Distance command (DI) not showing correct measurement

[Anonymous]

When I use the "Dist" command in model space, the X and Y measurements are correct, but the overall distance is not.  This is an issue when measuring a diagonal line, but not an orthogonal line.  When i put a dimension line on the diagonal line, the measurement it shows is correct. I don't ever draw in 3d, but wonder if somehow I'm measuring out of the 2d plane? Or that it's somehow snapping incorrectly?

Using autocad 2018. Thanks.

[j.palmeL29YX]

Please post a dwg, so we can analyze what's wrong.

>>I don't ever draw in 3d, but wonder if somehow I'm measuring out of the 2d plane?<<

Here was drawn in 3D (we don't know who it did), we can see a Delta Z

[Anonymous]

When I click object properties, it gives me a measurement for X, Y, and Z.  It appears that I somehow drew a line in 3d.  I don't ever work in 3d (intentionally), so don't know how that could have happened.  I also have no knowledge of how 3d drafting works, so don't know how to prevent it from happening again..

[Kent1Cooper]

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@Anonymous wrote:

When I click object properties, it gives me a measurement for X, Y, and Z.  It appears that I somehow drew a line in 3d.  I don't ever work in 3d (intentionally), so don't know how that could have happened.  I also have no knowledge of how 3d drafting works, so don't know how to prevent it from happening again..

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If it's a Line  that's out of plane, you can just change the Z coordinates of its endpoints to 0 in the Properties palette.  If it's a Block, likewise with its insertion point, or a Circle, its center, but there's a possibility that it doesn't lie flat in the World drawing plane -- that's more complicated to fix, but it can be done.  Other things [depending on what they are] may require other solutions.  You can try the FLATTEN command to eliminate such problems, but some people experience complications from that, so be sure to QSAVE first or maybe even Save to a different drawing as a backup.

To prevent its happening as a result of Object-Snapping to things that are out of plane, read about the OSNAPZ System Variable.

But there are other possible causes -- you could somehow have given three coordinates for the second point in a Copy or Move displacement.  I don't think there's any way of completely preventing that kind of thing from happening.

[scot-65]

If you select (enable grips) many objects of different types
(block, line, arc, etc.) the properties pane will allow you to
isolate one type of object at a time.

From there adjust the z-value(s).

???