Dimension to center of opening in AutoCAD Architecture 2015

[Anonymous]

David,

What's the setting to be able to dimension to center of opening using AutoCAD dimensions not AECdims for ACA2015? Typing walldim at command prompt allows dimensioning using regular dimensions. I have looked for any settings and couldn't find anything. In ADT2007 under the AECObjects tab, the wall settings allowed you to pick between center of opening or edge of opening. In ACA2015, that setting was removed. Surely that setting is somewhere else.

Thanks,

Todd

[dbroad]

In ACA, plain Autocad dimensions can snap to the middle of an AEC window but will never be associative with AEC objects. Always use AEC dimensions for AEC objects and adjust the AEC dimension style to dimension to the midpoint of the openings.

[Anonymous]

Hi dbroad,

I understand about AECdims but still doesn't answer my question about the wall setting to dimension to center of opening. The setting has to be somewhere to change from edge to center else when using walldim command how does it know to dimension to the edge.

Thanks,

Todd

[dbroad]

As far as I can tell, Walldim is currently an unsupported feature, which IMO, is probably a good thing. Everything that can be done with walldim can be done better by using AECdims. Since it is unsupported (as evidenced by having no help page) and since the setting was removed in the options command, it is probably acting on its default settings. If there is a setting somewhere that controls CL dimensioning, it is probably an undocumented registry setting. Good luck on finding that.

[David_W_Koch]

Using the internet as a substitute for Mr. Peabody's Way-Back Machine, I found this page in an Architectural Desktop 2004 tutorial.  Scrolling way down to the Dimension Wall section, there is a graphic showing the Options page with the control for whether or not the WALLDIM command dimensions to the center line or opening edges of Wall openings (Doors, Windows, etc.).  The graphic in the tutorial has a DWG icon next to the setting, so it would have been saved in the drawing, not the registry.

That does not appear to have made the transition from the old AEC DWG Defaults tab to the AEC Object Settings tab of more recent versions.  The question then is whether there is a system variable or command that could still allow the user to change this.  The WALLDIM command itself does not have any command line options for settings or something similar, and I have not had any luck finding a reference to such a command in the old Help files or on the internet.  All references I have found point to the radio buttons on the old AEC DWG Defaults tab in the Options dialog.  In a test in ACA 2016, WALLDIM dimensioned the openings, not the centerlines.

Curiously, even the 2004 Help did not have an entry for the WALLDIM command.  Not that there were not a lot of other AutoCAD Architecture commands that never made it into the Help.

All of the above do not provide any actual help, just an acknowledgement that I have not been able to find what you are seeking, either.

[Anonymous]

Hi David,

I follow your blog from time time to time and noticed you had mentioned about walldim was still usable in the newer versions and the various things that can be done. I was hoping you might know where to change the dimension to center of opening was at. I use ADT2007 at home (I know older version but still does the work I need) that you can change the wall settings in the AECObjects tab to either center of opening or to edges like you just mentioned. Surely that can be changed. If I ever find the setting, I will post back on how to change if anyone is wanting to know. Maybe if any of the ACA tech people

follow this thread, they could tell me where. I use ACA2015 at work and like to be able to change the setting.

Thanks,

Todd

[Victoria.Studley]

Hi @Anonymous,

As far as I can tell, there is no way to control the WALLDIM settings in ACA 2015 (or newer), since it is an outdated feature. I searched for a registry entry that might allow you to control the settings, but there does not seem to be one (at least not that I could find).

I don't have any older versions of Architectural Desktop installed where I could search for the registry entry that controls the settings there, but you might be able to:

• Search your registry for "WallDim"
• Note the registry settings for all of the entries that reference "WallDim"
• Change the in-program setting from Edge to Centerline
• Note which one changes
• See if the same registry entry appears in the ACA 2015 installation (assuming it's been moved forward and I simply missed it in my search), and adjust it accordingly.

Make sure, if you decide to tinker with your registry, that you back it up properly beforehand. Disclaimer:

Warning!
Problems caused by improperly editing the Windows registry could render your computer operating system unusable. Microsoft provides a wealth of critical information that you need to know about the registry in the Microsoft Knowledge Base. Use the Microsoft Registry Editor only at your own risk and only after backing up the registry as outlined for your operating system in the Microsoft article How to back up and restore the registry in Windows and in the related solution How to backup the system registry. Additional information about the registry is also contained in the Help topics in the Microsoft Registry Editor.

