Setting Units Options

Length scale

Select Standard, Small, or Large from the drop-down list.

Type

Select Metric or Imperial from the menu.

Length

Select the default units used for length.

  • Metric
    • Millimeters (default)
    • Centimeters
    • Meters
    • Micrometers
    • Nanometers
    • Kilometers
  • Imperial
    • Inches
    • Feet
    • Feet & Inches
    • Mils
    • Miles

    See the Small/Large units section for notes about working with Micrometers, Nanometers, Mils, Kilometers, and Miles units.

Decimal/Fraction

If you use Imperial units, you can select Decimal or Fraction to display distance measurements that are less than 1 unit.

Angle

Select from the following options. For SCDM only, a check box to Use project units when available will be active only when you are modifying settings for all new documents. The option will be disabled by default.

Note: When radians are chosen, their angle dimensions will show the appropriate values and unit suffix (rad).
  • Degrees
  • Degrees/Minutes/Seconds
  • Degrees/Minutes
  • Radians
Mass

Select the default units used for mass.

Density

Select Independent to specify the density units from the density fields or Derived to calculate the units from your selections for length and mass.

Symbol

Select the abbreviation you want displayed for unit type you selected for Length.

Primary precision

The number of decimal places you want displayed for distance measurements for the primary units.

Angular precision

The number of decimal places you want displayed for angle measurements for the primary units.

Show trailing zero

Select this option to display trailing zeros in decimal measurements.

Use tight tolerances

When this option is selected, tolerances are rounded to a value that gives a tighter tolerance when you have dual dimensions or when a dimension from the design window is shown in the drawing window with a different unit setting than the design window. The purpose is to not lose any precision when converting from one unit system to another. When this option is not selected, the values are rounded according to method A in ISO 370-1975 (E). When selected, values are rounded according to method B.

Show symbol in user interface

Select this option to display the units abbreviation in SpaceClaim. The abbreviation will appear in measurement fields, such as a distance field when you pull a face.

Show symbol in annotations

Select this option to display the units abbreviation after the measurement in annotation dimensions.

Show "-" separator

Select this option to display a hyphen between whole values and fractions.

Use Dual dimensions

Select this option to display annotation dimensions in both Metric and Imperial. The unit type you have selected is displayed first and the other is displayed in square brackets. You can see a preview of the display below this option category.

Secondary precision

The number of decimal places you want displayed for distance measurements for the secondary units.

Show nearest fraction

Check this option to show the nearest fractional value Less Than the nominal dimension and the nearest fractional value Greater Than the nominal dimension. It allows for Ruler-style dimensions. For example, if you were to lay a ruler down and the distance falls between the marks on the ruler, these values tell you the nearest marks on either side of the dimension value.

  • Fraction: Enter a fraction between 1/128 and 1/2. The default is 1/16, which is a common ruler increment.
  • From both sides: Show fractions on both sides of the nominal dimension.
  • From closest: Only show the fraction that is closest to the nominal dimension regardless of which side it is on.

The modeling precision for smallest sketched entities and smallest round size for standard units are as follows:

Entity Modeling Precision
Smallest sketched line 0.0301 mm
Smallest sketched radius at 90 degrees 0.02772 mm
Smallest sketched radius at 180 degrees 0.015 mm
Smallest sketched radius at 270 degrees 0.0115 mm
Smallest circle radius 0.03 mm
Smallest 3D round size 0.1 mm

The model size box and precision values for various model sizes are as follows:

Model Size Units Size Box Precision
Large Metric: Kilometers, meters, miles, feet 1000 km 1.0e-5 m
Standard Meters, Centimeters, Millimeters, feet and inches 1000 m 1.0e-8 m
Small Micrometers, nanometers and mils 1 m 1.0e-11 m