topic What happened to reference dimensions?? in AutoCAD Forum

What happened to reference dimensions??

S7RM7RPR — Thu, 04 Feb 2021 14:22:24 GMT

I'm using AutoCAD 2018 and I feel like an idiot but I cannot for the life of me figure out what happened to reference dimensions. The only AutoDesk mention of it is in "power dimensions" which I also can't find and this has me very confused.

Question 1: what the heck happened to reference dimensions??

Question 2: if it's not in AutoCAD anymore, what am I supposed to use instead of reference dimensions?? I thought they were a common thing.

Re: What happened to reference dimensions??

jeff.lentz — Thu, 04 Feb 2021 14:34:53 GMT

Inventor has them as a dimension type. I don't recall them in AutoCAD, but you can always click into the dimension and put () around it, if that's what you're referring to. You may be able to set up a dimension style that does this for you, but I'm not a styles expert (by choice).

Re: What happened to reference dimensions??

S7RM7RPR — Thu, 04 Feb 2021 14:43:49 GMT

Yea I thought of that too, the only trick is if you're using dual units (as I am in this case) you can't bracket the whole dimension like in Inventor. I regularly use it in Inventor too so that's why I'm so confused about why I can't find it

Re: What happened to reference dimensions??

imadHabash — Thu, 04 Feb 2021 16:06:46 GMT

Hi,

I'm afraid that you're talking about AutoCAD mechanical feature !!

Re: What happened to reference dimensions??

S7RM7RPR — Thu, 04 Feb 2021 16:19:28 GMT

*insert temper tantrum here*

Re: What happened to reference dimensions??

RobDraw — Thu, 04 Feb 2021 17:24:40 GMT

There's no crying in CAD.

Re: What happened to reference dimensions??

GrantsPirate — Thu, 04 Feb 2021 17:25:12 GMT

In dimstyle set the prefix for the primary units with a ( , then in the alternate units set the suffix ) .