1
Secrets of Isometric Dimensioning
Users often want to add dimensions
to isometric views, especially when
creating setup sheets and collateral
marketing materials. Let’s look at
some neat tricks in Keycreator that
make the creation of isometric
dimensions really simple.
For our first exercise, let’s work with
the simple part illustrated to the right.
(This part is available as a download
called “Bracket1.”
Now, let’s suppose that we
want to place some isometric
dimensions on this part so that
our illustration looks like this:
Placing these dimensions is
really simple if you take
advantage of constriction
planes to orient the dimension
text.
2
Let’s start with the 2.750 width dimension
that lies on the horizontal bottom plane of
the part. To orient the dimension text so it
reads from left to right, we need to
establish a construction plane on the part
that looks like the one in the illustration.
(The text will always read from the tail of
the X vector toward the head of the X
vector. The Y vector points up toward the
top of the text letters.)
Click on the CONSTRUCTION PLANE Icon.
The first edge that you select determines the X
vector and the end of the line that you pick closest
to will be the tail of the vector.
The second edge that you pick will be the Y vector
and again, the end of the line that you pick closest
to will be the tail of the vector.
1 2
Once you understand this principle it is very easy
to position dimensions precisely where you want
them on the isometric view.
Place a construction plane on the right
face of the part so that the X vector lies
along the bottom edge pointing
rearward and the Y vector lies along
the front, vertical edge pointing
upward.
You can now place the three
dimensions shown in the illustration to
the right.
3
To place the .250 diameter
dimension, establish a
construction plane on the top
face of the part with the X and
Y vectors oriented as shown to
the left.
Now, let’s suppose that you have a
part that looks like the one illustrated
to the right. This is available as a
download called “CircularPlate1.”
Let’s suppose that we want to place isometric diameter dimensions
on the top surface of the part. Click on the CONSTRUCTION
PLANE Icon.
Since there are no linear edges to
pick on the top surface, we would
normally click on the face to set a
construction plane. (This is one of
the most common ways to
establish a construction plane.)
Notice that the construction plane
appears with the following
orientation.
4
Yuck! If you try to place the diameter dimensions
with the construction plane in this
orientation they will be illegible. (I
purposely created this problem by creating
the initial model and then Xform Rotating
it 180 degrees so that a future attempt to
establish a construction plane by face
selection would give you trouble! You will
have many situations where past operations
on faces will yield similar interesting
problems.)
If you do a lot of
isometric dimensioning,
an easy way to overcome
this problem is to assign
hot keys to the INVERT
X AXIS and INVERT Y
AXIS functions that can
be found by clicking on
the VIEW Pulldown
Menu, then on the
CONSTRUCTION
PLANE Option.
Let’s say that you assign the
INVERT X AXIS to the number
“9” on the top row of your main
keyboard and the INVERT Y
AXIS to the number “0” in the
same row.
Now, first invert the Y axis and
then the X axis.
Your construction plane will now
be oriented so that you can place a
diameter dimension that looks like
this:
5
To retrieve the isometric
dimensions in an isometric
instance in an associated layout
drawing, click on the HLR
Settings Button for the Isometric
View.
Then, place a check on the View
Model Mode Detail Entities
Option.
If you add dimensions to a model that already has a layout, you can
retrieve the dimensions at a later date in the layout by clicking on the
GENERIC EDIT Icon.
Then, move the cursor over the isometric instance in the layout and click when the entire
instance highlights. In the Dialog Box that appears you can click to place a check in the
box in front of the VIEW MODEL MODE DETAIOL ENTITIES.
CLICK TO PLACE
A CHECK HERE
You may have to click on the LAYOUT, INSTANCE DISPLAY, RESIZE Function to
increase the cropping borders of the isometric instance so that all of the dimensions are
visible.
