construction lines to do this and I miss these in QCAD too.
It would save tons of time to change the length in the property editor. Also the accuracy would improve vastly (label reading errors).

Thanks,

Frank

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Husky
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Re: Dimension length

Post by Husky » Wed May 21, 2014 7:20 pm

Clive wrote:Husky
Editing the actual dimension size is what I meant and not the text label, sorry for confusion.
Don't worry about that ...... I'll survive your attack :D :D :D
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Husky
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Re: Dimension length

Post by Husky » Wed May 21, 2014 8:28 pm

Hi Frank - thanks for explanation.

I understand what you are looking for and it would be nice to have something like that in QCAD. But honestly I see a couple obstacles to realize that in QCAD because the 2D concept is different than a 3D concept for CAD Programs. But maybe Andrew has already a solution in the drawer ....

However, till then you maybe like to test different ways in QCAD instead this zooming, scrolling in and out game until the doc comes .... e_surprised

Have you ever tried to adjust (e.g. 10 times bigger) the settings for the Dim Text size just during the construktion process? After it is done you can turn the settings back to normal sizes.

This one is with a DIM Text height: 3.5mm
Husky-2014.05.21-01.png
Husky-2014.05.21-01.png (1.21 KiB) Viewed 19267 times
Same Zoom but with a DIM Text height of 35mm
Husky-2014.05.21-02.png
Husky-2014.05.21-02.png (1.44 KiB) Viewed 19267 times
Or have you ever tried to use the Info tool to doublecheck measurements? Regardless the zoom factor it has always the same, readable size for a taken Measurement.
Husky-2014.05.21-05.png
Husky-2014.05.21-05.png (7.89 KiB) Viewed 19267 times
... or whats about multi Viewports? Same drawing with different section views and zooms
Husky-2014.05.21-06.png
Husky-2014.05.21-06.png (12.38 KiB) Viewed 19267 times

Or last but not least: Would it be possible to create a block (with the Dim!) and scale it then to the right size? Ok - doesn't works with all shapes but a couple of them ...
Husky-2014.05.21-07.png
Husky-2014.05.21-07.png (8.68 KiB) Viewed 19267 times
Yep - understood - I have to stop NOW! :lol: :lol: :lol:
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Re: Dimension length

Post by TSG » Sun Dec 11, 2016 12:34 pm

Hi Husky et al

Even though the last hint with the "Block definition from a dimension" is a little older its very tricky and it helps me so much in my daily work.
It's worth to say that it is very helpful not even for beginners but also for advanced QCAD-Users to browse through the forum.
Thanks to all and keep on discussing.

Thomas
Ich will nicht streiten. Ich will nur deutlich machen, dass ich Recht habe und DU NICHT.

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