Available in: Drawing

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Place a foreshorten dimension on a silhouette edge, or on a centerline and an arc or circle edge, to create a half-diameter dimension in a Drawing. A foreshortened dimension shows one extension line and one arrow instead of two, and is commonly used in Section and Detail views.

  1. In the drawing toolbar, open the dimension dropdown and click the Foreshorten dimension icon ( Foreshorten dimension icon).
  2. Select the silhouette edge of a cylindrical feature, or select a centerline and then an arc or circle edge.
  3. Drag to place the dimension, then click to set it.

    Foreshorten dimension examples

    Foreshorten dimension from a cylinder's silhouette edge (left) and from a centerline and circle edge (right)

The Diameter dimension command is unchanged and can still create both regular and foreshortened dimensions. See Diameter dimension.

When you drag a foreshortened dimension created from a centerline and an arc or circle, you can snap it to the edge's Min or Max point.

Converting between a foreshortened and direct dimension

  1. Right-click on the dimension and select Display as direct diameter.

    1. If the foreshortened dimension is from the edge of a cylindrical feature, the display is converted to a direct diameter and the measured value remains unchanged.

    2. If the foreshortened dimension is from a centerline to an arc or circle edge, the measured value is updated in addition to the display of both extension lines and arrows.

  2. To convert it back, right-click the dimension and select Display as foreshorten diameter.

Switching to display as direct diameter

Flipping the dimension

To flip a foreshortened dimension to the opposite side of the extension line, hover your cursor over the grip point. When you see the flip arrow attached to the cursor, left-click the mouse. Left-click again to flip it back to the original side of the extension line:

Flipping the dimension