Dimensions Tutorial

In this tutorial you will learn how to place dimensions on an assembly and a plate project.

Start by launching the program and opening a new assembly by clicking on the Assembly button, located just above the Plate button on the bottom left corner of the New Design window.

Before we can create dimensions, we need to create a part to measure.

Go to the PickPoints tab.

Click the Set Reference button and click the point at the center of the Tri-Star (this should be the only point on the screen right now). If you successfully select the point, it will turn red. Enter 24 in the Right field. Click the Apply button.

Click the Clear Values button. Enter 12 in the right field and click Apply.

Leave 12 in the right field and enter 8 in the Front field. Click the Apply button.

Delete the value in the front field and enter 12. Click the Apply button.

Go to the Main tab.

Select a die and material in the Die and Material area. If you don't have a die or material you will need to make one. Refer to the users manual for information on creating dies and materials.

Click the Straight Part button. Click the two points that are indicated in the picture below.

Click the two points that are indicated in the picture below.

Click the two points that are indicated in the picture below.

You are now finished building the part.

Go to the Dimensions tab.

You will see a top down view of our assembly and two lines along the bottom of the display window. When you are in the dimensions tab, the assembly is displayed from three different angles: Top, Right, and Front. The Two lines on the bottom of the display window are the Right and Front views of the part. Since they aren't very useful to us, lets turn them off.

On the bottom of the dimensions tab, you will see the dimension settings. Click the box that says "Yes" to the right of both the Show Right View and Show Front View boxes. They should both change to "No".

If we wanted to move the three views further away from each other, we could do so by entering larger values into the Horizontal Spacing and Vertical Spacing fields. Since two of the views are no longer displayed, don't bother changing their spacing. More information on the dimension settings can be found in the user manual.

Click the Horizontal button.

Now, you can click any two PickPoints to place a dimension that measures the horizontal distance between the points. Try clicking the middle left point, followed by the right point. You will see a horizontal line with arrows at the ends. This is your dimension line. If you move your cursor up or down, you will see vertical lines drawn between the points that you selected and the ends of the arrows. These lines are the extension lines. Move the cursor up until the dimension line is above the top point. You will see "Select location for text" attached to the left and right movement of the cursor. Move it until it is centered and click to place the dimension.

Vertical dimensions work exactly the same, except they measure the vertical distance between two points. Linear dimensions measure the distance between two points. It differs from Vertical or Horizontal because it measures in a straight line between the points, even if the points aren't aligned vertically or horizontally. Click the Linear button.

Click the bottom PickPoint, followed by the right PickPoint. Move the cursor down and to the right slightly so that the dimension is out of the way. Click to place the dimension.

Angle allows you to measure an angle by selecting two intersecting lines. To place an angle dimension, click the Angle button. In order to place an angle dimension, you have to select two intersecting lines. To select a line, you must select its outside and inside point. The inside point should always be the point that is closer to the second line. Click the middle left point, followed by the point that is in between the middle left and the right points.

Now click the bottom point followed by the point that is in between the middle left and right points. Move the cursor down and to the left a bit so the dimension is out of the way. Click to place the dimension. If our dimension was measuring the angle in the opposite direction (for example if it was measuring a 90° angle as being 270°) you could flip the angle by checking the Flip Angle checkbox before placing the dimension. Since our dimension is correct, leave the Flip Angle checkbox blank.

To move a dimension, click the Move button in the Edit area. Do this now.

Click the dimension you desire to bind it to your cursor. Once you have picked up a dimension, you can reposition it by using your cursor and place it by clicking.

To delete a dimension, click the Delete button and then click the grey dot that appears next to the dimension you want to delete. Delete the horizontal dimension we made.

The Edit Value button allows you to change the displayed value of a dimension. To use it, just click the Edit Value button, click on the grey dot next to the dimension you want to edit, and enter a new value in the window that appears.

The Properties button allows you to edit the properties of a dimension. The table on the bottom of the Dimensions tab lists all of the dimension properties and their current value/setting. See the user manual for information on the dimension properties. To change the properties of a single dimension, click the properties button and click the grey dot next to a dimension. Change any of the dimensions properties that you want to by clicking on the properties box in the value column and either entering a new value or selecting a new option from the drop down men. Click the Apply button to apply the changes to that dimension, or click the Apply to All button to apply the changes to all of the dimensions that you have placed.

Try changing the arrow type of the linear dimension to Double. To do so, click on the Properties button, followed by the grey dot next to the linear dimension that reads "14.42". Click the box in the Arrow Type row and the Value column. A drop down menu will appear where you can select the arrow type. Select Double and click the Apply button.

There are two buttons left on the Dimensions tab: Points and No Points. Points will turn on the display of all PickPoints, while No Points will turn off the display of all PickPoints.

You are now finished with the Dimensions Tutorial.