Dimensions with electrical things (switches, lights, outlets)

[jbsmith22]

Hi Folks,

 

I'm sure I'm missing something obvious, but why is my Home Designer Pro 2017 not dimensioning my lights (and other stuff) automatically?  Everything else I click on in my plan gets fifty different dimensions automatically surrounding it so I can precisely locate everything, but not the electric stuff?  I've tried switches, receptacles, and lights both from the library and standard and none of them get dimensioned.  When I try to attach dimensions to them manually (I went into default settings and checked "Electrical") sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.  That is, some of the dimensionings seem to "stick" to the light fixture, some don't and I can't decipher the rhyme or reason to it.

 

Spend a couple hours searching the doc and the knowledge base but no luck.  

 

Appreciate any help!

 

Thanks,

Jason

 

[DavidJPotter]

Zoom in to gain greater control over just about anyting.

 

DJP

[jbsmith22]

It's not about being able to move it in small increments, it's about the lack of dimensions.  When I click on the light it should automatically show me the distances to the nearby walls and objects but it doesn't.

 

I should say I THINK it should give me the dimensions based on my reading of the doc and my expectations.  

[jbsmith22]

Maybe I should add what I'm trying to do.  I'm trying to place 3 pendant lights over a kitchen island and equally space them.  When I try to draw manual dimensions they wind up free floating (not attached to the fixture) but I don't see why it wouldn't just automatically put the dimensions in for me and let me click on the dimension I want to type in.  Chapter 18 of the manual says I should be able to do it for "most objects" in the program.  

[solver]

You can always draw a CAD line and dimension to it.

[jbsmith22]

So this is functions as designed?  There's an entire class of objects that don't autodimension and can't be made to?  I mean I know I'm not in the big leagues with Chief Premier, but this also isn't some $50 piece of crap.  I figured I was missing a checkbox somewhere, but no?

[jbsmith22]

Thanks for the suggestion @Eric, the dimensions do seem to stick to the CAD lines and light, so I guess I'll go that route.

[solver]

Here is an example.

 

Draw 4 cad lines. Place your fixtures.

 

Center your fixtures on the vertical lines, then on the horizontal line. 

 

You can block the 3 fixtures together and then move them anywhere.

 

If you position the CAD lines properly, the lights will be in the correct place, and you can then delete the CAD lines.

 

 

CAD lines are useful for many things that involve positioning. Aligning things between floors, for example.

 

Center a CAD line on some object on the 1st floor, copy the line, go to 2nd floor, paste hold position. You now have a reference to something on the first floor.

[jbsmith22]

Even better! 

 

Though it's still weird that electrical devices are left out of the autodimensioning fun.  I wonder why.