Dimensions in AutoCAD

This chapter covers the various options used for creating dimensions to the sketch quickly and easily.
The topics covered in this chapter are:

 Creating Dimensions
 Creating Dimension Style
 Adding Leaders
 Editing Dimensions

Dimensioning
In previous lessons, you learned how to create drawings. However, while creating a drawing, you also need to
apply the size information. You can provide the size information by applying dimensions to the drawings. In
this chapter, you will learn how to create various types of dimensions. You will also learn about some
standard ways and best practices of dimensioning.

Creating Dimensions
In AutoCAD, there are many tools available for creating dimensions. You can access these tools from the Ribbon,
Command line, and Menu Bar.

The functions of various dimensioning tools are discussed below, one-by-one:

Dimension [ DIM ]
This tool is used to create the dimensions according to the entity selected.

• Click Annotate > Dimensions > Dimension on the ribbon.

• Select a line entity, move the cursor and click to place the linear dimension, as shown.
 • Select a circle, move the cursor and click to place the diameter dimension, as shown.
• Select an arc, move the cursor and click to place the radial dimension, as shown.
• Similarly, select two lines and place the angular dimension, as shown.

Linear [ DLI]
This tool is used to create horizontal and vertical dimensions.

• Click Annotate > Dimensions > Linear > Linear on the ribbon.
• Select the first and second points of the dimension.
• Move the cursor in horizontal direction to create a vertical dimension (or) move in the vertical direction
to create a horizontal dimension.
• Click to place the dimension.

Aligned [ DAL ]
This tool is used to create a linear dimension parallel to the object.

• Click Annotate > Dimensions > Linear >Aligned on the ribbon.

• Select the first and second points of the dimension line.
• Move the cursor and click to place the dimension.
Angular [ DAN ]
This tool is used to create an angular dimension.

• Click Annotate > Dimensions > Linear > Angular on the ribbon.
• Select the first line and second line, as shown.
• Move the cursor and place angle dimension, as shown.

• To create an angle dimension on an arc, select the arc and place the dimension.

• To create an angle dimension on a circle, select two points on the circle and place the angle dimension,
as shown.

Arc Length [ DAR ]

This tool is used to dimension the total or partial length of an arc.

• Click Annotate > Dimensions > Linear > Arc Length on the ribbon.
• Select an arc from the drawing.
• If you want to dimension only a partial length of an arc, select
Partial option from the command line.
• Next, select the two points on the arc, as shown.
• Move cursor and click to place the dimension.
Radius [ DRA ]
This tool is used to create a radial dimension of a circle or an arc.

• Click Annotate > Dimensions > Linear > Radius on the ribbon.
• Select a circle or an arc and place the dimension, as shown.

Diameter [ DIA ]
This tool is used to dimension a circle or an arc, as shown.

• Click Annotate > Dimensions > Linear > Diameter on the ribbon.
• Select a circle or an arc and place the dimension.

Jogged [ DJO ]
It is used to create jogged dimensions. A jogged dimension is created when it is not possible to show
the center of an arc or circle.
 • Click Annotate > Dimensions > Linear > Jogged on the ribbon.
• Select an arc or circle.
• Select a new center point of the circle or arc.
• Locate the dimension and the jog location.

Ordinate [ DOR ]
It is used to create ordinate dimensions based on the current position of the User Coordinate System
(UCS).

• Click Annotate > Dimensions > Linear > Ordinate on the ribbon.
• Select the point of the object.
• Move the cursor in the vertical direction and click to place the X-Coordinate value.
• Move the cursor in the horizontal direction and click to place the Y-Coordinate value.

Continue [ DCO ]
It is used to create a linear dimension from the second extension line of the previous dimension.

• Create a linear dimension by selecting the first and second points.

 • Click Annotate > Dimensions > Continue on the ribbon; a chain dimension is attached to the cursor.

• Select the third and fourth point of the chain dimension.

• Place the chain dimension. Next, right-click and select Enter.

Baseline [ DBA ]
It is used to create dimensions by using the previously created dimension.

• Create a linear dimension, as shown.

• Click Annotate > Dimensions > Continue > Baseline on the ribbon.
• Select the base dimension, if it is not already selected.
• Select the other two points for the baseline dimension.
• Next, right-click and select Enter.
Dimension, Dimjogline [ DJL ]
It is used to create a jogged linear dimension.

• Click Annotate > Dimensions > Dimension, Dimjogline on the ribbon.

• Select the linear dimension to add jog.
• Specify the location of the jog on the dimension.

