dimension colours, what do they mean?

[moyesboy]

In my DRAWINGS so far all my dimensions were red.
...except the occasional one was black
hanging dimensions (ones that are detached due to a model edit) are brown, and I understand that.

Now all my dimensions are suddenly black.
This is not due to a layer change.

What made the dinmensions red and what changed to make them black (My VAR cannot explain why the dimensions were ever red....)

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

Graphic anomalies are usually caused by using a non-certified video card and or driver. Which are you using?

 

[Eltron]

I think as a default a red dimension means that it is overconstrained.

Dan

http://www.eltronresearch.com

Dan's Blog

 

[moyesboy]

I understand what is happening for me, but it seems what I have is not necessarily default behaviour as you guys don't seem to be familiar with it.
I am running 2008 sp5.0

On my drawing if I insert model items dimensions then I get black dimensions that are driving and can be edits changing the part.

If use the dimension tool in the drawing window and apply dimensions then they come in red and cannot be edited to change the part.

However I did not get this behaviour on my colleagues machine and could not identify which setting was different (and neither could my VAR). Red dimensions created on my machine were still red with rthe file open on my vcolleagues machine, but new ones that should have been red were black. I did a full copy of settings and now get the red or black dims on both machines behaving the same.

By the way this is not the way dimensions in the part sketches behave, where driving dims are black and driven dims are grey (on both machines), controlled from the system options colors.

In my experience installation of solidworks on different machines that have never had solidworks on them, ends up with quite different settings and menu layout for no reason at all. To get to installations the same it is necessary to do a copy of settings. Install on a clean machine and try to work through the basic tutorial and you find loads of tools referred to in the tutorial are just not there on the screen, but the hover over feature in the tutorial makes them suddenly appear! Makes a newcomer feel like an idiot intil they realise whats going on...
It seems to me that SW need to look again at what their system appears like to a newcomer. The way it seems to work to me makes it effective for selling training courses that are simply not needed for some competative products.

 

[MadMango]

It sounds like your defaults colors have been changed. Normally when you insert a dimension manually it should appear gray in color, not red. Manually applied dimensions are not associative to the model, and will not change the model geometry.

I agree with CorBlimeyLimey that you need to take a closer look at your video graphics card and drivers. Can you post what you have in both machines?

"Art without engineering is dreaming; Engineering without art is calculating."

Have you read faq731-376 to make the best use of these Forums?

 

[smcadman]

Go to Tools > Options > System Options Tab > Color

In the "Color scheme settings" you will have a list of items on the left hand side and a color swatch on the right. Pick on the different dimension items and see which one is red and that may help you out.

For example, some of them are:
Dimensions, Imported (Driving)
Dimensions, Non-Imported (Driven)
Dimensions, Dangling
etc., etc., etc.

I went through ALL my default colors and the red ones were:
Selected Item Missing Reference
Sketch, Over Defined
Assembly, Interference Volume
DimXpert, Over Constrained

My other guess would be it's a layer color, but you've stated you already checked that.



Flores

 

[moyesboy]

In performance I set software openGL on advice of my VAR becuase my graphics card is not approved.
There is an approved one in a PC that got used elsewhere for something else and I need it to become avaiable so I can swap it out - long story.... screw up.

The color settings are as you describe. Grey for driven, black for driving. However I get this different behaviour in a drawing compared to a part.

I found this thread:

http://www.eng-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=218872&page=3

But the colour choice box has no effect on the colour of the red dims in my drawing.
It must be a setting somewhere because it copied across to the other machine using the save setting wizard, but I can't find it. I don't mind. ITs working for me, just I can't change the red dims and my drawings will have a mix of red and black rather than grey and black.

My drawing templates were created in 2006 SP0 and then converted to 2008 SP5.0 so my situationis not dissimilar to cadone in that thread.

 

[MadMango]

...my graphics card is not approved.

This is why you have and will continue to have these strange visual glitches. You will either have to learn to live with them or push your management for an approved graphics card.

"Art without engineering is dreaming; Engineering without art is calculating."

Have you read faq731-376 to make the best use of these Forums?

 

[mjcole]

Is there a Design Table for Configurations on the Part in drawing with Red Dims? Usually these are colored Purple but that may be causing the red color.

Michael