Angular Dimension defaults


DzinEye
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I know I set this up years ago, and now that I need to do it again I have no idea how I got there?
The dimension defaults shows nothing for angular and the F1 help just shows the 'Angular Panel' but not how to get to it.
What the heck am I missing?

Angular.JPG

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17 minutes ago, Chopsaw said:

How to get to the DBX you mean ?  Just draw an angular dimension and open it.  If you are looking for default settings I would love to know as well.

Yeah... looking for how to set the defaults.  I could've sworn I set those ages ago?...but if you don't know how perhaps I'm imagining it.
Seems ridiculous if there's not a default setting ability.
 

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46 minutes ago, DzinEye said:

Yeah... looking for how to set the defaults.  I could've sworn I set those ages ago?...but if you don't know how perhaps I'm imagining it.
Seems ridiculous if there's not a default setting ability.

 

Yea you can set the text size but that is about it as far as I know.  Much more has been requested but it seems to be the last thing on the priority list.

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14 hours ago, Chopsaw said:

Yea you can set the text size but that is about it as far as I know. 

Out of curiosity, if you go to create an angular dimension, what format is the dimension reading in?  
Mine's reading in degree/minutes/seconds....  I'd have sworn that OOTB it was set for decimal degrees?

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5 minutes ago, DzinEye said:

Out of curiosity, if you go to create an angular dimension, what format is the dimension reading in?  
Mine's reading in degree/minutes/seconds....  I'd have sworn that OOTB it was set for decimal degrees?

 

Yes mine is defaulting to the same degree/minutes/seconds....  which ironically appears to not even be an option that chief offers.

 

Not sure they realize how confusing this can be for someone who is new to this sort of thing or even someone who does not use English as their first language. Chief is not even using the same terminology they use in other parts of the program.:(

 

I noticed that you are having to use terms that are not show in the DBX to describe what is going on.  This should be a clue for Chief that something needs to be updated and fixed.

 

I would love to be able to set a default for Decimal Degrees as well as being able to specify rounding for it.  Maybe some year !

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Just now, solver said:

Why did Chief choose different formats?

 

Do you mean for your 45° example ?   Chief is just deciding not to show the trailing zero's which should also be a formatting option to avoid this type of confusion particularly for site plans.

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1 hour ago, Kbird1 said:

I assumed till I just read this Thread that it used the General CAD Default setting , but after running a few tests as mentioned it appears not too after all ,.

Ahhh... but at least you know where it should be setting the defaults. 
Why is it under 'General CAD' and not under 'Dimensions' ??
Why does search under F1 help for 'angular dimension defaults' not mention 'General CAD' ??
and as you point out, why is setting that supposed default not doing anything??  (I just tried it myself to no avail).
 

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2 minutes ago, DzinEye said:

I was hoping you'd chime in... 

But you left a great void in our understanding oh mighty one...

 

I don't think there's much to add.  There simply is no default setting for angular dimensions.  It's as simple as that.  Its a longstanding gripe of many users.  I personally don't care all that much though because I very rarely use the tool.  Totally guessing at this, but I'd say I probably only ever use it once or twice on every 3rd job.  When I do, it takes about 3 second to open it up and change the angle style.  The bigger deal to me is that lack of control over rounding accuracy.  Even that though I put pretty far down my list.  I honestly only ever need to change that on probably 1 out of 10 angular dimensions I place at most.  Easy enough to overlay text in those situations. 

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3 minutes ago, Alaskan_Son said:

I don't think there's much to add.  There simply is no default setting for angular dimensions.  It's as simple as that.  Its a longstanding gripe of many users.  I personally don't care all that much though because I very rarely use the tool.  Totally guessing at this, but I'd say I probably only ever use it once or twice on every 3rd job.  When I do, it takes about 3 second to open it up and change the angle style.  The bigger deal to me is that lack of control over rounding accuracy.  Even that though I put pretty far down my list.  I honestly only ever need to change that on probably 1 out of 10 angular dimensions I place at most.  Easy enough to overlay text in those situations. 

Thanks for the info.   If you know...

  • Did angular always 'default' to degree/minute/seconds... am I imagining it used to be decimal degrees?
  • What's the point/purpose of the angular dimension dbx under General Cad if it doesn't actually do anything?
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8 minutes ago, DzinEye said:

Did angular always 'default' to degree/minute/seconds....?

Yes.  As far back as I know.

 

8 minutes ago, DzinEye said:

What's the point/purpose of the angular dimension dbx under General Cad if it doesn't actually do anything?

It controls the displayed angle for lines...

Angle.thumb.jpg.a6445968fba7066001050b2ce359f852.jpg

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By and to the the way, its all right there in the Name and in the Help files...

Help.thumb.png.c83c0f2c5751c1b61aa9534790f52b27.png

 

I find that Chief is far more clear with things than we often give them credit for when we take the time to slow it down a notch and actually read their descriptions.

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34 minutes ago, DzinEye said:

Ahhh... but at least you know where it should be setting the defaults. 
Why is it under 'General CAD' and not under 'Dimensions' ??
Why does search under F1 help for 'angular dimension defaults' not mention 'General CAD' ??
and as you point out, why is setting that supposed default not doing anything??  (I just tried it myself to no avail).
 

 

Sorry I didn't mean to infer that was the correct place for the "Default" for Angular Dims.   I had just assumed it was previously

( incorrectly) as I use it as Michael demonstrated when doing Plot Plan CAD Lines etc to set the Desired Output.

 

Like Michael I hardly ever use angular dims , so your discovery was new to me....

 

M.

 

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8 minutes ago, Alaskan_Son said:

I find that Chief is far more clear with things than we often give them credit for when we take the time to slow it down a notch and actually read their descriptions.

Ya, but that's 20:20 hindsight for you.  You can only find it in the name if you can find it in the first place.  I couldn't find anything because I wasn't looking for a line angle display, I wanted to find an angular dimension default... something which I think anyone who has a basic understand of Chief would expect there to be... so that's what I searched for.  If they don't have said default, then you'd think that such a search would turn up some information saying there is no default, if for no other reason than to save the person from going onto the forum and bothering to ask where the default is.    The screenshot in my original post shows what came up under that search as it's showing the angular dimension panel within their description for dimension defaults... in my book, that leads to confusion.
 

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19 minutes ago, DzinEye said:

Ya, but that's 20:20 hindsight for you.

No.  Not really.  You asked what that setting was for.   You question was easily answered by reading the description and clicking on Help.  And you would very naturally and easily be directed there going the other direction as well...

 

CAD.thumb.png.9fc699c96b151cc5d350360f41cdcf5a.png

 

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25 minutes ago, DzinEye said:

If they don't have said default, then you'd think that such a search would turn up some information saying there is no default

 

This is highly debatable.  There are many many things that have no default setting and there are many things that can be controlled via several different defaults (due to our own incessant and somewhat self destructive desire for options).  Not so sure Chief needs to make a point of highlighting everything that doesn't have a default setting.  That's not something I've ever seen in any software.  If you can't find the setting using the appropriate channels than there probably isn't one. 

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Just now, Alaskan_Son said:

 

This is highly debatable.  There are many many things that have no default setting and there are many things that can be controlled via several different defaults (due to our own incessant and somewhat self destructive desire for options).  Not so sure Chief needs to make a point of highlighting everything that doesn't have a default setting.  That's not something I've ever seen in any software.  If you can't find the setting using the appropriate channels than there probably isn't one. 

I somehow knew you were going to take it to the extreme.  Of course not everything, but we're talking about an angular dimension here... again, it's a DIMENSION... it's one of the most rudimentary functions of a cad program.

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