LO Dimensions offset from actual points

[tim]

I've been adding LO dimensions to some of my drawings and something is Definitely Not Happy.

My example is a page with about 20 views of the same model/scene where a bunch of components are laid out 'flat'. Each view shows one component. Some of the views look ok but a number of them have the dimensions offset from the actual drawing points that they're supposed to be dimensioning. The actual dimension values are OK.
The attached PDF shows the problem; take note of views 16/19/20 where it is pretty obvious, but also in view 5 at high magnification you can see the effect in the small.

Not really a nice effect.

LayoutDimensioningProblem.pdf

[Dave R]

I see that fairly often, too. I don't appreciate that it does that but I have found that by moving the view port slightly on the page I can eliminate the problem. I'd rather it didn't do it in the first place, though.

[OTB Designworks]

I have noticed that this behavior is much more pronounced when in raster mode than in vector mode.

Looks like you are in vector mode, though, so I don't know what is going on.

As an aside, it annoys me that we can't have the Layout dimension style add a hyphen between the feet and inches.

Ok, back on topic...

[Dave R]

Chuck, on the hyphen thing, I asked for that back at 3D Base Camp. I'm crossing my fingers.

[OTB Designworks]

Thant's awesome, Dave, thanks! Hopefully, they add that feature.

*hijack off*

[tim]

I have found that by moving the view port slightly on the page I can eliminate the problem.

Hmm, interesting - I can't seem to get any change at all. Just to be clear, how are you moving the viewport? I just selected it and moved it around both by cursor key and dragging. No beneficial effect for me

Oh, for the record, iMac 24", OS X 10.6.8, SU 8pro, LO 3.whatever-the-latest.

And as for the dimension text - yeah, lots of improvements could be made. Automatically using ¼ type unicode fractions would be a nice start.

[Dave R]

Tim, yes, I just move the viewport by dragging it or using the cursor keys. Sometimes it requires changing the size of the viewport slightly, too.

I'd be in favor of the unicode fractions if they existed for all fractions. I would like to be able to have superscript/subscript though. I don't want it to be like MS Word where common fractions like ¼ show one way and 1/16 shows as all large numbers unless you go back and edit them.

I asked for inch and fractions to be hyphenated as well so inches would be displayed as, say 5-1/2".

[tim]

Tim, yes, I just move the viewport by dragging it or using the cursor keys. Sometimes it requires changing the size of the viewport slightly, too.

Hmph. Tried that - it can certainly have an effect, not always nice.

I'd be in favor of the unicode fractions if they existed for all fractions. I would like to be able to have superscript/subscript though. I don't want it to be like MS Word where common fractions like ¼ show one way and 1/16 shows as all large numbers unless you go back and edit them.

Fair point. I'm reasonably sure unicode only does up to 8ths. Which is dumb considering how many code points there are to play with.

So Google-guys? Please check your maths on the transforms between SU space and LO space. Bet you'll find that the order is not optimising for accuracy. Been there, done that, crashed the spaceship.

[kupono]

This thread is pretty old. Has anyone come up with a solution to this problem? Let me clarify my problem. On an ortho view, when using the dimension tool, the green context dot that indicates the intersection of edges is offset from the actual intersection by quite a bit. The resulting dimension lines are likewise offset.

I've messed with moving and stretching the viewport to no avail.

[Dave R]

Actually I wouldn't say this is all that old. Nothing has changed yet. We'll probably have to wait until LO4 to see a change.

[kupono]

After messing with this some I've made some observations.

The SU scene I'm using in LO contains about 30 components that in a front ortho view stretch from left to right. In LO, I have many view-ports that each have to be panned to the components I want to display and dimension. It's how I pan that seems to affect the dimension offset.

The problem seems to occur when I double-click the view to edit, and use the pan tool to position on a component. The longer the pan distance, the more it seems to exacerbate the offset problem.

This seems to work though:
Insert the SU file reference, set the scene and scale, adjust the view by first checking the preserve scale on re-size checkbox, then grab the bounding box scale grips and successively stretch one side, then shrink the other, until the view is positioned how you want it.

So far, this is working for me.

[Dave R]

So you aren't making individual scenes of your components in SketchUp?

[kupono]

Usually, but in this case I'd have some 200 scenes. I'm trying to economize.

