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At a fishing weigh in a 3 shoe long fish was photographed, submitted and then disqualified as its accurate length could not be established. Often when looking at outside projects would pace a length as a guide. Then use real length for design.

An interesting solution

;;; DIMFL - Shorten the extension lines of selected dimensions. ;;; ;;; Applies a per-dimension override of DIMFXLON / DIMFXL, so the extension line ;;; starts at a fixed distance from the dimension line instead of at the ;;; definition point. Fixes the dimensions you pick, not the whole style. ;;; ;;; NO MEASUREMENT CHANGES. Definition points are not moved; only how far the ;;; extension line is DRAWN. A 50 stays a 50. ;;; Reversible with the Restore option. One Ctrl+Z undoes the whole pass. ;;; ;;; WARNING: if a dimension looks wrong because its definition point MOVED, this ;;; fixes the look but not the value, and makes the error harder to spot. Check ;;; the numbers before shortening anything. (vl-load-com) (defun R0:DFL-Get (obj prop / r) (setq r (vl-catch-all-apply 'vlax-get (list obj prop))) (if (vl-catch-all-error-p r) nil r)) (defun R0:DFL-Put (obj prop val / r) (setq r (vl-catch-all-apply 'vlax-put (list obj prop val))) (not (vl-catch-all-error-p r))) ;; (logand 4 nil) throws, so a missing layer record answers "not locked". (defun R0:DFL-Bloqueada (en / cap) (setq cap (tblsearch "LAYER" (cdr (assoc 8 (entget en))))) (and cap (= 4 (logand 4 (cdr (assoc 70 cap)))))) ;; Default length = whatever the first picked dimension already carries. Whoever ;; set up the style usually chose a number that suits the drawing scale. (defun R0:DFL-Sugerido (ss / i en obj v) (setq i 0 v nil) (while (and (< i (sslength ss)) (null v)) (setq en (ssname ss i) i (1+ i) obj (vlax-ename->vla-object en) v (R0:DFL-Get obj 'ExtLineFixedLen)) (if (or (not (numberp v)) (<= v 1e-9)) (setq v nil))) (if v v 2.5)) (defun c:DIMFL ( / *error* ss i en obj largo sug modo hechos fallo bloq und doc) (defun *error* (msg) (if und (vl-catch-all-apply 'vla-EndUndoMark (list doc))) (if (and msg (not (wcmatch (strcase msg) "*CANCEL*,*QUIT*,*BREAK*,*EXIT*,*ABORT*"))) (princ (strcat "\n[X] DIMFL: " msg))) (princ)) (princ "\nDIMFL | Shorten extension lines (no measurement is changed).") (princ "\n Select dimensions: ") (if (null (setq ss (ssget '((0 . "DIMENSION"))))) (princ "\n[!] DIMFL: nothing selected.") (progn (princ "\n Shorten = fixed length extension lines") (princ "\n Restore = back to starting at the definition point (LONG again)") (initget "Shorten Restore") (setq modo (getkword "\n [Shorten/Restore] <Shorten>: ")) (if (null modo) (setq modo "Shorten")) (if (= modo "Shorten") (progn (setq sug (R0:DFL-Sugerido ss)) (initget 6) (setq largo (getdist (strcat "\n Extension line length <" (rtos sug 2 3) ">: "))) (if (null largo) (setq largo sug)))) (setq doc (vla-get-ActiveDocument (vlax-get-acad-object)) und T) (vla-StartUndoMark doc) (setq i 0 hechos 0 fallo 0 bloq 0) (while (< i (sslength ss)) (setq en (ssname ss i) i (1+ i)) (if (R0:DFL-Bloqueada en) (setq bloq (1+ bloq)) (progn (setq obj (vlax-ename->vla-object en)) ;; ExtLineFixedLen = DIMFXL, ExtLineFixedLenSuppress = DIMFXLON. ;; Despite the "Suppress" name the value follows DIMFXLON: 0 = off ;; (long lines), -1 = on (fixed length). Length first, switch second. (if (= modo "Shorten") (if (and (R0:DFL-Put obj 'ExtLineFixedLen largo) (R0:DFL-Put obj 'ExtLineFixedLenSuppress -1)) (setq hechos (1+ hechos)) (setq fallo (1+ fallo))) (if (R0:DFL-Put obj 'ExtLineFixedLenSuppress 0) (setq hechos (1+ hechos)) (setq fallo (1+ fallo)))) (vl-catch-all-apply 'vla-Update (list obj))))) (vla-EndUndoMark doc) (setq und nil) (princ (strcat "\n\n[OK] DIMFL: " (itoa hechos) " dimension(s) " (if (= modo "Shorten") (strcat "with a " (rtos largo 2 3) " extension line") "restored: their lines are LONG again"))) (if (> bloq 0) (princ (strcat "\n " (itoa bloq) " on locked layers: skipped."))) (if (> fallo 0) (princ (strcat "\n " (itoa fallo) " did not accept the change."))) (if (= modo "Shorten") (princ "\n No measurement changed. To revert: DIMFL, Restore option.") (princ "\n To shorten them again: DIMFL, Shorten option.")))) (princ)) (princ "\n[DIMFL] loaded. Type DIMFL to shorten extension lines.") (princ)

In the past lots of napkins, drawn on hands, cardboard (both drawn on and cut to some weird shape), no rubber gloves, but work gloves. Not for CAD, but, I have hade to build things to hammer handles, coworkers hand size, etc. when somehow nobody had a tape measure. And NO, I wasn't laughing, I am serious, AI has it's uses, but some things it will never get a grasp of IMO. Though I only have tried the free stuff, maybe paid for is better, I did like some of the images to video I did on TikTok and the special effects on some of the grandkids sports videos.