- Chapter Objectives
- Introduction
- Creating a New Drawing
- Model Space and Layout Space
- Communicating with AutoCAD
- Object Snaps, Ortho Mode, and Polar Tracking
- Undo/Redo
- Grid and Snap
- Draw a Circle
- Navigating Around the Drawing
- Object Properties
- Layers
- Dimension Styles
- Dimensioning
- Modifying Drawing Objects
- Grip Editing
- Introduction to Advanced Editing Techniques
- Cleaning Up Layout Space
- Plotting and Page Setups
- Chapter Summary
- Chapter Test Questions
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Dimension Styles
Now that you have created a basic drawing, it’s time to dimension it. Before you start dimensioning, you need to set up the appearance of the dimensions to reflect industry standards. The look and behavior of dimensions are controlled through dimension styles. A dimension style is simply a collection of dimension settings saved with a certain name. A dimension object takes on the look and behavior of its dimension style. AutoCAD uses a dimension style called Standard as a default, but you can modify the Standard dimension style or create new ones as needed. In the following exercise, you’ll take a quick tour through some of the various dimension style settings.
dimension style: A collection of dimension settings that control how dimension objects act and are displayed.
EXERCISE 2-16 CHANGING DIMENSION STYLES
1 Select the Annotate tab of the ribbon to display the different annotation tools.
2 Choose the Dimension Style tool from the Dimensions panel by selecting the down arrow on the right side of the panel title bar, as shown in Figure 2-29. The Dimension Style Manager dialog box appears (see Figure 2-30).
Figure 2-29 The Dimensions panel on the Annotate tab of the ribbon
Figure 2-30 The Dimension Style Manager dialog box
3 Choose the Modify… button to modify the Standard dimension style. The Modify Dimension Style dialog box appears (see Figure 2-31).
Figure 2-31 The Modify Dimension Style dialog box
4 Choose the Symbols and Arrows tab and change the Arrow size value to .125. In the Center marks area, change the type to None (see Figure 2-32).
Figure 2-32 The Symbols and Arrows tab
5 Choose the Text tab and change the Text height value to .125 (see Figure 2-33).
Figure 2-33 The Text tab
6 Click on the down arrow to the right of the Text style: drop-down list and select the Roman text style (see Figure 2-34).
Figure 2-34 The Text style: drop-down list
7 Choose the Fit tab and turn on the Annotative option (see Figure 2-35).
Figure 2-35 The Fit tab
8 Choose the Primary Units tab and select 0.00 from the Precision drop-down list (see Figure 2-36).
Figure 2-36 The Primary Units tab
9 Choose OK to close the Modify Dimension Style dialog box.
10 Choose Close to close the Dimension Style Manager dialog box.
11 Save your drawing.
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Due to the sheer number of options, modifying and managing dimension styles can be one of the more challenging aspects of AutoCAD. As with layers, managing dimensions and dimension styles is a crucial element of using AutoCAD effectively.