fvolker Posted October 7, 2015 Share Posted October 7, 2015 I'm attempting to dimension the distance of drain pipes from an interior wall surface. The dimension from wall to outer surface of pipe works okay, but this is very inconvenient to add half the diameter to get the distance to center. I'm able to accomplish this with no problem in a trial version of Home Designer Pro 2016, but I'm using Home Designer Suite 2016 and can't make it happen. I can find no document which states that this feature is not available in 'Suite. Hopefully, I'm overlooking something obvious. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Frank Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solver Posted October 7, 2015 Share Posted October 7, 2015 Could you post a simple plan for us to work with? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fvolker Posted October 7, 2015 Author Share Posted October 7, 2015 This is a very basic example of the problem. The goal is to get the dimension to the center of the circle. center1.plan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solver Posted October 7, 2015 Share Posted October 7, 2015 I would draw a CAD line, center it on the drain, then dimension to the line. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fvolker Posted October 7, 2015 Author Share Posted October 7, 2015 I appreciate the answer, but that's way more steps than I want to go through to accomplish what should be a routine dimensioning task. Also, I want to move the drain around and have the dimensions update. All of this works in HD PRO and HD Architectural and should not be crippled in Design Suite. Thanks again. Frank Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LawB10 Posted October 7, 2015 Share Posted October 7, 2015 Use the tool with the 2 arrows pointing at each other. It will center the object. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fvolker Posted October 7, 2015 Author Share Posted October 7, 2015 @LawB10 What object? I'm not trying to center an object, I'm trying to draw a dimension line from a wall to the center of a drain (pipe). I've tried the centering tool on the dimension line without success. Frank Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solver Posted October 8, 2015 Share Posted October 8, 2015 Which dimension tool in Pro are you using that will automatically dimension to the center and follow the drain when moved? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fvolker Posted October 8, 2015 Author Share Posted October 8, 2015 In Pro, you can use the Manual, Interior, or End-To-End dimensioning tool. Here are the steps: Move the cursor near the center of the circle. (Red circle will appear when at center). Click/drag to wall. Release. The arrow which was formerly (and correctly) positioned at the center will jump to the outer circumference of the circle. To correct this rather strange behavior, grab the arrow and drag it back to the center. You can now move the object and the dimension lines will update. This appears to work for any CAD shape. I believe it will also work for distances between CAD shape centers. The Point-to-Point dimension tool is the anomaly in this task. It will directly locate the dim arrow at the center of the circle and remain upon releasing the mouse button, but the dimension line will not remain attached while moving the circle. This probably makes sense, since we're locating a point referenced to the entire plan. In HD Suite, I don't think the software has any concept of a geometric center of any CAD shape. Frank 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solver Posted October 8, 2015 Share Posted October 8, 2015 Thanks Frank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Solution Elovia Posted October 8, 2015 Solution Share Posted October 8, 2015 Something to check, Frank ... do you have a center snap setting in Suite? And if so, is it turned on? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fvolker Posted October 8, 2015 Author Share Posted October 8, 2015 Elovia, Suite doesn't have a "Center" snap setting, but it does have an "Object Snaps" setting. This is apparently checked by default in Pro and Architectural, but not in Suite. After checking that, I could locate dimension lines to the center of a circle. They would remain attached and update dynamically as I moved the object. The problem is that it is very difficult to position the device by reading the dynamically changing dim values while moving the object. Even with grid and all other snaps turned off, as well as big magnification, the dimension readouts jump all over the place. Setting the dimension manually is a solution, but that is very klunky when attempting to read relative distances from walls and other objects dynamically. Thanks for your suggestion. It put me on the right track. And thanks to all the others who chimed in. Frank Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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