Dimension scaling

Dimension scaling often screws up for me and I can’t figure out why. I’m often forced back into AutoCAD to meet a deadline when it comes to prints.

In the attached jpg annotation scaling is On. We’re looking at the same dimensions through 3 viewports but the left viewport has gone wacky. An hour earlier a drawing from the same set would only show the dimensions at about 1/32" high - whether annotation scaling was on or off.

Frustrated. I need complete control of my prints and Rhino gives it to me on some days but then takes it away on others. I assume I’m doing something wrong but I can’t see what it is.

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I don’t know if its any help this long after you posted, but I’d be happy to at least try to explain why your page looks like that.
I’d have to have a 3dm file to do it though.

Thanks for the reply.
That project has come and gone but I periodically run into the same
problem. The next time it occurs I’ll send something off to you and maybe
you can provide some insight into what’s happening.

Lowell -

I have effectively abandoned Rhino for print output for the time being - admittedly my problems may be entirely user error.

I’ve attached a file that illustrates one of the many problems I have with the annotation system.

There is only one dimension style in the drawing. In that style I have text height set to 1/8". If Annotation Scaling is turned Off the dimensions read correct but the leader text is enormous. If I turn Annotation Scaling On the leaders are correct but the dimensions are minute.

Another problem I commonly experience - similar to the first image I posted I often will find text appearing in my viewport at some enormous scale,

Is there no simple way to set Rhino so all text and dimensions read correctly?

Thanks for looking into this for me.
Bloomingdales Shelf Units for Lowell.3dm (12.8 MB)

It looks like dimension scaling is pretty messed up in perspective views.
I see that some changes have been made there a few months ago because of a printing problem and I don’t know yet what’s going on or if that even h=has anything to do with this problem. I’ll work on this today at least enough to see what the problem is.

However, dimension scaling in perspective is something I don’t really know how to do right. Should the text be smaller if its farther away in the perspective view?

In a case like in your file with some annotation in model space and some in paper space, you would need to turn on scaling to make it work, but that only works now in non-perspective views.

Would it help to uncouple leaders and text from dimensions?
I understand that dimensions in perspective view are difficult but in some cases they’re necessary.
Obviously, the ideal state would be for them to register at whatever size they’re set to in the annotation panel - 1/8" in this case, no matter how close or how far they are from the viewport.

But, if that isn’t possible, then de-coupling them from leaders would be a step forward. I can set the ‘model space scale’ for those dimensions individually such that they read correctly in the viewport but doing so screws up the leader text. Being able to set them to be annotative or not separately from leaders and text would be real helpful.

Its been quite a while since I worked on this, but I remember that it wasn’t obvious to everyone that the text in dimensions shown in perspective should be a fixed size. But I don’t really know if that makes this problem easier or harder.

I don’t think that separating leaders from dimensions would help overall - The reason that the leaders and dimensions in your example behave differently is that the leaders are flat to the screen in paper space and the dimensions are in a perspective view in model space.

If text is to all be 1/8" high in paper space, then each text will be scaled by a different value depending on where it is in the model (in perspective views).
Also, its not only the text that has to scale, but also arrows etc.

“If text is to all be 1/8” high in paper space, then each text will be
scaled by a different value depending on where it is in the model (in
perspective views)."

I’m not sure why that’s any different than what we currently do in orthographic view. See attached PDF. If two objects are at different positions in space but seen in an orthographic view than the dimensions are each being scaled at a different value.

“The reason that the leaders and dimensions in your example behave
differently is that the leaders are flat to the screen in paper space
and the dimensions are in a perspective view in model space.”

That’s why I think de-coupling dimensions and leaders would be useful. It’s more common to have labels in viewports and dimensions in the model than the other way around. I want my labels to be flat to the document and read as such. If dimensions in a perspective viewport can’t be properly scaled than I’d like to be able to turn off annotation scaling and adjust the size of the dimensions in the model space category without affecting any other annotative objects - such as leaders.

Thanks again

I think we’ve got something figured out to do a much better job of scaling dimensions in perspective details. It needs a little more testing to make sure it doesn’t screw up something else before I can put it in a service release, but it looks hopeful so far.

Dimensions on layout vs dimensions in viewport helped me on the same problem