Dimension

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Modified by Admin on Nov 6, 2013

The Dimension Dialog.

Summary

A standard dimension is a group design object. It places dimensioning information on the current PCB layer. The dimension value is the distance between the start and end markers, measured in the default units.

Access

The Dimension dialog can be accessed prior to entering placement mode, from the PCB Editor - Defaults page of the Preferences dialog (DXP >> Preferences). This allows you to change the default properties for the object, which will be applied when placing subsequent Objects.

During placement, the dialog can be accessed by pressing the Tab key.

After placement, the dialog can be accessed in the following ways:

Double-clicking on the placed dimension object.
Placing the cursor over the dimension object, right-clicking and choosing Properties from the context menu.
Selecting the Edit » Change command, then clicking once over the placed dimension object.

Options/Controls

Start X - The X coordinate of the starting point.
Start Y - The Y coordinate of the starting point.
Line Width - Specify the line width of the arrow.
Text Height - Specify the height of the display text.
Text Width - Specify the line width of the display text.
Height - Specify the height of the start/end markers.
End X - The X coordinate of the end point.
End Y - The Y coordinate of the end point.

Properties

Layer - Specify the layer on which the Dimension object is placed. The drop-down list will list out all stack-up layers in current active PCB document.

Unit Style - The Style of the unit. There are three options:
- None - No Unit is displayed in the text, e.g. 655.07
- Normal - The Unit specified by the designer is displayed in the text, e.g. 655.07 mil
- Brackets - The Unit specified by the designer is displayed within brackets in the text, e.g. 655.07(mil)

Font - Choose Font for the display text. There are two Font types available: True Type, Stroke.

Locked - Check this box to lock Dimension object. If you attempt to graphically modify the dimension object that has its Locked property enabled, a dialog will appear asking for confirmation to proceed with the edit.

Select Stroke / TrueType Font

Depending on whether TrueType or Stroke fonts have been selected, a number of different options will be available.

Font Name: Stroke

For Stroke Fonts, the Font Name drop down list will offer Default, Sans Serif, and Serif fonts for selection. The Default style is a simple vector font which supports pen plotting and vector photo plotting. The Sans Serif and Serif fonts are more complex. The provide a more natural looking text display but they will slow down vector output generation such as Gerber. Stroke-based fonts are built into the software and cannot be changed. All three fonts have the full IBM extended ASCII character set that supports English and other European languages.

Font Name: TrueType

If TrueType Fonts are selected, the Font Name drop down list will be populated with the names of the True/Open Type fonts found in the \Windows\Fonts folder.
Note that the list will only include entries for detected (and uniquely named) root fonts. For example, Arial and Arial Black will be listed but Arial Bold, Arial Bold Italic, etc will not. Use the Bold and Italic options to add emphasis to the text. This feature also offers full Unicode support.

To ensure all fonts used in your design are available wherever the design is loaded, use the save/load options on the PCB Editor - TrueType Fonts page of the Preferences dialog to enable embedding of TrueType fonts within the design, and for nominating a substitution TrueType font for files using TrueType fonts that are not installed locally.