[dgk3]

HELP. I've been using SU for a few years, love it as a design tool and still consider myself as a novice. I have struggled with LO. In my opinion it is a terrible 2D construction document application. Aside from freezing, crashing and long delays importing vector viewports from SU, LO's lack of precision in aligning layers or even a simple task of dimensioning makes it practically useless. I hate to say this because I was really hoping for a good transition from fluid modeling to construction documents. I've read a number of blogs and comments on this issue and the tedious, work arounds suggested by some simply are no excuse for the poor response of the application. I am an architect, I can't waste that much time on it. I've decided to try and port SU views into a true CAD program (I use VectorWorks) to produce const. docs..... If someone can convince me that my experience is unique and that properly applied LO does work I'll gladly reconsider.....

[Dave R]

I'm not going to try to convince you of anything. It sounds like you've already got your mind made up. I use LO all the time for creating dimensioned construction documents--More than 50 of them in 2012--and I don't have much trouble with it at all. Once in awhile I do find dimensions don't align to points in the viewport properly but those are exceptions for me and not the rule.

Vector rendering can be slow but there are ways to make that go faster. I use vector or hybrid rendering for all my viewports but for some work, Raster is just fine. Nick Sonder, for example uses a lot of Raster rendering in his documents and if you've seen his work, you know he gets amazing results.

Yes, I would like to see some improvements in LO but it is certainly not unusable as you assert.

[Mike Lucey]

.... I wonder is anyone having this problem with metric dimensioning? I haven't noticed it happening but must examine in more detail. Lot to be said for the Metric System Will you guys over the pond ever make the switch? I have to say though I do think in both imperial and metric! Its my age, trained in imperial!

[dgk3]

Hi Dave R, I have seen some of Nick Sonder's drawings but don't know how he does it or what the tricks are... I also haven't bought his book. But, It seems to me that something as fundamental as precision aligning layers, dimensioning and even fine line work in wall types (face of stud vs. finish face- which is simply not possible in raster mode and barely possible in vector mode) should not be a secret. IF you can recommend a way to do this please share. the SU file is a small house but with many layers of framing and details. I'm using the latest iMac, lots of memory, latest versions of SU and LO. I've tried reducing file size, breaking the LO into multiple files according to Plan, Section, Elevations....each with it's own reduced SU base file to reference and making sure that the files are purged and links are good. I've structured the SU scenes as the Views used by LO so that I limit the amount of modification to the SU file when setting up viewports in LO. this took way longer to accomplish because of lag-time, freezes and crashes forcing me to rework and resave..... and after all that now when I try and align a group of dimensions on one layer in LO to the SU viewport layer the dimension layer actually moves smoothly to the desired intersect then jumps past it. UGH. If my experience is unique then someone tell me.

[mal]

I may be wrong here but the original question, I believe, was about the extension line (the perpendicular bit) being inconsistent with the dimension line. The extension line positions itself relevant to the actual point being dimensioned, so dimensions can look all-over-the- place, (because they look different when the dimension line is above or below, or left or right or closer/nearer to the object).

Is there a way that all dimensions can be configured so that the extension line is constant to the dimension line throughout an LO drawing? Its a better look!

[ArCAD-UK]

.... I wonder is anyone having this problem with metric dimensioning?

Yes I get this in metric Mike. It seems to occur mostly when I copy an existing scene in LO to a new page or location. It can be quite a small offset but visually it is wrong and I find I start to question the accuracy of my dimensions.

[Mike Lucey]

Mmmmmm ..... not good!

[Dave R]

Hi Dave R, I have seen some of Nick Sonder's drawings but don't know how he does it or what the tricks are....

See this

Nearly every LO project I create has at least a few dimensions. Most the projects are covered with dimensions. Yes, once in awhile I have problems with a few dimensions not aligning to points on the model and yes, I hope that gets fixed. I've sorted out a work around which isn't all that difficult. It's certainly not enough of a problem to quit using LayOut.

This is an example of part of one of my projects.

This is reduced from a 36"x48" sheet. All told there are several hundred dimensions on the three sheets. I had alignment issues with a few of them but i was able to straighten them out. Again, no reason to quit using LayOut. there are too many advantages to using it with SketchUp models that outweigh the few niggling problems.