Dimensions in FZ - Selecting points only

[Guest seasdes]

At present I find it difficult to dimension in FZ v8.5.7.

 

The dimension  tool wants  to select segments rather than points. selection of points gets easier if I zoom in close. However I have to move the cursor around until it locks on  to a point rather than segment. Dimensioning  is very time consuming for me.

 

Has anyone found a trick to select points rather than segments. I know that I can dimension in Layout. However, I need to add dimensions while I am building the model.

[¢hris £und]

double check your snapping.  When I first switched to 8.x (skipped 7)   I habitually was turning all my snaps off.   Finally, I removed the key short cut to do so.

 

Make sure you are aware that "points"  and "Key Points" differ.

 

 

Also, Check your "tolerance" setting in the snapping palette.  each user here is probably expecting something different.   I think mine is the default at 10 pixels.

 

hope this helps!

 

¢£

[Guest seasdes]

Thank you Chris.

I will play around with the Tolerance settings to see if I can get an improvement in performance.

[ZTEK]

...and in Snap Options check Stick To Edges for better results.

 

...as a side note, in formZ, the snaps, the grid, the temporal guides, etc., are great and really useful and essentials to generate clean geometry easily and speedy...other important factor, in my experience, is set a hight Numeric Accuracy, I always use 0,000001 and I work in cm. This way, I never have to fight with inconsistent or imprecise geometry, but obviously everyone has their preferences. In my workflow, I usually export to Autocad to draw my architectural plans and always I have a perfect match...it seems that I walked away somewhat of the topic 

[Guest seasdes]

Thanks for the info ZTEK.

[Bo Atkinson]

The following refers to my facetted object modeling with dense geometry: I need to use several short cut keys (with my own edits, depending on which keys become which sort of snap as I have never used default shortcuts)...

 

I almost always turn off previous snap-key-shortcuts, then turn on the desired snap, to be sure the right sort of snap is invoked... Even then points will sometimes not snap!  I find that I need to navigate to the opposite side of an object to avoid foreground objects which interfere with point snaps.... All when using shaded mode with transparent solid objects.... In which case I must switch to wire frame which provides more access, to the object snaps behind other objects. This toggling is easy and fast, once practiced.

 

Also, I turn off grid snaps in the above situations. The grid snap becomes troublesome, for point snapping, so I turn it off. Until and unless grid snaps are needed. At which point, the object snaps are tuned off.

 

I turn Numeric Accuracy values both up and down, depending on the  applications; because, high accuracy naturally complicates quicker reading of wanted values, and also in cases of  fractional values, (for my use of old fashioned fractions or ratios). In the USA, there still persist various uses of non-metric values, in material marketing and referencing. I do not object to this, as there are other reasons to use both metric and fractional systems.

[Tech]

Hi seasdes, 

 

Yes, turning on your Point Object Snap (and/or Intersection, Perpendicular, Key Points, etc..) should help with dimensioning your objects.  As ZTEK explains, if you are not snapping to the "correct" points of your objects, set a lower number for your numeric accuracy and/or change your Data Scale in the project settings.  

 

Thanks Bo, ZTEK, and Chris for posting your advice