Yes, please extend API access so we have the talented developers creating useful LO plugins…
Its been over a year and nothing of substance has been created … what was the point ?
It’s amazing how you find something like that easy… but I’d certainly like to see what people like you would do with an improved LO API
Couple of things to do with dimensioning that would be great:
-
There is, at times, a significant displacement between the snapping points and the image when dimensioning with raster rendering. Sometimes, the displacement is so bad that only vector will yield a clean and correct alignment. This is, of course, frustrating when you need to show your textures. Hybrid also shows the displacement.
-
I have noticed that a disturbing behavior with dimensioning that has thrown me for a loop and I have found no way to prevent it. Imagine a triangular panel with one right angle. Then, imagine that the right hand angle is aligned with the model axis for supposed orthographic correct dimensioning. I am getting random inaccurate dimensions for the non-aligned edge. Sometimes LO gives me the orthographic linear dimension (which is what I want) and other times it gives me the length of the diagonal face, which I definitely don’t want. This seems very random; I’d say 85%-90% it gives me the orthographically correct dimension, so that means I have to be ultra careful to crosscheck every dimension against the model to ensure no inaccuracies. It’s like LO gets confused even though I have the object aligned with the model axis… I’ve got a file that is really showing a lot of this and I can’t see anything that I have done any differently than 100’s of times before.
-
LO’s haphazard rounding of ~dimensions is maddening. A length that is 5 3/32" will give a dimension in LO, when set at 1/16" accuracy, of either 5 1/16" or 5 1/8" and it will sometimes give one and sometimes another and it seems to never ever make a string of dimensions measuring identical ~ dimensions the same dimension across the board which causes much hand editing. Drives me crazy.
-
As mentioned earlier in the thread, and a dead horse I continue to whack, it just takes too many mouse clicks and escape buttoning to do a lot in LO and particularly editing dimension text. Click to designate the dimension, click again to “open” it to editing. Slow and carefully timed double-click to access the text and then an escape button to get out. I wish this could be streamlined as I am editing dimension text all the time.
-
perspective dimensioning in LO would, of course, be AWESOME
-
Not a dimension thing but how about preference panel options for setting leader text behavior? For example, I would prefer my leader text to always come from the center of the text box, whether 1 line or 5 lines. This is always an edit to accomplish and I would set this once my way and never have to touch it again. I’d also like all text to format to the side where the arrow is coming from, instead of always from the left and that would be a nice preference I could set and forget. Or if I select more than one leader text, I wish that would disable the stretchy arrow so I don’t have to move it with a ultra precise cursor placement that requires zooming in so far I can see where I want to move it to. I actually wish the leader text only had a stretchy arrow when you place the cursor on the horizontal portion of the leader text to move the text around and never at any other time.Maybe this would be a preference so others could set it to work they way they want
Just thoughts and thanks for listening!
Cheers, Chuck
3 Likes
All that Chuck said.
Dimensions should allow text to be placed outside of the dimension line. Outside, Inside or on the Line, means they are relative to drawing position while Top, Bottom, Left and Right are absolute for all dimensions. In the end, to avoid this absolute placement I have all my text aligned with dimension line, which makes it fast at hidding the leader lines endpoints.
1 Like
One more thing:
I’d love it if I could place a dimension at only the 2nd click point of an item, without the long connecting dimension line heading back to the first click. So, for example, if I am dimensioning an item with a bunch of holes, it would be great if there was just a small leader off each hole center and the dimension displayed as if it was a small dimension, off to the side and maybe an arrow or mark of some kind indicating from which end the dimension is pulled from. This would remove a ton of clutter on the drawings and I know some of the companies I work with would prefer this detail to the typical dimension line.
2 Likes
I wish the dimension 10’-1/16" would display as 10’-0 1/16".
I wish the dimension 5 1/2" would display as 5-1/2".
I wish that small dimensions, when sent to one side or the other of the dimension line, would automatically register any text editing to the side that the dimension is coming from instead of just following the dimension global setting. So, if I have my dimensions set to center, but the small dimension has flown out to the left, any test change would be right side registered so I don’t have to move every single dimension text I edit to be back next to the dimension line
1 Like
I add my suggestion too.
I work with many cad 3d and 2d (for mechanical) and I’m almost new to Layout, but I see the potential of sketchup layout.
The feature I’d like for dimensioning:
- Possibility to add symbols like diameter
- Ordinate dimension
- Filter inference (es cpoints) because sometimes is difficult to see what I select
- Some simple graphical improvement es: keep the line inside also when text is moved out
1 Like
I may have missed it above, but does layout have the ability to set your dimension line extensions to a limited length. To set an offset from the origin of the dimension point like AutoCAD does?
Yes it does.
You double click on the leader extension line and several blue dots appear for you to configure everything. You can configure the distance specifically there or you can change the endpoint by setting the arrowhead and it’s point size.
Then you can go to the top menu and copy properties, select the other leader line and paste properties and both lines behave the same.
Finally you can use the match properties eye dropper on that dimension and either create new dimensions or paste on the existing ones.
Why don’t you put dimensions on the one layer then select everything on the layer?
Because while working we often forget to do that?
2 Likes
Marc,
It would be great if the LO dimension tool worked like this. A baseline dimension is when you start at one point and each point after that adds up the dimension. A string line dimension is when you start at one point and each point after that is a new distance to the next point and at the end click overall. Set the tool up where you vertical, horizontal, rotated and aligned. That make things so much easier.
Thank you Zadachdesign
Chuck, I’m so glad there are people that remember this stuff and can convey the problem in the literate and legible way. I tend to bang my head against LayOut’s annoyances thinking it must be me that is doing something wrong!
+1 for all your points, particularly million-clicking on dimensions to edit them
4 Likes
This topic was automatically closed 91 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.