If one or more of these posts helped answer your question, please click Accept as Solution on the posts that helped you so others in the community can find them easily.

[Anonymous]

Hi Victoria,

I tried searching in the registry of ADT2007 but couldn't find anything and to be honest the registry part is over my head. You know, don't want to mess up anything. If any of the programmers would chime in, that would be great. Don't know which version where the wall setting for center or edge of opening was removed but I'm sure one of the programmers would know. Once I do know how to make the change, I will post back in case anyone wants to know.

Thanks for the help.

Todd

[Victoria.Studley]

@Sridhar-Autodesk, @ADSK451812,

Could either of you take a look? Is this something you could shed some light on for us?

[141356]

Hi,

Currently walldim command creates dimension from end-to-end of the objects (wall/door/openings etc) The is no system variable to change this setting to end-to-center..

But dimension can be created from end to center by changing the display properties of the openings in wall.

To achieve this Open the style Manager -> Documentation Objects -> AEC Dimension Styles -> Standard

Select the “Display Properties” tab.

Double click the “Plan” or any display representations and it opens the “Display Properties“ dialog

Select the “contents” tab

Select “opening in wall” under “Apply to” and you will get below options

1. Opening Max Width
2. Opening Min width
3. Center of Opening

Choose “Center Of Opening” (you can choose all of them if you want all 3 dimensions in chain) and apply the changes

Type dimadd command and select the wall object with opening

Specify an insertion point and the dimensions are created from end to center.

Thanks & Regards

Mani

[Anonymous]

Hi Mani,

I understand how to change to center w/ the AEC dimensions. I'm talking using regular AutoCAD dimensions w/ the walldim command and how the dimensions go to the edge of openings instead of center. In ADT2007, typing options and under AECobects tab in the wall setting you had the option of center of opening or edge of opening. I'm using ACA2015 at work so I have no idea when that was removed and what version. It's funny that dimensions recognize edge of openings. So how does the software know to dimension like that? There has to be a setting or variable somewhere to change. I was hoping someone from the development team would know how to change the setting. Like I told Victoria, once I found out how I will post back in case anyone wants to know.

Thanks,

Todd

[BillGlennie · Accepted solution]

Hi Todd - because this was a drawing resident setting, you may be able to start a drawing in 2007, then see the same behavior in 2015.  However, our analysis indicates that this old setting may be removed from the drawing with the file format upgrade, since it is no longer relevant.  Sorry for the bad news, but my final answer would be that it is not possible to have this behavior of the WALLDIM command any more.  In hindsight, we probably should have deprecated that command entirely, rather than just removing the setting for it.  

Originally, the WALLDIM command had an option, but it may be that analysis of usage in the past (prior to the 2010 release, I would guess) showed that it was primarily being used to dimension to the edges.  So when the Options page was redesigned, that setting was eliminated, and only the dimension to edge behavior was preserved.  With the power of AecDims, it was probably considered to be redundant.

Sorry for the bad news.  I hope that you can adapt your workflow to AecDims, which have a lot more power (can dimension to intersecting walls, for example).  And as Doug pointed out, they are associative, which the AutoCAD dimensions created by the WALLDIM command are not.  

Regards,  Bill

[Anonymous]

Hi Bill,

Well glory! Don't that beat all. Unfortunately I use ACA2015 at work so there's no way to open a ADT2007 drawing w/ the dimension set to center. As far as AecDims, I'm not really fond of them. I tried playing around w/ them and found to be too cumbersome. I'm more faster w/ using regular dimensions and to me have better control. I understand they are not associative in that if wall moves dimensions don't update automatically but that's remedy in stretching or grabbing the grip points of the dimension to update the dimension. Thanks for taking the time to look into this issue.

Thanks,

Todd

[dbroad]

@BillGlennie A smarter way to have improved the options interface (back when) would have been to move the setting to the walldim command itself as a command option.  It probably should have been there to begin with rather than playing hide and seek with it in the options command. Since at least one person wants to use it, have someone spend a couple of minutes and rewrite the command interface for the next version.