topic Re: Hide Dimensions while Sketching in Inventor Forum

Hide Dimensions while Sketching

Anonymous — Thu, 21 Jan 2016 05:09:48 GMT

Hey,

This topic has come up before and listed as solved but the attached png still showed dimensions.

Anyway I'm looking for any way to turn on n off dimensions while sketching, similar to how you can turn on and off constraints. Is there anyway to turn on and off certain dimensions and not others?

I can not post the ipt of the file in question that I'm working on.

Re: Hide Dimensions while Sketching

blair — Thu, 21 Jan 2016 06:01:09 GMT

Just the global setting to change the visibility of all dimensions on a given sketch. This is a sketch by sketch control, so you can have dims visible on a different sketch.

I've been using Inventor for over 14 years, not really sure why you would need this control. Good practice is to limit the complexity of each sketch which in turn means less dims as well.

Re: Hide Dimensions while Sketching

mcgyvr — Thu, 21 Jan 2016 14:36:36 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:

I've been using Inventor for over 14 years, not really sure why you would need this control. Good practice is to limit the complexity of each sketch which in turn means less dims as well.

yes +1

No idea why anyone would want this..

Re: Hide Dimensions while Sketching

JDMather — Thu, 21 Jan 2016 14:51:07 GMT

Attach a file here that supports need to turn off dimensions.

In general, you sketches should be simple - use more sketches if they are getting too complex.

If you really want to turn off visibility of dimensions while editing a sketch - research the use of Sketch Blocks.

If you can't figure out how to do this - attach your file here for demonstration.

It should be relatively simple to create a dummy file that exhibits all of the behavior of your proprietary work.

Examine the attached file.

Edit the Linkage Blocks Sketch.

Note that there is only one dimension visible.

Note that if you edit this dimension - you can test the kinematics.

Re: Hide Dimensions while Sketching

johnsonshiue — Thu, 21 Jan 2016 15:20:45 GMT

Hi Matthew,

Within the editing sketch, all dimensions are visible during edit. There is no control to make any dimension invisible while editing. The reason is that sketch dimensions are not cosmetic. They define the sketch geometry and parametric relationship. If some of them are hidden, it becomes very confusing to tell what is driving the shape change.

Could you tell me why you need to hide some dimensions while editing the sketch?

Many thanks!

Re: Hide Dimensions while Sketching

Justin_DeSilva — Tue, 13 Feb 2018 17:09:04 GMT

Hi Johnson,

I think this feature is necessary when creating sketches with lots of dimensions. It's known Inventor works optimally with simpler sketches however it can work well with complex sketches as long as the sketches are structured well.

For instance, I need to create 7 enclosures with variable width, height and ventilation patterns. Prior to building the assemblies using iparts it makes better use of time to design all door variants in a single part file for design review and reference. Hiding dimension visibility while in sketch mode significantly reduces visual clutter.

The ability to toggle dimension visibility on/off would only create conflicts if the user accidentally toggled the visibility off then tried to apply driving dimensions. In this instance the sketch would over constrain and the user would grow aware of the conflict.

Creating 7 doors, in 7 separate part files with 7 different sketches is silly to me and doesn't lend itself to considering design or industrialization impact the way one is able to see all 7 variations in a single sketch.

Re: Hide Dimensions while Sketching

mcgyvr — Mon, 12 Feb 2018 16:41:11 GMT

@Justin_DeSilva

The best way to move forward is to submit an ideastation request (if there isn't one already) for that type of functionality.

That way other users can show support for that functionality which lets Autodesk know how important/widespread the need is..

I fully support that there are times when one may choose to want to hide dimensions in a sketch and that not all users should be forced to keep sketches "simple"..

If enough people also have that need then it should certainly be something supported... The ideastation is the best place for that..

Re: Hide Dimensions while Sketching

kelly.young — Tue, 13 Feb 2018 01:19:36 GMT

Hello @Justin_DeSilva here is a link to a similar idea.

IDEA: Hide dimensions in active sketch

Based on your images I think you could use Sketch Block to help manage your sketch more clearly.

To Create and Edit 2D Sketch Blocks for Reuse

See @JDMather previous reply for an attached part with a good example.

Re: Hide Dimensions while Sketching

cmcewanE2U82 — Wed, 28 May 2025 20:16:36 GMT

I'm looking for this feature because the sketch I'm building will drive an entire assembly and some dimensions will need to be modified by a user like it is a template and others are not needed to be shown as they are not to be modified. I'm trying to reduce the number of sketches and projected geometry to a minimum. Some dimensions are just to keep lines past a certain point so that overlaps of structural load paths are clear. When the sketch moves with new inputs on the dimensions I want to modify some of those lines don't follow without adding a dimension from the end but its not something that needs to be changed. All of these non important dimensions clutter and overlap the important ones. There has to be a way to selectively turn off visibility on non important dimensions. Also a lot of the dimensions are driven by parameters in a form and will be modified in the form rather than in the sketch's and there is a lot of repetition that can all just be hidden.