Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
you edit an object — by stretching it, for example — AutoCAD automatically updates the
measurement displayed in the dimension text label to indicate the object's new size, as
shown in Figure 14-1. And perhaps best of all, AutoCAD's
annotative
dimensions change
their size automatically as you change the annotation scale on the model tab or the
viewport scale in a layout. I explain the general principles of annotative objects in
Chapter 13; in this chapter, I take a closer look at annotative dimensions.
AutoCAD controls the look of dimensions by means of
dimension styles,
just as it con-
trols the look of text with text styles, and tables with table styles. (AutoCAD also uses
text styles to control the appearance of the text in dimensions.) But dimension styles
are much more complicated than text styles because dimensions have so many more
pieces that you need to control. After you find or create an appropriate dimension style,
you use one of several dimensioning commands to draw dimensions that point to the
important points on an object (the two endpoints of a line, for example).
Figure 14-1:
Changing objects automatically updates dimensions.
AutoCAD dimensioning is a big, complicated subject. (It's so complicated, in
fact, that Autodesk has an especially wise person in charge of dimensioning in
AutoCAD — this person is called the
dimwit.
) Every industry has its own dimen-
