About a Year Since ...

[Suetonius]

... I last raised the topic (not for the first time) of being able to insert dimensions on Designer.
Perhaps one of you Gods on high might explain, when 90% of the code seems to be there (vide: the measurement icon), one can't yet label Designer objects with their size?
Genuinely, I am open to reasonable excuses.
I rather thought that Designer was supposed to be engineering orientated  (sort of) software?

Failing a sensible answer, can anyone help with a workaround if it's going to be another year before I raise this again.

[walt.farrell]

37 minutes ago, Suetonius said:

I rather thought that Designer was supposed to be engineering orientated  (sort of) software?

Not really; I think it's more intended to be art-oriented.

Though as they've now enabled import/export of DWG/DXF files maybe they're trying to enable more engineering features, which seems a hopeful direction.

38 minutes ago, Suetonius said:

Failing a sensible answer, can anyone help with a workaround if it's going to be another year before I raise this again.

The answer is, I think, that either they just haven't had time to do it, perhaps because it's harder than you think, or perhaps because it doesn't have the priority of other items. Or perhaps they don't want to do it. We can't tell, though, as they don't give us information like that.

But it's a popular request, which may also offer hope.

Ideally, if you do raise it again:

• You'll do so in the Feedback forum, where the planners/developers look for enhancement requests; and
• You'll do it by simply adding to your original topic rather than starting a new one.

I'm not sure what workarounds have been suggested previously for this; sorry. I don't have any to offer myself as it's not a function I've needed.

There will be a new-feature beta (2.6) starting soon-ish, we think. Maybe that will have it.

[R C-R]

2 hours ago, Suetonius said:

Perhaps one of you Gods on high might explain, when 90% of the code seems to be there ...

I am definitely not a god but but comparing what is there in AD already to dimension tools in CAD & CAD-like apps I think there is much less of the code there than you think.

For instance, 'real' dimension tools are dynamic, meaning when you change the size, shape, or any point the measurement references, the dimension updates to match the change. Then there are the many different styles of engineering dimensional line styes, automatically changing the shape of the lines from straight to bent when things begin to get crowded, & so on.

The AD tool has almost none of that.

[Pšenda]

1 hour ago, R C-R said:

The AD tool has almost none of that.

Personally, I think that the existing applications have nothing at all from what you stated (only information about the measured value). Considering it as "90" percent of the code just shows a complete ignorance of the issue of dimensioning and the difficulty of its programming.

[R C-R]

1 minute ago, Pšenda said:

Personally, I think that the existing applications have nothing at all from what you stated (only information about the measured value).

Yes, it just has the very limited capability of displaying the distance between two points in the current document units. AFAIK, you can't even choose a font type or size or units other than the nine built in units, a different arrow style, or much of anything else.

[Pšenda]

3 hours ago, walt.farrell said:

Not really; I think it's more intended to be art-oriented.

It is already evident from the presentation of ADesigner on the website that it is definitely not "engineering oriented software".

[Pšenda]

1 hour ago, R C-R said:

& so on

... for example, the type of extension and dimension lines, placement of dimension texts, including the solving of their collisions with design elements - displacement outside the center of the dimension, etc.