The Linear Dimension component has no plane input. Any reason for that?
Some linear dimensions are created in XY plane, others in vertical planes.
linear_dimension_plane_input_missing.gh (14.7 KB)
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Rhino 8 WIP
alles klar,… maybe add a WIP tag to your post.
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I would usually put this in the Serengeti category but all of my related topics have been recategorized to the Grasshopper category.
Rotation is something else.
@AndyPayne I think this is something for you.
Again I have an issue where an annotaion is created in the wrong plane.
The Linear Dimension with the value 200 should be created in the XZ plane but for whatever reason that’s not the case. The Angle Dimension (Lines) on the left should output an angle in the XZ plane but fails to do so.
A plane input should solve this, no?
dimension_plane_problem.gh (19.9 KB)
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We made the Grasshopper component to mimic the Rhino commands. You’ll notice that if you bake that line and then try to add a Linear Dimension to it in Rhino (command = Dim), that it will always place that dimension on the XY plane. Instead if you apply an Aligned Dimension to the line (command = DimAligned) that it gets drawn depending on the current CPlane you have defined. The Aligned Dimension component has a Plane input for this very reason. Does this help?
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Thanks for the information.
That means it’s impossible to create a linear dimension on a custom plane in Grasshopper, except if the line is projected, scaled or re-oriented first? Same for the angle dimension… Orient to XY plane, create annotation and then transform back to 3D space? That’s funny.
I think it really wouldn’t hurt to have a plane input.
dimension_plane_problem.gh (24.2 KB)
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I’m not saying that your wrong. In fact, I do think having a plane input would be beneficial in those components (and it may be a decision we reconsider). But, in making these tools, we were trying to provide the same set of functionality as you see in Rhino. If you were to try to make the same linear or angle dimensions in Rhino, you’d be faced with the same set of hurdles as you are in Grasshopper… Which means, maybe it’s a larger discussion about whether a plane needs to be added to those Rhino commands as well. I think it’s a good discussion to have and maybe @dale or someone else can provide some more clarity here.
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All good.
In Rhino, I’m using either _OneView, the new Auto CPlane or _CPlane _Gumball and my linear dimension goes exactly where I want it to be.
I think Grasshopper is here to enhance what can be done in Rhino and not just mimic.
This is a slightly tilted front view. The green lines are all in the XY plane. Some of the linear dimensions are in the XY plane, others in rolled XY planes. I have a feeling, the plane input would eliminate this problem.
How many vertical planes are there?
What dimensions should be constrained to flat-land?
Maybe instead of planes, it should be thought of more like tensors. The Z axis is always so neglected.
That does sound funny. We should just be more 3D and less 2D. Why should a plane of XY always ignore XZ and YZ. I wonder if there’s such a thing as a multi-plane or a polyplane…
Above it’s just one vertical plane 
More planes here:
Rhino guesses a plane and I’m fine with the guess but I want the option to override it.
Text Entity has a plane input too…
dimension_plane_text_entity.gh (26.8 KB)
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Dims should have thickness – imo.
instead of single xy planes we should have somem like this:
Maybe the word I’m thinking of is ‘octants’ instead of ‘tensors’. Or both 
– imo.
It’s not all that difficult to add a plane input to those annotation objects… I think it was just a decision we made when coding them as to whether we should try to mimic the same functionality as in Rhino… I can definitely discuss this further with @kike and open it up for reconsideration.
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Thank you Andy.
Which other plane would you like to place Angle Dimensions instead of the one defined by the input lines?
In the case of a linear Dimension an easy way to obtain a base-line on any plane is just Offset the line you want to measure on this plane. Since you have to pass a base line anyway I don’t see why the component needs more inputs.
Does not aligned dimension do the job in your case?
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Since Linear Dimension is in fact measuring a distance projected to a plane, maybe has more sense to ask for the plane from were you want to measure.
This way there is no ambiguity on the plane that the dimension needs to be created unless it passes by the Point A and Point B.
What do you think?
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No other plane I think I had the Dimension Location set up in bad way. Somehow it works now.
Offset baseline is a quick workaround, I just don’t like the offset alll the time. Aligned Dimension works fine.
I think let’s leave it this way on the Linear Dimension. Projecting the baseline to a plane works for me.
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