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AutoCAD Productivity

Dual Dimensions in a Dimension Style

by Michael Beall

From: AutoCAD Productivity Articles #147
Originally published: August 2016

Alternate Units‘Alternate Units’ doesn't always mean Metric.

To follow along, set the current Dimension style to one you like. The following exercise begins with a Dimension Style with the Unit format set to Architectural on the Primary Units tab.

How to Display Ft′-In″ as well as Inches

  1. Launch the Dimension Style dialog box [Alias: D], click New and enter a name, then click Continue.

  2. Click the Alternate Units tab.

  3. In the upper left corner, put a check in the box for Display Alternate Units.

  4. Set the Unit Format to Fractional.

    Note: I would suggest you set the values for the Precision and the Round off to the same values as those on the Primary Units tab.

  5. Set the Multiplier for Alt Units to 1.00.

  6. In the Suffix edit box, put the inch marks ( ″ ).

    Dimension settings

  7. The last setting you may want to make is to set the Placement feature radio button (under the preview) to Below Primary Value.

    Primary location

  8. Click OK, Close the Dimension Style dialog box, then check out your new dimension!

See all the articles published in August 2016

Michael's Corner

Between 2003 and 2016, Michael Beall (and one or two guests) wrote almost 600 articles for CADTutor. The focus of these articles is AutoCAD productivity, and although some of them are now more than a few years old, most remain relevant to current versions of AutoCAD. The article above is just one example. Check out Michael's Corner for a full listing.

Tip of the Day

Add your name to the status bar

modemacroHave you ever wanted to see your name or your company's name displayed on the AutoCAD status bar? If so, you need to know about the modemacro variable. Whatever value you set this variable to will appear on the status bar, just to the left of the dynamic co-ordinate display. To do this, enter "modemacro" at the command prompt and then enter the text you'd like to display.

The assigned value of modemacro remains set only for the current drawing session. If you'd like to see your text displayed every time you start AutoCAD, simply add the following line to acad.lsp:
(setvar "modemacro" "text to display")

Today's tip is by India

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