Dim to edge of 3D tube/pipe

I have made some 3D railings in AutoCAD 2013 and I am trying to dimensionthem, but am having trouble. When I create it I can snap to the center of thepipe, but am unable to snap to the edge anywhere along the pipe. This is anissue because one of the dimensions I need to show is the distance from theground to the top of the railing. When they are verifying everything it's verydifficult to measure to the center of a pipe when it's all welded together, soI need to get the actual edge. I know I can use FLATSHOT and create a 2D viewout of the 3D model, but I am hoping there is a way to do this without havingto convert it. The main use of the 3D view is ease of creating projected andsectional views without having to manually redraw each view. I hope this makes sense.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Jason

Try specifying an OSnap (Quadrant) rather than using the running OSnaps, or you may need to re-orient the UCS, however, in this situation, I'm pretty certain I'd create a 2D projected view to dimension using Flatshot or Viewbase.

Maybe you shouldn't be dimensioning the 3D model if this is creating such a problem. Do you routinely provide only 3D models and no 2D fabrication drawings?

So, you know the distance to the center from the ground. What are the chances someone in the weld shop knows the O.D. of the pipe rail and can figure out what the radius is then put two and two together to arrive at the overall height?

Try specifying an OSnap (Quadrant) rather than using the running OSnaps, or you may need to re-orient the UCS, however, in this situation, I'm pretty certain I'd create a 2D projected view to dimension using Flatshot or Viewbase.

+1 .

I will try playing with Quadrants. ReMark, We currently make 2D fab drawingsfor Plan/Projected/Sectional/Detail views but as revisions occur we need to redraw/modify each view independently which just adds higher chance for error and more time. This does work for us, be we are looking into alternatives. The FLATSHOT option works well, but again each view needs to be regenerated with any revision. Thanks for the suggestion of Quadrants. I will play with that and see what I can do. Worst case scenario we will continue to draw in 2D.

You may find VIEWBASE more useful than Flatshot if you make frequent revisions to the 3D model. It will warn you when/if you need to update the views, but don't expect the dimensions to automatically update as shown in the video below (plan on updating them manually)

You may find VIEWBASE more useful than Flatshot if you make frequent revisions to the 3D model. It will warn you when/if you need to update the views, but don't expect the dimensions to automatically update as shown in the video below (plan on updating them manually)

 

Welcome to the forum.

I was surprised to see that the video showed extrude and subtract instead of PRESSPULL used

to extrude the solids, but definitely if you have 2013 you should use VIEWBASE, it will keep you up to date and

save you tons of time. In 2013 there are new options which were not available when the video was recorded

for doing details and sections. The one thing that is not included in this functionality is the ability to create

non standard perspectives, and having said that it occurs to me that you actually could by the judicious use

of the detail and section functions, which effectively enable you to alter the UCS.

If you need to share these drawings (dwg) with others who do not have 2013, then they should download

DWG Truview 2013 (for free) from the Autodesk website.