Using Dimensions - Mastering AutoCAD for Mac - page 330

4. Select the appropriate option from the Unit Format pop-up menu. If you're a U.S. user,
you should select Decimal if you want to show metric alternate units. Metric users should
select Architectural.
5. Select an appropriate precision value from the Precision pop-up menu.
6. Enter a scale factor for your alternate dimension in the Multiplier For Alt Units input box.
For U.S. users, the default value is 25.4. This value converts feet-and-inch dimensions to
millimeters. In our metric examples, you've been using centimeters, so change this set-
ting to 2.54 . Metric users should enter 0.3937 to convert centimeters to feet and inches.
7. In the Placement group, select where you want the alternate dimension to appear in rela-
tion to the main dimension.
8. You don't really want to display alternate units now, so turn off the Display Alternate
Units setting.
9. Click OK to close the Modify Dimension Style dialog box. The Dimension Style Manager
appears again.
Setting the Current Dimension Style
Before you can begin to use your new dimension style, you must make it the current default:
1. Click My Architectural in the Styles list box in the Dimension Style Manager dialog box.
2. Click the Options action menu (gear icon), and click Set Current from the menu.
3. Click Close to exit the Dimension Style Manager.
You can also select a dimension style from the Dimension Style pop-up menu under the
Annotation category of the Properties Inspector palette. You're now ready to use your new
dimension style.
In the next set of exercises, you'll use the My Architectural style you just created. To switch to
another style, open the Dimension Style Manager dialog, select the style you want from the Styles
list, and click Set Current from the Options action menu, as you did in the previous exercise.
SCALE FOR DIMENSIONS IN LEGACY DRAWINGS
Drawings created prior to AutoCAD 2008 relied on scale factors to determine the scaling of dimen-
sions. Because it's likely that you'll run into legacy drawing files, here is some information about
the settings used for those earlier dimensions.
Instead of the Annotative option, the Use Overall Scale Of option is used in the Scale For Dimension
Features group. You select the Use Overall Scale Of radio button and enter a drawing scale factor in
the Use Overall Scale Of input box.
All the values you enter for the options in the New Dimension Style dialog box are multiplied by this
Use Overall Scale Of value to obtain the final size of the dimension components. For example, the
text height you entered earlier, 1 ⁄ 8 ˝, is multiplied by 48 for a dimension text height of 6˝. For metric
users, the text height of 0.3 is multiplied by 50 for a text height of 15 cm. For more on the scaling of
text and other objects in AutoCAD, see Chapter 3.