Dimensions and Dimension Properties

The dimension facility provided with the current release of the Interactive Drafting product does not support all capabilities currently provided by the CADAM Drafting product. Therefore, after the transfer of dimensions from CADAM Drafting to the Interactive Drafting product, the display of the dimension may not be visually identical. The actual visual difference is based on the dimension type and the associated properties (specific cases are listed in the following table). Due to this, the CATIA-CADAM Interface product provides you with the option to "explode" dimensions into geometry and text during the transfer. If you set this option, all dimensions will be transferred as geometry and text only.

In certain instances of dimensions defined with the CADAM Drafting product, there is not a logical mapping to a supported dimension in the Interactive Drafting product. In these cases, the dimension is automatically exploded to geometry and text. The specific cases are listed in the mapping table below.

The following table outlines the specific mappings for dimensions and dimension properties:

Note: Exploded to geometry and text (*) designates that the dimension is converted to plain geometry and text upon transfer. Upon this conversion, the end conditions of the lines will be mapped to an arrow end condition, as this is the only end condition available for non-dimension geometry. The end conditions for angle and curve dimensions will not be displayed because the corresponding V5 elements do not support end conditions. For text that is generated during the conversion, all mapping information defined in the Text based Annotations and Text Properties section applies.

CADAM Drafting Element/Property	Interactive Drafting Element/Property	Comments
Dimension standards:
ANSI dimensions	ANSI dimensions
CADAM standard dimensions	ANSI dimensions	Inherent differences do exist between the "CADAM" standard and ANSI standard dimensions. These dimensions are transferred to the ANSI standard, as it is the closest standard supported with the Interactive Drafting product.
IBM standard dimensions	ISO Dimensions	Inherent differences do exist between the "IBM" standard and ISO standard dimensions. These dimensions are transferred to the ISO standard as is the closest standard supported with the Interactive Drafting product.
ISO Dimensions	ISO Dimensions
JIS dimensions	JIS dimensions
Dimension - non supported cases:
Chamfer dimension	Exploded to geometry and text (*)	Chamfer dimensions are not supported in the current release of the Interactive Drafting product. Therefore, these dimensions are exploded into geometry and text.
Extension lines - broken, no-shown, or skewed	Exploded to geometry and text (*)	Dimensions with modified extension lines are not supported in the current release of the Interactive Drafting product. Therefore, these dimensions are exploded into geometry and text.
Parallel dimension to an arbitrary line	Exploded to geometry and text (*)	Linear dimensions that do not measure horizontal , vertical or true distance (the dimension line was created at a user defined angle) are not supported by V5 and will be exploded.
Text, non-standard text in dimension text string	Exploded to geometry and text (*)	Dimensions with non-standard text (e.g., line feeds, substring box, subscripting) are not supported in the current release of the Interactive Drafting product. Therefore, these dimensions are exploded into geometry and text.
Dimension, special cases:
Dimensions in an alternate origin where the axis scale does not equal the view scale.	Dimensions in an alternate origin where the axis scale does not equal the view scale.	Alternate origins are not supported in V5. Dimensions are changed to out-of-scale to preserve the dimension value in the original context but not present it as an in-scale dimension.
Diameter dimension (ANSI), two part dimension line	Diameter dimension (ANSI), two part dimension line	For diameter dimensions with two part dimension lines, CADAM Drafting allows the interior portion of the dimension line to be not shown. The Interactive Drafting product supports the interior portion being not shown only when an addition segment is drawn on the opposite side of the circle. Therefore, the transferred dimension may not be visually identical.
Dimension with leader	Dimension with fixed leader position	The current version of the Interactive Drafting product does not allow explicit placement of dimension leaders. Therefore, the dimension will be transferred with a leader, but the position of the text and leader may be visually different. In addition, text associated with a leader for an ISO or JIS dimension in the CADAM Drafting product is displayed parallel to dimension line. With the Interactive Drafting product, this text is displayed horizontally. Therefore in this case, the leader and text will display at a different angle after transfer.
Radius dimension (ANSI), two part dimension line	Radius dimension (ANSI), two part dimension line	For radius dimensions with two part dimension lines, the portion of the dimension line on the interior of the arc is either not shown or drawn to the center of the circular arc on CADAM Drafting. The Interactive Drafting product allows the interior portion to be not shown, but it does not allow it to be drawn to the center of the arc. Therefore, all radius dimensions with two part dimension lines are transferred so the interior portion of the dimension line is not shown.
Dimension properties:
Dimension association to geometric element	Dimension association to geometric element	CADAM Drafting supports both associative and non-associative dimensions. The current release of Interactive Drafting only supports associative dimensions. Given this difference, non-associative dimensions are still transferred, but additional geometry is also created to satisfy the association. The additional geometry that is created is not shown.
Dimension line end conditions	Closest possible end condition	The current version of the Interactive Drafting product does not support all end conditions supported by CADAM Drafting. Therefore, end conditions will be mapped to the closest possible supported end condition.
Dimension text	Dimension value text, before, after, upper, lower text	The CADAM Drafting product treats the entire dimension text is as one text string. The Interactive Drafting product divides this into the dimension value text, before, after, upper, and lower text. Therefore, CADAM Drafting dimension text will be mapping to the appropriate dimension subtext. As stated above in the special case section, the dimension text elements in Interactive Drafting do not support all of the text properties or capabilities of CADAM Drafting. If CADAM Drafting dimension text is encountered that contains not supported properties, the dimension is exploded to geometry and standard text.
Dimension units	Closest possible dimension units	The current version of the Interactive Drafting product only supports dimensioning units of inches and millimeters. Therefore, dimensions using inch dimensioning units will be transferred to inch dimensioning units. All other dimensions will be transferred to millimeter dimensioning units.
Extension line, gapping	Extension line, blanking	CADAM Drafting supports extension line gapping values of standard, no gap, and overlap. The interactive drafting product supports only positive values for blanking. "Standard" and "no gap" will be mapping to appropriate values of blanking. As overlap implies a negative blanking value, it will be transferred as 0 blanking (equivalent to no gap).
Extension line, overshoot	Extension line, overrun	The interactive drafting product supports only positive overrun values. Therefore, any CADAM Drafting overshoot value less than 0 will be transferred as 0.
Text location	Dimension value location	Because of differences in text properties, as well as differences in the way CADAM Drafting and CATIA V5 Interactive Drafting manage dimension text (see "Dimension text," above), the text location may be different after translation.
Tolerance, basic	Dimension value with text box frame	CADAM Drafting supports three different sizes of text box frames. Interactive Drafting supports one text box frame. Therefore, the transferred text box frame may not be visually identical.
Tolerance, limit	Dual dimension value
Tolerance, single	Tolerance, numerical tolerance
Tolerance, standard tolerance	Tolerance, numerical tolerance	The display of the tolerance information is slightly different between CADAM Drafting and the Interactive Drafting product. For example, when you define an upper and lower tolerance that are equal, both are displayed. For this case, in the Interactive Drafting product, the tolerance value is displayed only once, preceded by a plus-minus symbol. Upon transfer, the closest possible tolerance display will be chosen.
Tolerance, text height	Tolerance, font size	CADAM Drafting allows you to create 1/2- or 3/4-size text for tolerance values. CATIA V5 Interactive Drafting supports only full-size text, so all tolerance values are displayed full size after translation.
Value, decimal places	Value, precision
Value, angle format	Value, angular units