MECHANICAL 2012 - HOW TO EVEN SET DIMENSION DEFAULTS???

[Panygeric]

I am currently working on ACAD mechanical 2012 and trying to get a consistent dimension (defaults settings) to work in the drawing.

The ANNOTATE> dimension> pulldown brings up the DIMENSION SETTINGS dialogue box - the problem is nothing that I enter into the settings (text size, arrow sizes, stles, etc etc) has any effect on dimensions that are then produced in the drawing. It's as if ACAD Mechanical 2012 completely ignores any preference that I've entered in, as far as how I want dimensions to appear in the drawing.

NOW...it turns out the drawing I'm working on was orifginally created in an earlier version of ACAD (ACAD 2000 to be exact).

Where in the world do I access dimension style default settings in the conventional 2D drawing environment w/ Mechanical 2012??????????

[Bob_Zurunkle]

Have you tried starting vanilla AutoCAD through your start menu, and opening the drawing there?

[Panygeric]

Hi Bob - What I did was switch from "Mechanical" to "Mechanical Classic" format where some of the basic default-type settings are a bit easier to get a  handle on. Fortunately I was'nt overloaded at the moment as I had to go back in and re-establish most all of my toolbar button settings but anyway it worked out and I think I'll stay in Classic mode for now.

btw - just wondering - what's the difference w/ "AMPP" and "AMACAD"  (duplicate?) command buttons for what looks like the same commands??

[Bob_Zurunkle]

Beats me. I think one is the "power" version, which makes some things behave differently, such as the object snap behavior. Ever notice some dimensions don't snap to things you want them to? Stuff like that...

I use Mechanical for some of my structural shapes, but I launch plain old AutoCAD for most of my drawing, which requires annotation objects that mechanical doesn't like.