Angular Dimension will not recognize 2d polyline

I have an exported dxf from pls cadd. Im trying to dimension an angle from two 2d polylines and autocad will not recognize them as dimension-able lines. Any help would be appreciated.

PLS CADD? Never heard of it.

Did you do a List on the lines or check their Properties to verify they are indeed "lines" as far as AutoCAD is concerned?

Could they both be at a different elevation from each other (i.e. - not flat)?

For those just as unenlightened as I am about PLS-CADD (the proper way to spell it) see:

http://www.powline.com/index.html

There are several of us using pls cadd (the way I spell it) in the office and exporting to dxf is common with no problems. I am able to dimension the lines with no problems, so are others, but one person is unable. The line is displayed as a 2d ployline with 0 z elevation. We are all using AutoCAD 2007. I am wondering if there is a system variable for angular dimensions that would cause it not to read a 2d polyline correctly or maybe I am thinking about it all wrong.

Post an image. Let's see what we are dealing with.

Better yet, Wblock out the offending polylines and post the actual dwg file.

I get 175 degrees. Is that precise enough for your line of work?

And yes, I got it to dimension in AutoCAD.

And the answer is...you got to zoom in pretty tight to the intersection of the two lines and make your picks then back out to place your angle with its curved lines and arrowheads.

BTW...each of those polylines is constructed of many, many short line segments. I'd redraw the two lines as a single polyline (end-intersection-end).

Remark please read the post before you reply..I am able to dimension the line along with others in the office. There is one particularly person who is unable to. We are all using AutoCAD 2007 and yes I realize that it is a segmented polyline.

Remark,

You should not have to redraw anything. And an angle dimension works even when lines are not intersecting. Let someone else answer the post please.

I have an exported dxf from pls cadd. Im trying to dimension an angle from two 2d polylines and autocad will not recognize them as dimension-able lines. Any help would be appreciated.

Hmmm.....dimension an angle. Yep. That's what I thought.

You did not say you were trying to dimension the lines that form the angle.

Have it your way.

Remark,

You should not have to redraw anything. And an angle dimension works even when lines are not intersecting. Let someone else answer the post please.

Let someone else answer the post? Sure thing bucko. Why is it your answer or an attempt at an answer does not appear?

Hey, have it your way. I yield the floor to the gentleman from the south or wherever you are from. Have fun.

When you are trying to dimension on the setup that doesn't "recognize the plines", describe what that means. What is happening exactly when you start the dimangular command and pick on the first pline. Does it let you pick both plines and then not let you pick the location to finalize the command? Or what exactly is happening?

My first wild a** guess is that LIMCHECK is set to 1 and the objects are outside of the limits. The objects you posted are a long way from 0,0 which makes me guess limcheck.

Now that the floor is mine, here is my answer: Install the service packs for AutoCAD. This fixes the problem (and possibly others not yet known).

Have a nice day, bucko from the north.

Install the service packs from AutoCAD?

What makes you think the problem has anything to do with missing service packs?

How do you know the OP does not have any service packs installed?

Could the problem be a result of the DXF file creation generated by PLS-CADD?

Care to explain your rationale?

ctkunde: Did you follow rkent's advice re: LIMCHECK and if so did it solve your problem? Thanks.

It is the answer because it worked. I was posting the answer because I wanted others to know what worked for us. Yes, I said us. I was one of the people that could dimension it when others could not. We installed the service packs and then dimensioning worked, possibly solving other issues we had not run into yet. I do appreciate the help, but you just were not grasping what the issue really was. Worked for some, not for others.

And it is spelled "rationale"...just saying.

Yeah, I drop my e's sometimes.

Maybe you should have made that clearer from the start.

So in the end you solved your problem (good) and you shared the answer with us (good too). Thank you.

Note: Neither Readme file for Service Pack 1 or 2 mention this problem nor was there a specific hotfix issued to address it as far as I can tell. In this case I think the law of unintended consequences worked in your favor as opposed to against it. Your lucky day it seems.