How does the VCarve Pro & Aspire Measure Tool work, and how do I use the dimension annotation tool?

The Measure tool and the Dimensions tool give you two ways to measure and annotate distances in the 2D view.

Measure Tool

Open it with Ctrl+M (the Measure tool form), or from the Drawing tab.

Measure Between 2 Points: click two points in the 2D view and the form reports:

• Distance: straight-line distance between the points
• Angle: the angle of the line joining the points, where horizontal is 0 degrees and vertical is 90 degrees
• X Distance and Y Distance: the separation in X only and in Y only
• First Point: the exact X and Y coordinates of the first point you clicked
• Cursor Position: the live coordinates of the mouse cursor

Snapping: the tool uses the snapping options you have on, so hover near a node to snap to it precisely.

Span / Contour Properties: a second mode that reports information about an individual span of a vector when you click on it, including its type (Line, Arc or Bezier Curve).

Use cases:

• Measuring the gap between two design elements
• Checking that a profile matches expected dimensions
• Measuring the exact width of an imported design

Dimensions Tool (Annotation)

The Dimensions tool adds dimension annotations to your vector drawing: lines with arrows and text that show a measurement.

Dimension types:

• Length: a straight-line distance between two points in any orientation
• Vertical and Horizontal: locked to a vertical or horizontal distance between two points
• Angle: measures any angle. Pick one arm, then the center, then the second arm
• Arc: shows the radius of a selected arc span (tick Show Diameter for the diameter). It works on circles too. Bezier curve spans are not supported, and circles or arcs that have been polygonized (from an imported file or from Curve Fit with straight lines) cannot be dimensioned

Creating a dimension:

1. Select the dimension type
2. Click the points that the dimension references (for an Angle dimension, the first point is the arm and the second is the center)
3. Move the mouse to drag the arrow tips away from or closer to the part, and click to place them
4. Click to set where the annotation text appears

Settings on the form:

• Font and text height
• Decimal places (angle dimensions use their own value)
• Offset: the gap between the dimension markers and the vectors being measured
• Use Custom Text: type your own text in place of the calculated value. It is stored per dimension
• Place Dimensions on Layer: on by default. Dimensions go on a mid-gray Dimensions layer, which you can rename. If no layer of that name exists, it is created

Editing and scaling: hold Shift while selecting an existing dimension to edit it while the form is open, or use Ctrl+Z to undo dimensions you just made. Since 12.5, dimension objects are editable, and their value updates dynamically when the dimension is scaled, including when it is grouped with other vectors and the group is scaled. In the 3D view you can drag handles to edit them directly.

Note: dimensions are for visualization and reference. They are not used for toolpaths. Keep them on their own layer and turn that layer off before you pick vectors for toolpaths.