Center Mark [ DCE ]

It is used to place a center mark inside a circle or an arc. The type of center mark will depend on the value
of the DIMCEN variable. For a positive value, center marks are created and for a negative value,
centrelines are created.

• Click Annotate > Dimensions > Center Mark on the ribbon.

• Select an arc or a circle; the center mark will be placed at its center, as shown.
Quick Dimension [ QDIM ]
It is used to dimension one or more objects at the same time.

• Click Annotate > Dimensions > Quick Dimension on the ribbon.

• Select one or more objects from a drawing.
• Right-click and place the dimensions.

Adjust Space [ DIMSPACE ]

It is used to adjust the space between linear and angular dimensions.

• Click Annotate > Dimensions > Adjust Space on the ribbon.

• Select the base dimension from which the other dimensions are to be adjusted.
• Select the dimensions to be adjusted.
• Right-click to accept.
• Enter the space value or select the Auto option; the dimensions will be adjusted with respect to the base
dimension.

Break [ DIMBREAK ]
It is used to create breaks in dimension, extension, and leader lines.

• Click Annotate > Dimensions > Break on the ribbon.

• Select the dimension to add a break.
• Select the cutting object; the dimension will be broken by the cutting object.
 • Right-click to exit the tool.

Creating a Dimension Style

The appearance of the dimensions depends on the dimension style used. You can create a new dimension style
using the Dimension Style Manager dialog box. In this dialog box, you can specify various settings related to
appearance and behaviour of dimensions. The following example demonstrates you to create a dimension style.

 Click the inclined arrow on the Dimensions panel of the Annotate tab of ribbon or enter D in the command
line; the Dimension Style Manager dialog box appears.

The basic nomenclature of dimensions is given below.

By default, the ISO-25 or the Standard dimension style is active. If the default dimension style does not suit the
dimensioning requirement, you can create a new dimension style and modify the nomenclature of the
dimensions.

• To create a new dimension style, click the New button on the Dimension Style Manager dialog box; the
Create New Dimension Style dialog box get visible.

• Enter CAD in the New Style Name edit box of the Create New Dimension Style dialog box.
• Select ISO-25 from the Start With drop-down, if it is not selected.
• Click on the Continue button to display the New Dimension Style: CAD dialog box.

• In the New Dimension Style: CAD dialog box, click the Primary Units tab.
• Ensure that the Unit Format is set to Decimal.
• Select 0 from the Precision drop-down, as shown.
• Select ‘.’ (Period) from the Decimal separator drop-down, as shown.
Study the other options in the Primary Units tab. Most of them are self-explanatory.

• Click the Text tab.

• Ensure that the Text height value is set to 2.5.
• In the Text placement section, set the Vertical and Horizontal values to Centered.
• Set the Text alignment to Horizontal.

Study the other options in the Text tab. These options let you to change the appearance of the dimension text.
• Click the Lines tab from the dialog box.
• In this tab, notice the two options in the Extension lines section: Extend beyond dim lines and Offset from
origin.
 • Set Extend beyond dim lines and Offset from origin to 1.25.
• Set the Baseline spacing in the Dimension lines section to 5.

On your own, examine the different options in this tab. The options in this tab are used to change the appearance
and behaviour of the dimension lines and extension lines.

• Click on the Symbols and Arrows tab and set Arrow size to 3 and Center Marks to 3.
• Select the Line option in the Center marks section.

Notice the different options in this tab. The options in this tab are used to change the appearance of the arrows
and symbols. Also, you can set the appearance of the center marks and centrelines of circles and arcs.

• Click OK from the New Dimension Style: CAD dialog box to accept the settings.
• Next, click on the Set Current from the Dimension Style Manager dialog box to set the CAD
dimension style as current.
• Click Close to close the dialog box.
Adding Leaders
A Leader is a thin, dark, solid line terminating with an arrowhead at one end and a dimension, note, or symbol at
the other end. In the following example, you will learn to create a leader style, and then create a leader.

Example:
• Draw a square of 24 mm length.
• Create a circle of 10.11 mm diameter at center of the square.

• Click Home > Draw > Arc > Center, Start, Angle on the ribbon.
• Select the center point of the circle.
• Move the cursor horizontally toward right.
• Type 6 as the radius and press ENTER.
• Type 270 as the included angle and press ENTER.

• Click on the down arrow of the Annotation panel in Home tab to expand it, as shown.
• Click on the Multileader Style icon to display the Multileader Style Manager dialog box.

• Click on the New button of the Multileader Style Manager dialog box; the Create New Multileader Style
dialog box get visible.
 • In the Create New Multileader Style dialog box, enter Hole callout in the New style name edit box and
select Standard from the Start with drop-down.

