Creating Ordinate Dimensions

  1. Click the arrow under Dimension in the Annotation group on the Detailing tab and select Ordinate Dimensions.
  2. If you are creating a dimension in 3D, click a face to create the plane on which to place the dimension.

    Mouse over the faces of your design to preview the eligible annotation planes. (In Sketch and Section mode, the sketch grid defines the annotation plane.) If multiple objects occur at your cursor location, use the scroll wheel or arrow keys to highlight each one.

    To create an annotation plane for a cylindrical face, select the cylinder's axis.

    If you need to change the annotation plane, right-click and click Select New Annotation Plane from the context menu. Then right-click the new place and click Set As Annotation Plane.

  3. Click a line, edge, or Center Line to set the baseline dimension.
    You can use an existing extension line as a dimensioning reference. An extension line is the line that connects the point to the dimension text. If you select an extension line, the baseline dimension for the extension line's dimension is used.
  4. Hover over the face to see all the possible dimensions.

    In cases with many ordinate dimensions, the preview may be slow. Start SpaceClaim using the following command line option to limit the number of dimensions that are shown in the preview. The example specifies '10' but you can set it to any number you wish.

    MaxOrdDims=10

    The plate shown below has 400 holes but only 10 are shown in the preview.

  5. Click a point to place the dimension line.

    If you select a face, all of the possible ordinate dimensions will be created.

    You can click multiple points to use the same baseline for those dimensions.

    The baseline dimension (0) is displayed or hidden based on which detailing standard is selected in the Detailing options.

    Automatic jog points are included if ordinate dimensions are too closely spaced. This helps make them easier to read.


Example:
Using an Angled Baseline

First, establish a simple, oriented dimension. Then use one of the witness lines to set the baseline and orientation of the ordinate dimensions.

In this example, the leftmost witness line of the existing circle-to-circle dimension was selected to define the baseline.