9. Dimensioning: step by step

D / DIM (a run of dimensions)

1. ①
   Type D → Enter (DIM and DLI do the same).
2. ②
   Pick up the points you want to measure, one after another, with snap.
3. ③
   Click empty space = the points you picked become one run of dimensions (the direction you pull decides whether it is horizontal or vertical).

Right-click = throw away what you had picked up.

DAL (aligned dimension)

1. ①
   Type DAL → Enter.
2. ②
   Take the first and second points with snap (a dimension parallel to those two points = it measures the true distance along the slope).
3. ③
   Pull it out to where it should sit and click.

DDI (diameter) / DRA (radius)

1. ①
   Type DDI (diameter) or DRA (radius) → Enter.
2. ②
   Click a circle or an arc.
3. ③
   Decide the direction and click where it should sit.

DAR (arc length)

1. ①
   Type DAR → Enter (弧長 (Arc length) on the tool shelf does the same).
2. ②
   Click an arc.
3. ③
   Click where it should sit (inside or outside the arc).

The value carries a ⌒ = the developed length for bending comes out without any arithmetic (radius × angle × π ÷ 180 is our job).

DI / DIST (measure): measuring without leaving anything on the drawing

1. ①
   Press 計測 (Measure) on the ribbon, or type DI → Enter.
2. ②
   Click the first point (snapping works).
3. ③
   Move the cursor towards the second point and the distance, the angle, and the horizontal and vertical components appear on the spot, before you even click.
4. ④
   Click to fix it = one line stays in the Command Line history. You can carry straight on and measure the next two points (Esc to stop).

• Not one line and not one dimension is left on the drawing. Placing a dimension just to “measure something quickly” costs you two extra moves — read it, then delete it — and if you forget to delete it, the traces of your own investigation ride along on the drawing you hand over.
• Ortho (F8) does not work in this tool, so that you can measure the true distance along a slope (constraints belong to the tools that decide things).

AREA: one click inside an enclosure

1. ①
   Enter the measure tool and a bar appears below. Press ［面積を測る］ (Measure area) (typing AREA → Enter, or pressing Tab, switches it too).
2. ②
   Click once inside the room you want to measure. The enclosure lights up pink, and the area and the perimeter appear on the spot.

• Islands are subtracted. If shapes float inside it, they are taken off and it announces “島n か所を引きました” (n islands subtracted).
• You can also select the closed objects first (rectangles, circles, polygons…) and then enter the measure tool (selecting several is fine). ⚠️ Only when a single circle is selected is it worked out exactly, with πr².
• An enclosure containing arcs (a circle, a rounded corner) is measured by opening the arcs into fine straight segments, so the answer comes out a shade small (about 0.007% at radius 1000, about 0.07% at radius 100). The smaller the shape, the larger this difference becomes.
• Press somewhere not enclosed and it tells you why (there is a gap in the lines, or they do not close).

Sending the answer to your notes, or to the drawing

Two more buttons at the right of the bar (before you measure they are pale: “measure something and you can press them”).

1. ①
   ［図面に書き込む］ (Write on the drawing) … press it, then click where it goes. One piece of text is placed at the current text height, on the current layer. ⚠️ This single press is the only one that changes the drawing (one press of U removes it).
2. ②
   ［コピー］ (Copy) … to the computer's clipboard. Paste it straight into a text editor or a spreadsheet.

• Press neither and nothing happens = “do not write” is the default. Whether you measured a distance or an area, it is the last answer that is handed over.

The dress of a dimension (the style)

• 寸法スタイル (dimension style) = list the styles in the table and switch between them. 寸法スタイル 新規 詳細図 = copy the current settings into one more style.
• 文字高 3.5 = the height of the dimension text. 矢の大きさ 2.5 = the size of the arrowhead.
• 丸め 1 = rounding of the dimension value (1066.8 → 1067). 桁 0 = the number of decimal places (0 = whole numbers only, as is usual on Japanese drawings).
• 矢じり = which terminator to use: filled arrow, open arrow, oblique stroke, filled dot, open dot, none. The oblique stroke is the classic choice on architectural drawings.

字高 (changing the size of text)

Select the text, type 字高 5 → Enter = it becomes that size.

字高… in the right-click menu takes you to the same place.

What the size means (paper mm or drawing units)

Select text and open Properties (PR) and there is a 大きさ (size) row.

“図面の単位 175” (drawing units 175) = this is what placed text is by default (it does not move when you change the scale). Press it and you get “紙で 3.5mm（図面では 175）” (3.5 mm on paper, 175 on the drawing) = the text is redeclared in paper mm (the number does not change, only its meaning). Text declared in paper mm grows on the drawing, when you change the scale, so that it stays the same size on paper.

Text from someone else's drawing reads “不明” (unknown) = its size is estimated and sent to paper on that basis. Press it and you can declare it.