Dimensions in ACA ➲D
imensioning is simply the process of adding measurement annotation to a drawing. Dimensions can be created for a variety of object types in many orientations. The basic types of dimensioning are Linear, Radial, Angular, Ordinate, and Arc Length. Linear dimensions can be horizontal, vertical, aligned, rotated, baseline, or continued (chained). With more than 70 dimensioning-oriented settings in the Dimension Styles Manager, you can control nearly every aspect of the appearance of dimensions. If you save your dimension styles in a drawing template (dwt) file, they will be available every time you start a new drawing. To simplify drawing organization and dimension scaling, it is recommended that you create dimensions on layouts rather than in model space. In addition to traditional AutoCAD dimensioning, AutoCAD® Architecture provides more intelligent and automated AEC Dimension objects. Thoughtful creation of AEC dimension styles can greatly improve productivity during the construction documents phase of a project. Another benefit of AEC dimension styles is that as AEC objects, they can be controlled with the February 2014
PRODUCT FOCUS
AutoCAD Architecture 2014
by: Melinda Heavrin
AutoCAD Architecture display system and can be scaledependent. The same AEC dimension can be used for any number of scales in the drawing. Dimensions can be associative, non-associative, or exploded. Dimension associativity defines the relationship between geometric objects and the dimensions that give their distance and angles. There are three types of associativity between geometric objects and dimensions. •
•
•
Associative dimensions automatically adjust their locations, orientations, and measurement values when the geometric objects associated with them are modified. These are created when the DIMASSOC system variable is set to 2. Non-associative dimensions are selected and modified with the geometry they measure. Non-associative dimensions do not change when the geometric objects they measure are modified. These are created when the DIMASSOC system variable is set to 1. Exploded dimensions contain a collection of separate objects, rather than a single dimension object. These are created when the DIMASSOC system variable is set to 0. www.augiworld.com
15