Drawing dimensioning

[chev72]

Does anyone know how to change the scale/size/thickness of the dimensioning arrows in CATIA V5? Its driving me crazy, I can change just about everything else except the scale of the arrows. Also, it leaves those annoying dimension lines that extend out across dimension text (when the arrows are flipped). The only thing that should be between them is the dimension value. It seems you can change just about any part of the extension line under properties by right clicking on the dimension, but the only things you can change on the dimension line is the color, type of shape and line thickness. In CATIA v4 you could customize every part of the dimension, so I know it must be in v5 somewhere, I'm just missing it. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[solid7]

The arrow sizes are set by the drafting standard.

It used to be that you had several drafting standard files - I'll take one, called "ANSI.CATDrwStandard" located in the folder "Crogram Files/Dassault Systemes/B15/intel_a/reffiles/Drafting." In it, you will find the following data: (NOTE: this is just an excerpt)


# Arrow symbol
# Side length and angle (mm and deg)
# ----------------------------------
SYMBArrowSide,3.2146
SYMBArrowAngle,18


# Closed arrow symbol
# Side length and angle (mm and deg)
# ----------------------------------
SYMBClosedArrowSide,3.2146
SYMBClosedArrowAngle,18

# Filled arrow symbol
# Side length and angle (mm and deg)
# ----------------------------------
SYMBFilledArrowSide,3.2146
SYMBFilledArrowAngle,18


# SYMETRIC Arrow symbol
# Side length and angle (mm and deg)
# ----------------------------------
SYMBSymetricArrowSide,3.2146
SYMBSymetricArrowAngle,18


# Slash arrow symbol
# Side length and angle (mm)
# --------------------------
SYMBSlashLength,3.2146


===

The following message resides in the same folder as the standard(s) mentioned above:


Information:
------------

The CATDrwStandard file format for standard files is obsolete in V5R9. It is replaced by XML standard files.
The default location of these files is $install_root\$OS\resources\standard\drafting.

You will find more information on this V5R9 enhancement in Interactive Drafting Users's guide / Customizing section (Manage standards):
- format and content of standard XML files
- How to customize the files using Tools/standards new interactive editor
- How to upgrade your CATDrwStandard files in XML files
- How to administrate standard files and control their use


===

I didn't mean to fill the page with useless info. However, that covers you, since you didn't mention your version, and it gives some understanding of how the whole process works. I'd highly recommend that you (if you are using later than R9) read up on the literature mentioned in the previous note.

You might want to try to copy and rename one of the standards, and import it for your own use, to test it out.

Hope that helps.




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[solid7]

In addition to my previous post...

If you have admin privileges, you can do the following: (taken directly from Catia online documentation, except where noted)

===

Automatic upgrade
A batch utility is provided in order to automatically generate the XXX.xml file starting from a XXX.CATDrwStandard file. *(NOTE: create the new format from the first set of data that I showed you in the last post)* All the customization done on the CATDrwStandard file will be reproduced in the XML file, and all styles defined in CATDrwStandard file will be added.

The utility will also add to the XML file the new standard parameters (with default values), as well as the new pre-defined styles.

If you want to convert a single CATDrwStandard to the current XML format, use:
CATAnnStandardTools MIGRATE XXX [dir]
If you want to convert all CATDrwStandard files to the current XML format, use:
CATAnnStandardTools MIGRATE_ALL [dir]



Again, I hope that helps.




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[catiajim]

I never trust the automatic upgrade of my .xml files. Generally, I re-create the standard from scratch every release, with two sessions of CATIA side-by-side.

Note: As of R13 you can create multiple Styles within a single Draw Standard, thus allowing you to maintain several sets of similar settings within that single .xml file.

 

[solid7]

How do you choose between them? The question pertains to arrow sizes, and there currently appears to be no selection method for selecting or modifying arrows inside Catia. So then, would this be a valid candidate for the type of configuration that you are describing?




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[catiajim]

You would set up different Style Sheets for each. One might be "Large Arrows", while another might be "Small Arrows"

PS
Actually, the Arrow Sizes are not included in the Styles, but the Symbol Type is. So you could have a style that includes Filled Arrows and another that included Open Arrows, etc.

The down side to Styles, is that the Style includes a very large number of Parameters. They are more geared towards a multi-draft CATDrawing that has different sheet sizes. You could have a different Style for each sheet size, so that the text lettering and dimension lettering are consistent throughout that sheet size. Mixing and matching different components among the styles is not allowed, and maintaining too many styles is a pain.