# New trick I learned today



## RichD (Feb 2, 2015)

Hi,
I just wanted to pass this on to you guys. I just stumbled on it and some of you may already know this feature.

I was fooling around in AutoCad today just curious about planning out moves on a rotary table by using CAD to rotate a drawing like a rotary table simulation. The drawing I was using had all the features dimensioned using the "ordinate" dimensioning option. For those not knowing this feature it means all points are in reference to x=0 and y=0 for the datum point.

Now although that's a very useful feature, it's not the trick I learned. 

This is the main point of my post...When I rotated the drawing about it's center point (0,0)..."_all the ordinate dimensions updated to reflect their new positions_".

Now I don't know if that's going to be as useful as I think, but I think it will be, say to print several iterations of your project to replicate how you plan to machine a piece. Each printout...or if you have a PC near your mill, you can predict the x,y positions after you rotate the picture in CAD.

Well, that's the new thing I learned today by accident.

Rich


----------



## GailInNM (Feb 3, 2015)

That's neat Rich.  And the dimensions update in real time if you are dragging the rotation.  Just make sure that the control points for the dimensions are included in your selection set. 
Gail in NM


----------



## RichD (Feb 3, 2015)

Yes, I'll have to ponder some more on how to exploit the new information, but thought I'd post as soon as I noticed it.
Rich


----------



## kvom (Feb 3, 2015)

Using draftsight, an Autocad lookalike, there are three possibilities of your scenario:

1) With linear dimension and you select the dimension  along with the lines to be rotated, the dimension rotates and retains the same value.

2) With aligned dimension, you can rotate the lines and the dimensions follow without being selected.

3) With linear dimension and the dimension not selected, it remains linear and the value changes


----------