• Click on the Continue button; the Modify Multileader Style dialog box get visible.
• Under the Leader Format tab, set the Arrowhead Size to 2.5.

The other options in this tab are used to set the appearance of the multileader lines and the arrow head.

• Click on the Leader Structure tab and set the Landing distance to 5.
 • Click on the Content tab and set the Text height to 2.5.

The other options in this tab are used to define the appearance of the text or block that will be attached at the
end of the leader line.

• Click OK from the Modify Multileader Style dialog box.

• Click Set Current from the Multileader Style Manager dialog box.
• Click Close to close the dialog box.
• Click Annotate > Leaders > Multileader on the ribbon.

• Click on the down-arrow with the Polar tracking button at the status bar and select 45 from the menu.
• Select a point in the first quadrant of the arc.
• Move the cursor in the top right direction and click to create the leader.

• Type M12X1.75 - 6H 16 in the text editor.

Next, you need to insert the depth symbol before 16.
• Place the cursor before 16 and click the Symbol button on the Insert panel of the Text Editor ribbon; a
menu appears.
• Click Other on the menu; the Character Map dialog box appears.
• In the Character Map dialog box, select GDT from the Font drop-down.
• Select the Depth symbol from the fonts table.
• Click Select and Copy buttons.

• Close the Character Map dialog box.

• Right-click and select Paste; the depth symbol is pasted in the text editor.
• Adjust the spacing so that the complete text is in one line.
Editing Dimensions by Stretching
In AutoCAD, the dimensions are associative to the drawing. If you modify a drawing, the dimensions will be
modified, automatically. In the following example, you will stretch the drawing to modify the dimensions.

Example:
Create the drawing as shown below and apply dimensions to it.

• Click Home > Modify > Stretch on the ribbon.

• Drag a window over the right-side circles and the horizontal lines to select them.

• Right-click and select the center point of the right-side circles.

• Move the cursor to stretch the drawing; you will notice that the horizontal dimension also changes.
• Type 40 and press ENTER; the horizontal dimension is updated to 140.

Modifying Dimensions by Trimming and Extending

In earlier chapters, you have learned to the modify drawings by trimming and extending objects. In the same way,
you can modify dimensions by trimming and extending. The following example shows you how to modify
dimensions by this method.
Example:
Create a drawing as shown below and add dimensions to it.

• Click Home > Modify > Trim from the ribbon.

• Select the horizontal edge as shown in figure and right-click to accept.

• Select the vertical dimension with the value 25; it will be trimmed upto the selected edge.

• Press ESC.
• Click Home > Modify > Trim > Extend from the ribbon.
• Select the vertical edge as the boundary, as shown below. Next, right-click to accept.
• Select the horizontal dimension with the value 30; the dimension will be extended upto the selected
boundary.
Using the DIMEDIT command
The DIMEDIT command can be used to modify dimension. Using this command, you can add text to a dimension,
rotate the dimension text and extension lines or reset the position of the dimension text.

Example: (Adding Text to the dimension)

• Type DED in the command line and press ENTER.
• Select the New option from the command line; a text box appears.
• Enter TYP in the text box and press the SPACEBAR.

• Left-click and select the dimension with value 50.

• Press ENTER; the dimension text will be changed.

Example: (Rotating the dimension text)

• Enter DED in the command line and select the Rotate
option; the message, “Specify angle for dimension text”
appears in the command line.
• Type 45 and press ENTER.
• Select the dimension with the value TYP 50 and right-
click; the angle of the dimension text is changed to 45
degrees. Note that the angle is measured from the
horizontal axis (X-axis).
Using the Update tool
The Update tool is used to update a dimension with the currently active dimension style. For example, if you have
created new dimension style, you can apply it an already existing dimension using the Update tool.

Example: (Update the dimension with current active style)

• Type D in the command line and press ENTER; the Dimension Style Manager dialog box appears.
• In the Dimension Style Manager dialog box, select Standard from the Styles list and click Modify.
• In the Modify Dimension Style dialog box, set the Text height to 2.5.
• Click the Text Style button; the Text Style dialog box appears.
• In the Text Style dialog box, change the Font Style to Italic.

• Click Apply and then Close from the Text Style dialog box.
• Click OK from the Modify Dimension Style dialog box.
• Next, click Close from the Dimension Style Manager dialog box to close it.
• In the Dimensions panel, set the dimension style to Standard.
• Click the Update button on the Dimensions panel.

• Select the horizontal dimension with the value 30. Next, right-click; the dimension will be updated with
the current the dimension style.