Measuring Distances Between Geometric Entities

You can measure the minimum distance between objects, maximum distance between objects, maximum distance from one object to another, and angle by using the Measure Between command. You can also measure along a direction, where you can specify the direction along which you want to measure.

Before you begin: Open the object that you want to measure.
See Also
In the Knowledge Base
About measuring between infinite geometries
  1. From the Tools section of the action bar, click Measure Between .
    The Measure Between dialog box appears. It displays the Specifications tab. The mouse pointer changes to the first selection pointer.
  2. Select the required measure specifications.



  3. Optional: Select the Keep Only Last Measure check box to display the last measure in the work area.

    Note: This check box is only available for multiple measures and when the measure is non-persistent.

    By default this check box is cleared.

  4. Select the first object.
    The selected object is highlighted in the 3D area and the tree. The mouse pointer changes to the second selection pointer .
    Notes:
    • If the measure is persistent, a MeasureBetween.x item is created in the tree under the Notes node.
      • The symbol appears when the measure is created in design mode.
      • The symbol appears when the measure is not associated with the selection and will therefore not be affected by any modifications that you make to the selection.
      • The symbol appears with an associative measure, if the linked geometry is not in design mode.
    • In the Measure Between dialog box, the measure mode and the Type of measure list are deactivated. The geometry type and name of the object that you selected are indicated in the Selection1 box.
    Tip: You can also select the required object from the tree.
  5. Select the second object.
    The measure text box appears. It displays the measure values.
    Tips: You can:
    • Move the measure text box and position it as required.
    • Drag the dimension line in the required direction. Extension lines appear from the point of measure to the dimension line.
    • You can move the text box and align the measure leader to the dimension line. You can align it either perpendicular to or along the dimension line.
    • You can click in the Selection1 or Selection2 box, press Ctrl, and select multiple objects.
    • To rename the measure, you can right-click the MeasureBetween.x node in the tree, and select Properties. The Properties dialog box appears. Rename the measure.
  6. Click OK.

  • If the measure is persistent, the Measure Between dialog box closes and the measure values are displayed in the measure text box.
  • If the measure is non-persistent, the Measure Between dialog box closes and the measure text box disappears.
Important:
  • After the measure is created in the tree, the selected objects of non-associative measures cannot be modified. If you double-click the measure text box, and click in the Measure Between dialog box, a warning message appears.
    • If you click Yes, the objects in the first and second selection are cleared. You can now select new objects.
    • If you click No, the selection remains unchanged.
  • You can right-click the measure in the tree or in the geometry to access additional commands.
  • You can double click the MeasureBetween.x node in the tree or the measure text box in the geometry, and change the specifications in the Measure Between dialog box, to modify the measure. Alternatively, you can right-click the MeasureBetween.x node in the tree, select MeasureBetween.x object > Definition, and change the specifications in the Measure Between dialog box, to modify the measure.
  • You can reopen a measure and access the Customize tab and the Results section.
  • When you select the object from the 3D area, the selected object is used for measure computation.

  • Associativity between a measure result and geometry created by using the Create geometries command in CATIA V5 is not migrated.

  • Slides are self-sufficient. Associative measures may therefore have different values in different slides.