Is there a Ruler function in Rhino like Sketchup has? I used it very heavily when I used sketchup, but haven’t been able to find anything similar in Rhino. It is very different then the measurements function. I am a newby and still learning Rhino. Thank you!
Hi Don,
Rhino has a variety of measuring tools which can be found on the menu under the Analyze category:
You can, of course, also type the commands at the command prompt: _length, _distance etc.
As you might imagine, _length measures the length of an existing curve (not just a straight line), _distance measures the straight line distance between two points. For accuracy the points should be snappable, so make sure you have the appropriate Osnaps turned on.
In both commands you can opt to measure in different units from the document’s modelling units.
HTH
Jeremy
If you would like to display the measurements in the document (like in a blueprint, for example), there are various dimension tools under the Drafting tab.
Thank you for the replys. These mentioned functions operate on existing curves. If you are familiar with sketchup, you can layout guide lines (not objects that are part of the model) that you can snap lines and curves to. This enables you to create very precise drawings/models based on guides. Other programs I use like Aspire for CNC work have these guides as well.
rhino has guides, use the addguide and removeguide commands
That is closer. I played with it. Is there a way to set a guide a specific distance from a point, line or curve? For example I would like to put a guide line exactly 1" from an existing line and make the guide parallel to the reference line?
Not within the guide context. You’d have to offset the reference line 1", use the new line to place your guide and then delete the new line (or just use the new line as your guide if its length encompasses the space you want to work in).
You can also use the “from” command to accomplish this. Actually there is a bunch of secondary snaps that can be very useful. Another one is “along parallel”.
Also smart tracking would help accomplish this.
There is also this, from the help menu.
By entering 2 after the first smart point is set the distance.

I forgot what it was called so I had to look it up.
How is all the From boxes and the bottom of the screen activated? I can’t find any of these options in the help files. Thank you.
You can type it in for instance
line
from
2
…
or if you hold down ctrl when you hover over the snap menu it will show them.