Vertical dimension problem Brics 21

Tim Neumann

Should know by now how to do this but don't! If you want a vertical dimension with the text outside in line with
the dim lines centered how best to do it? I can turn dimtoh off before making the dim no problem but is there
not a better method?

If I create the dim and try to edit it in properties the text inside/outside align options are grayed out. See attached
for a clarification. The dim on the right is what I'm after, but can't figure out to do it using linear dim command
"on the fly". Anyone care to shed some light on this please?

Knut Hohenberg

I cannot really see the problem:
If your DIMSTYLE has DIMTAD, DIMTVP, DIMTMOVE and DIMTOH all set to 0, the result should be as depicted on the right side of your screenshot.

Tim Neumann

Knut, I didn't phrase my question right. If I create a dimension with the text outside the extension lines being horizontal,
how do I modify the text position to being vertical via the properties box when the variable is grayed out? I know switching
the DIMTOH value to "0" and then hit apply dimension style will fix it but it would be easier to change it within the properties
box at least to me anyways. I attached another example for the heck of it.

Knut Hohenberg

Hi Tim,
maybe I did not read carefully enough. That some dimension properties are greyed out for incomprehensible reasons is something that bugs me, too.
I was just too lazy to dig in deeper and file a SR, would be great if you could do so.
Meanwhile, for this special case, you might use this oneliner as a workaround:
(defun C:DIMTEXTALIGN () (command "_.DIMOVERRIDE" "DIMTIH" "_OFF" "DIMTOH" "_OFF" "") (princ))

Tim Neumann

Hi Knut, yeah I'll file an SR. Just glad I'm not the only one that noticed this.

Thanks for the "one liner" btw.

Tim Neumann

Here's the response from Brics support:

If you move any dimension text using the Text grip, you can no longer modify the Text Outside Align, Text Pos Hor, Text Pos Vert, and various other properties in the Properties dialog box. These fields will be unavailable for change in the Properties dialog box.

This functionality is as designed and is present in all CAD software (ACAD, BricsCAD, etc). If you move the dimension text, it becomes "user-positioned," thus overriding the automatic positioning options such as text position.

To enable these controls again:

1. Enter _DIMEDIT on the command line.
2. At the prompt, enter Restore text.

The text will no longer be seen as user-positioned, and you can modify the dimension properties.

However, as a workaround and to obtain the desired behavior, you can select the desired options before moving the text by the grip. Please check the attached video demonstration.

Knut Hohenberg

Thanks for clarifying... disabling text positioning options when the text has been moved manually makes sense. However, DIMTIH and DIMTOH do not govern text position, but text angle, so disabling them looks a bit counter-intuitive to me.

Joe Dunfee

This comment is not really an answer about the original post. But, I have always found the settings for text orientation to be confusing... not the fault of BricsCAD, since it must follow the AutoCAD approach.

One related setting that I find particularly annoying, is that if you have the variables set to orient the text to be along the dimension line, but then edit the text rotation, you can't just enter 0 for the text rotation. Rather, you have to enter a value close to 0, e.g. 0.01 degrees. For some reason, v14 will not accept 0.

-Joe