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Object > Expand left a dimension's recipe on its group, so the next move redrew the live dimension and discarded the expanded art. Expand now ends the live link of a dimension whose art it changes, in the same undo step. Moving or scaling the group leaves its art as it is, the art no longer follows what it measured, and undo gives the live dimension back. Expand Appearance, Create Outlines and Outline Stroke had the same fault and now do the same, also when they reach only a part of a dimension. A dimension whose art a command leaves as it was stays live. A dimension selected with the art it measures becomes a plain group when Expand, Expand Appearance or Outline Stroke replaces only that art.
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Dimensions
The Dimension Tool is in the Modify section of the toolbar. Its strip offers Linear, Angular, Radial and Tool Options… (double-clicking the tool opens Tool Options too).
- Linear: hover a path segment and drag outwards: releasing places the dimension. Or click two points (anchors snap, Shift constrains to 45°), then click to place. A curved segment is measured from end to end. With Smart Guides on, both points also snap into line with other objects' anchors and centres, and the second onto the construction guides through the first; the guides show while hovering, before each click.
- Angular: hover a corner where two straight segments meet and drag outwards. Or click two straight lines that meet (or would, extended), then click to place.
- Radial: hover a circle, or a segment that is a perfect arc, and drag: outwards gives its radius, inwards its diameter. Clicking it gives its radius. Ellipses have no single radius.
- Escape or switching tools cancels a dimension being placed.
Tool Options set the style of new dimensions: units (inches, millimetres, points, picas, pixels, centimetres, metres, feet, yards), precision (0–6 decimals), scale, the dimension and extension lines (weight, type, colour, arrows), and the text (font, size, colour, position and alignment). Position is Away from the Line (the label on the far side of the dimension line from the object) or Between Line and Object; Alignment is Left, Center or Right along the line. Save keeps them for new dimensions; existing ones don't change.
Scale means drawing : real size, independent of zoom. At 1:10 a 1 in line on the page is labelled 10 in; at 10:1, 0.1 in. It scales lengths, not angles or the size of text and arrows.
Properties shows a selected dimension's units, precision, line, arrows, text size, colour, position and alignment; changing one changes that dimension. Apply to All gives every dimension in the document its style; Set as Default makes it the style of new dimensions.
Measurements follow the art they measure through moves, scaling and anchor and handle edits, undo and redo included. Deleting the art, or changing its number of anchors or whether it is closed, removes its dimensions in the same undo step rather than attaching them to a different edge. A linked dimension moved on its own stays where it was dropped (its distance from the art changes); moved together with its art, it keeps its distance.
Native .vectorcraft files keep the recipes and links. SVG, PDF and bitmap output contain
ordinary paths and text, so exported dimensions look the same. Ungrouping a dimension leaves its
paths and text as ordinary art. Object › Expand, Object › Expand Appearance, Type › Create Outlines
and Object › Path › Outline Stroke turn a dimension whose art they change into a plain group of that
art, also when they reach only a part of it: moving or scaling the group does not redraw it, it does
not follow the art it measured, and undoing the command gives the live dimension back. A dimension
selected with the art it measures also becomes a plain group when Object › Expand, Object › Expand
Appearance or Object › Path › Outline Stroke replaces only that art. Pasted
dimensions keep their geometry and drop their links, so they never bind to unrelated art in another
document.
Commands
dimension.create: two points, or a source (segment, angle, circle, arc, points), the mode, offset and style; returns the group id and label.dimension.update: restyle or move existing dimensions.dimension.applyToAll: every dimension takes one dimension's style, in one undo step.tool.select {"tool":"dimension"}andtool.setOption {"tool":"dimension","values":{"mode":"linear","style":{"units":"mm","scale":"1:10"}}}(mode:linear,angularorradial).tool.options {"tool":"dimension"}opens thedimensionOptionsdialog.
Recipes live on ordinary groups (the node's dimension field); rendering and export use their
generated children. Commands check options and bounds before changing anything. Linked
dimensions refresh inside Session::edit, sharing the source edit's undo step; documents without
any (Document::dimensions unset) skip that refresh.