How do I dimension a small angle nicely?

: "Bjorn Ljungdahl" wrote : Hello, : : I have a problem with angle dimensioning. When I try to : dimension a small angle,

You need to zoom up on it, probably as much as possible, then pick the two lines as you normally would.

You can do this by changing the config.pro option minimum_angle_dimension controls the minimum tolerance under which Pro/ENGINEER assumes colinearity for driven dimensions. Setting the option below the angle in question fixed this for me..

Thank you for the answers Just zooming in didn't work for me, although I only zoomed so far that everything went black (background color) and then some more. I found a parameter that could be added to the config.pro, minimum_angle_dimension , and set it to 0.01. That seems to do the trick. I don't know what the default value is.

/Bjorn

Try doing it with the intent manager off!

Can't you just exaggerate the size of the angle in your sketch - add the dimension (if it really is important) - and then modify it to the desired value ....

I hyperexaggerate most sketches.

-- Chris Snook

: "Chris Snook" wrote : Can't you just exaggerate the size of the angle in your sketch - add the : dimension (if it : really is important) - and then modify it to the desired value .... : : I hyperexaggerate most sketches.

I do the same thing to stay away from snapping references in sketcher. Both methods ~ turning off intent manager and exaggerated dimensions ~ address this. But there's a third way, as well. When trying to produce a small angle close to a snapping reference, right click to disable 'point on entity' constraint, or any other constraint that prevents creating a small angle. This is like turning off intent manager, but does it selectively. If you'd like a disabled constraint reenabled, right click when it appears again.

There's also something you can do if you find that end points of lines or centers of arcs are jumping to a sketcher reference from what seems like an inch away and 'stick' hard to the reference: you can turn down the snap strength with the option SKETCHER_REL_ACCURACY, another misleadingly named option. I think the relevant values are between 1 and zero, .5 being like 50%. With .1, you have to be almost on top of a snapping reference before the snap takes place and it 'sticks' only weakly to the reference. This sensitivity setting can save a lot of frustration with erratic snapping in sketcher. This option may have been around for a while but undocumented and I only discovered it in the last year. Given a lot of people's frustration with intent manager working poorly, I'd like to popularize playing with this option's values to see if it makes it more useful for people.

: :

Not sure whether you are doing this in sketcher or drawing mode (others seem to have assumed sketcher but I couldn't find a specific reference to it in your message). FWIW, I find with my setup in drawing mode, that I have trouble double-selecting circles to dimension a diameter. (it seems to insist on selecting the centre).

Bit of a nuisance really and a collegue with virtually the same setup doesn't have the problem at all. We even swapped various config/setup files but the problem stayed with me.

Zooming in is a way around this but I find I have to zoom in close then back out a little way for it to work. Just zooming in doesn't do it. I thought perhaps that technique might work for you.

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Hmm. I've had similar problems; it just tells me it can't place the dimension. I've sorta got an idea it's related to the pick / highlight / pick sequence. Seems if the picks are quick; almost a dbl clk, it will fuss, but if I pick, move the cursor away from the arc segment then come back in to pre-highlight and pick it works (though it could just be my imagination; it's an ever now and then thing). Could be graphics card related (?).

Interesting .... I doubt the graphics card issue in my case because my colleague had the identical machine including graphics card (they were bought as a pair). I also ran for a while on a different machine with different card but the same problem. I've tried slow picking but it didn't help in my case.

Even the first pick will pick up the centre instead of the arc .... it's almost like the pick box is too big, but it would have to be pretty enormous and I don't seem to have trouble with other picks.

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Don't know for sure, but I think I've tried picking very deliberately (slowly) and still got the error (it's kind of random and I'm not sure if I see or just imagine a "pattern" to it). I *think* it might hinge on moving away from the arc segment so it's not pre-highlighted and then coming back in. I could be confused, though. 8~)