We're going to be dimensioning a floor plan. In order to do that, we need to create a dimension style. I'm going to walk you through how to place more than one dimension at a time. Some of the tools I'm going to show you will significantly improve your productivity. I'll show you how you can modify dimensions simply by using the associate method of moving an extension line. We can add dimension breaks to make it easier to discern which dimensions apply to what objects, and control dimension spacing so the dimensions aren't too close together to make them easier to read. We're going to start by creating a dimension style. We define a dimension style by going to the annotation panel on the Home tab. Just expand the panel down and you can see the dimension style tool. The drop down list next to the dimension style shows the dimension styles available in the drawing. I'm going to select the Dim style icon, I click the New button. I'm going to name my new style Arch underscore 96, and click Continue. I click the symbols and arrows tab. In the arrowheads section, I select Architectural tick from the first drop down list. The second drop down list follows suit automatically. I choose open from the leader drop down list. I set the arrow size to three-sixteenth inches. I changed the extend beyond dim lines value to one-eight inch. This is the amount that the extension lines extend beyond the dimension lines. I changed the offset from origin value to one-eight inch. This is the distance from the object your dimensions are to the extension line. I click the text tab, I set my text style to dim text underscore 96. In the text placement section, I choose above from the vertical drop down list. In the text alignment section, I choose align with dimension line. Notice how the preview changes and starts to look like an architectural dimension. I click the Fit tab. This tab specifies how lines and arrows fit, especially if there isn't enough room. You also set the scale here. In the text placement section, I select over dimension line with leader. In the fine tuning section, I check the draw dim line between extension lines so that even if the text can't fit between the extension lines, there's still a dimension line. In the scale for dimension section, I changed the scale to 96. Of course, this value can depend on the size of your model and the size of the paper you're using. You can use the scale dimension to lay out option for dimensioning and paper space on a layout, or you can use annotative dimensions to have the dimensions resize depending on your layout scale. I'm going to click the primary units tab. From the unit format drop down list, I select Architectural. I set the precision to one-sixteenth inch. From the fraction format drop down list, I select diagonal. In the zero suppression section, I uncheck the zero inches check box to show zero inches. Next I select the text tab and change the fraction height value to 0.75. And you can't do this until you've specified a unit format that uses fractions. I click OK. In the dimension style manager with Arc underscore 96 selected, I click Set current and click Close. I'm now ready to dimension. I switched to the annotate tab. A common issue that many users have is that they switch between adding and modifying elements and adding dimensions. This means they constantly have to switch layers to ensure that the dimensions go on the correct layer. That's not really true anymore. If you go to the Dimensions panel on the Annotate tab, you can designate what layer to use for dimensions, and dimension elements will automatically land on that layer regardless of what layer is current. I select the A-Anno-Dims layer from the drop-down list to assign any dimensions to the A-Anno-Dims layer. Just to show you how it works, I'm going to switch back to the Home tab. And you can see that my current layer is zero. I select the linear tool and place a linear dimension on the floor plan. If I hover over the dimension I just placed, you see that the dimension is on the A-Anno-Dims layer. I want to place more dimensions, and an easy way to do this is to use the dim continue tool. I select Continue from the Dimensions panel. It picks up where I left off, and I can start placing dimension along the lower side of the building. I'm going to place an over all dimension using the linear tool. I'll purposely place it too close to the other dimensions. When dimensions are tight like this, it makes it difficult to read the drawing. I could just use the grips to fix the spacing. If I use the dim space tool, it ensures that the same spacing is used between dimensions throughout the drawing. This makes the drawing look cleaner and more consistent. The dim space tool is located on the dimensions panel. Just select the dim space tool, select the dimension that's not going to be moving, then select any dimension you want to space, then click Enter. AutoCAD automatically shifts the dimension a designated value. That value was set in your dimension style. I'm going to add some more dimensions so we can explore a few more tools. One trick I like to use is a lot of users tend to select each endpoint of a wall to select their linear dimension, but you don't need to do that. If you right click to select Enter and then just select the line, then the entire line will be selected and you can place the dimension. Then use the continue tool to place the additional dimensions. That's a lot faster and fewer mouse clicks. I have a lot of overlapping dimensions at the top of my drawing. I can use the dim break tool to make it easier to read the dimensions. The dim brake tool is located on the dimensions panel of the Annotate tab. I can add breaks to more than one dimension at a time. But in this case, I just have a single dimension I want to modify. I select dim break, select the extension line to be broken, and then click Enter to use the dim break values set in the dimension style. I'll zoom in a little so you can see the change. I want to adjust the dimension on the right side of my floor plan. You can associate dimensions by simply moving the extension line. Select the end grip of the extension line and then just move it to the desired location. The dimension value updates. When placing dimensions, there are a lot of tools available inside of AutoCAD to help you work faster and with less frustration. Assigning a default dimension layer to dimensions ensure they always land on the correct layer, regardless of what layer you're working on. Click Enter to select an objective dimension, instead of selecting the endpoints to place a dimension. Create dimension styles to ensure consistency in your drawings and to use your preferred settings. Use the dim space tool to guarantee that your dimensions are placed at a consistent spacing. Use dim break to add a gap between overlapping dimensions. Don't forget, you can associate dimension simply by moving the extension line to a new location and the dimension will update.
