I've seen discussions on how to remove the pop up floating dimension pallet, but how do you get rid of the round blue/yellow "thing" that pops up (see attached screen shot) when dimensions are being inserted? When I try to place a dimension between two close lines, it pops up and sometimes obscures the other line. Many times I have to cancel the dimension then zoom in.
Dave
Not yet, that I have heard. Some others have also asked to turn it off.
It does disappear as soon as you move the cursor away and doesn't re-appear. I don't know if that helps.
I've found sometimes it doesn't disappear quickly and sometimes it does, but then reappears. It's a PITA. I was hoping someone had a clever Registry modification to make it go away.
Dave
No, the magnifying glass only zooms in where the cursor is. You press the "G" key on the keyboard to toggle it on and off (unless you customized the "G" key for something else). This was added in 2009.
In my case, it doesn't. As you can see in the screen shot, none of the lines are magnified. Some of the dimensions suddenly appear, but to what they reference does not. I've tried the wheel with no effect. The mouse wheel works in the normal zoom fine, if I can remember to use it, but then I have to zoom in and out of the drawing.
Another thing that annoys me is that the dimension from the first line selected follows the curser and obscures the next line I'm trying to select.
There may be a way to stop that but it eludes me.
The cursor did not show in the screen shot but it is right over the dim which is over the line.
Regards
Tom Spine responded to an article I wrote that talks about this: http://www.fcsuper.com/swblog/?p=914. There is some interest in a banishment function that will temporarily turn the Dimension Pie off.
Matt Lorono
That is a good discussion and there are some very consructive thoughts there.
I like the idea of a "banishment" shortcut on the keyboard very much. I see the benefits of using the dimension palette and the Dimension "Pie", but they definitely get in the way at times. I think though that the shortcut should be persistent, so I don't have to press it each time I select or create a dimension.
Mar 5, 2010 3:53 PM
The help refers to it as the "rapid dimension manipulator", although I tend to call it the "rapid dim tool."
I'll agree with David (and others) - there are some good (interesting, thoughful) ideas in here. Lemme just say that, well, I'm listening.
--Tom
Hopefully along with listening there is some resolving the issue involved .
Jul 28, 2010 2:17 PM
Ray,
As Tom Helsley pointed out, we released changes for how the Rapid Dimension Manipulator works in SolidWorks 2010 SP4.0. There are two changes, one visible, one not so visible...
The visible - when you are creating a new dimension (via the Smart Dimension command), there is now a checkbox in the Dimension PropertyManager that allows you to turn the Rapid Dimension Manipulator off. Clearing this checkbox will make the Rapid Dim manipulator go away. The setting is sticky - across uses of the dimension tool, across documents, across sessions. So for those who want it gone, clear it once and it is gone. For those who might want to use it sometimes, not use it other times, the checkbox was placed in the PropertyManager so that there is quick access to it for turning the manipulator on and off.
The not so visible - if you have Rapid Dimensioning turned on, but find you are in a situation where the Rapid Dim manipulator is in your way, you can hit the Escape key to dismiss the manipulator but stay in the dimensioning command. It's a quick "go away for just this dimension" dismissal. A second Escape would exit out of the command.
--Tom
Are you going to add that to the help? How about updating the What's new?
perhaps a general banishment toggle for anything named "rapid" or "expert" should be provided.
in autocad, there was an option to run it as beginner or expert. would be nice if SW provided a similar option. sure questions like "the line you are trimming has a constraint that will be deleted..." might be helpful for a beginner, but annoying to an "expert"
Well, I'm surprised that there was no announcement on this topic, but in 2010 SP4.0, you can "turn off" the rapid dim placement tool by un-checking an option in a selected dimension's property manager. The option doesn't appear for all dimensions, but it seems to appear for dimensions added after 2010 (maybe SP4.0), but that's just my quick observation.
Edit: Here's a picture to illustrate...
Cheers.
Jul 28, 2010 2:07 PM
Tom, the Dimension Assist Tools group box only appears in the Dimension PropertyManager when you are creating a new dimension. So those controls (Smart dimensioning, Rapid dimensioning, and DimXpert) never appear when you are selecting an existing dimension.
--Tom
Yeah, that's right, but I also noticed that the option remains until I exit my dimensioning tool. So, after adding a dimension, if I the dimensioning tool is still active, I can select another dimension, and the option will remain. In fact the option does appear as soon as I activate the dimensioning tool, before I have placed a dimension.
I guess it makes sense, because we only are concerned with the option when adding new dimensions. My first reaction was, "why is it there?" But now that I've worked with it a bit more, I like the location. Good job. Now if only you could get the dimension pallette to appear when right-clicking on a dimension, instead of the way it is now.
