Setting Up a Document’s Measurement Scale

Canvas X Draw offers a variety of options for creating scale drawings. You can use the Add unit feature to define a new unit of measurement for a particular document or redefine an existing unit. (See Adding and Modifying Units of Measurement.) You can also set up a ruler to control the scale of an entire document as well as customize scale settings for individual dimension objects. (See Setting Up Rulers.) Other settings affect the format of measurement and position data.

The following settings affect the measurement of objects in a document:

• Rulers: Set up a document’s overall drawing scale using the Ruler manager and document scale. The document scale affects all object measurements, including those made with the Dimensioning tools. The document scale also affects data in the Properties bar and Object Specs palette. (See Setting Up Rulers and Set Document Scale.)
• Number Form: A setting in the Ruler manager affects the format of data in the Properties bar and other displays. This option controls the precision of data and the number format (decimal or fractions). (See To Set Up Rulers:.)
• Dimensions: You can customize individual dimension objects with the Dimensioning controls in the Properties bar.

Floating Point Technology

Projects in the scientific, engineering, medical, and biotechnology industries demand the highest levels of precision.

When working with very small units of measure, errors can occur since no human system of numeration can give a unique representation to every real number because there are simply too many of them.

To meet the demand for increased decimal precision, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) has produced a standard for binary floating point arithmetic (IEEE 754-1985). This standard specifies how single-precision (32 bit) and double-precision (64 bit) floating point numbers are to be represented, as well as how arithmetic should be carried out on them. An application that supports this technology will generate a floating point number; i.e., the decimal point literally “floats,” and, therefore, achieves a more precise fractional result.

Without installed support for the floating point standard the computations within a computer design environment will generate only a close approximation of a requested command. Although these calculations may generate satisfactory results for most purposes, the demands that exist within the science, engineering, medical, and other related professions dictate that only extremely accurate results be used within projects.

Canvas X’s drawing engine fully supports the IEEE floating point standard.

Displaying Dimensions as You Draw

Canvas X Draw can display the horizontal and vertical dimensions of an object as you draw it. The Show Size command makes dimensions (in scale) appear at the pointer as you drag with any drawing tool. These dimensions do not remain in the document.

To Display Dimensions When You Use Drawing Tools:

Choose Layout | Display | Show Size. When you select a drawing tool and drag the pointer in an illustration, the object’s vertical and horizontal measurements appear at the pointer.

The Show Size option can also be toggled in the Display Options manager in the Configuration Center.

To Turn Off the Dimensions Display:

Choose Layout | Display | Hide Size.

See also:

• Setting Up Rulers
• Document Scale Methods