Framing Section Dimensions

[builtright3]

For some reason when I'm in a framing section the dimension lines wont pick up the framing members. I have to put in cad lines to make it work. Anybody know why this wont work?

[builtright3]

For some reason when I'm in a framing section the dimension lines wont pick up the framing members. I have to put in cad lines to make it work. Anybody know why this wont work?

I know that I can change it to a cad drawing and then dimension it and I know that I can use the point to point tool but is there a way to pick up the framing objects in the section?

[Bill_Emery]

As far as I can tell, the dimension tool cannot pick up framing members in elevation with one exception; it can pick up the cross boxes for the framing members shown in cross section.  this allows me to pick up a lot of the critical dimensions depending how the defaults for the dimension reach is set.

 

try just turning on the framing layers only in elevation/section, and see what happens as you change the defaults and pull dimensions.

[RodCole]

Bit of a pain, but if you really need a dimension to be accurate you can give this method a try.  From your elevation camera view, select CAD Detail from View.  This give you an exact copy of the view, but now all of the lines are cad lines that can be dimensioned any way you want.

 

The next step is to select the dimensions only and then choose copy from the edit tool bar.  Now return to the elevation camera view and select Edit Paste Hold Position.  This will place your dimensions at the same location in the elevation that they were in the CAD Detail.  They are not connected to the framing members, so they will not update, but you do get an accurate measurement.

 

Trying to place a line that can be dimensioned to over the edge of a framing member works too, but it is not really all that accurate.  Often times it is not a big deal depending on the accuracy your dimensions are set to. 

[DRAWZILLA]

Is Framing turned on in the locate objects section of the dimension DBX? I can get it to locate framing but sometimes its hit and miss and have to draw a cad line but I would never use view to cad  b/c if there are changes you would have to re-do it all over again. Try to zoom in to catch the framing, it works a little better.

[RodCole]

Best would be if framing could be easily and consistently dimensioned in an elevation camera view.  But, if the framing moves the dimension associated with a line do not update either.  You still have to move the line.  There have been quite a few inconsistencies in how the camera views work IMO.

 

It works now, but for quite a while you could not use the ALT method for drawing in camera views.  I am moving toward having most of my framing views in layout produced from camera callouts for a number of reasons.  Be nice if they put a little more work toward making camera views more usable.

[rlackore]

For some reason when I'm in a framing section the dimension lines wont pick up the framing members. I have to put in cad lines to make it work. Anybody know why this wont work?

 

When CA cuts a section, it generates Cross Section Lines (placed on an eponymous layer). The Cross Section Lines are what the dimensions will locate; unfortunately CA doesn't produce Cross Section Lines for everything. If you turn the Cross Section Lines layer off - dimensions won't locate anything, even thought the section appears unchanged. By assigning a bold color to the layer, you can see exactly what you can locate.

[RodCole]

A little off the beaten path, but I have found that if you create dimensions in a symbol as 3D objects they will display in section views.  You can not alter them in any way, or even turn them off without turning off the display of the entire symbol.

 

How this applies to the OPs question is that there are many ways to accomplish what you are after.  If I can get the dimensions I want already set up in a symbol, then I don't need to mess around with dimensioning in the view itself.  Not easy to do, and Chief by itself is not really set up for this.  But, for things like engineered hardware with standard dimensions it has some interesting possibilities.

 

This will not work with a wall detail.  It requires the use of an elevation camera to be able to include the symbol in the view.  Very slick if I can get everything to work, but you will still need to dimension the hardware item itself to some reference point in the camera view.  From what I have found so far, as mentioned above, you can dimension to the cut portion of the foundation, but not to the part of the symbol itself that I want to dimsension to.  A line like Perry mentioned will work, but it is only close and a bit tedious.  In a situaltion like this i would like to get it exact if possible.  This is one of those times that using CAD Detail from View could be helpful.

 

This is something I learned recently while setting Chief models up for 3D pdf export with dimensions.  More info on this in a thread I started in the Chatroom Forum for those who may be interested.  Not all of the details are there, but a bit of background.  Chief's camera views can be very powerful tools.

[builtright3]

So basically the answer to my question is no, you can't dimension the framing members in a framing section unless you do something creative. I also understand that you can however dimension a single wall framing section.

 

Thank you very much to everyone. I now at least have a better understanding of sections and can proceed with my drawing.  

[DRAWZILLA]

Yes you can sometimes.

[MarkMc]

I run into a similar problem with cabinets where I can't snap to openings. I end up using detail from view but hat has it's own problems since it's not live.