Menu path
Set-Up > Preference Settings > Dimension Defaults
🧾 What it does
The Dimension Default settings (from the Pulldown Menu) control how dimensions appear on your roof plans, including text size, positioning, rounding, and display options. These settings affect coursing dimensions, line-to-line dimensions, azimuth/area annotations, and pitch information.
🔧 How to access it
After selecting Dimension Defaults, the dimension defaults dialog is displayed.
🔧 Dimension Sizing Options
These options allow you to alter the size of dimensions for the four different methods. You will see the effect on screen and on the printed drawings.
🛠 Coursing Dimension Specific Options
Set the height of the course dimension text and also the information to be displayed on the roof plan. For example – Coursing (Eave ###E mm / Int ###I mm) would insert
Coursing (Eave 350mm / Int 310mm) on the drawing.
🛠 Line-to-Line Dimension Specific Options
Setting | Description |
Round Length Dimensions to | Sets the rounding up of the dimension number drawn on the roof drawing – in the example ±10mm |
Match Line Dimension Colour | Changes the dimension colour to be the same as that set for the line making it easier to associate a dimension with the matching line. If set to no, the default settings for dimension are used |
Dimension line Lengths Greater Than | Allows the operator to set how short the shortest lines to be dimensioned will be. Anything shorter than the specified length will not be dimensioned. This takes the clutter out of the drawing by not dimensioning lines that may not be important |
Dimension Distance Off Line | Sets the distance the dimension is to offset from the associated line – roof plan on the left is set to 0; roof plan on the right is set to 100mm |
With offset from the line:
Without offset from the line:
⚠️ Important: Be careful switching between metric and imperial units as this can have a detrimental effect on settings such as arrow size – 100mm in Metric becomes a 100" in Imperial units
🛠 Azimuth/Area Dimension Specific Options
Setting | Description |
Round Area Dimensions to | Sets the rounding up of the area dimension number drawn on the roof drawing – in the example ±1sqm |
Azimuth Dimension Precision | Sets how many places after the decimal point |
Area Dimension Suffix | Adds a suffix to the area dimension such as SqFt or SqM. You may also use the 'Alt' and the numerics on the keypad to insert extended characters into the suffix – Alt+0176 for degrees symbol and Alt+0178 for the squared symbol |
🛠 Pitch Dimension Specific Options
Setting | Description |
Show Storey on Pitch Dimension | Adds the roof storey to the pitch dimension drawn on the roof plan. Used in conjunction with the precision, in this case two decimal places. 
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Pitch Dimension Precision | Sets how many places after the decimal point. Our example displays one decimal place: 
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Pitch Separator (Slope Only) | Sets the separator character between the numbers indicating the slope of the roof. Typically a colon as shown, but may be a slash: 
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Show Slope Arrow Direction | Y/N option - Slope direction arrow may or may not be displayed 
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Slope Direction Arrow Size | Sets the size of the arrow. Since we model the roof geometry at full size, the arrow would need to be about 1000mm as shown (or the equivalent in feet and inches) |
Default Dimension Colour | Allows you to quickly change the colour of dimensions without backing out to the Dimension Default dialog box |
💡 Tip: If you set the Pitch Separator value to "None" (any combination of upper or lowercase letters that spells 'none') then the separator and the "12" value are left off the report. This often makes the report less cluttered and easier to read.
⚠️ Important: Be careful switching between metric and imperial units as this can have a detrimental effect on settings such as arrow size – 1000mm arrow in metric becomes a 1000" arrow in imperial.
Font Configuration
Typically, the font used to annotate roof planes and drawings is the font defined under CAD > Defaults > Text Defaults. As these may change from user to user, it is suggested that a text file called Fontfile.dat be created and saved in the ..\User folder, thus 'locking-in' the required font style for each user.
The font used on the roof plan for annotation such as area, azimuth etc will then be determined by the font defined in the Fontfile.dat. True type fonts will be listed by their name only (such Arial or Calibri) and the CAD fonts by the name and the extension (such as HELV.FON for Helvetica font or ISO.FON for CAD ISO font). If no font file exists (it must be created by the user) then the CAD text default settings will be used.
It is recommended that you use the default font - Arial.