Assembly Measure Tool

The Measure tool displays measurements dynamically whenever you select entities.

Steps

1. Select the part edges, faces, the origin, or Mate connectors (inferred or existing) to obtain measure information about it.
2. Click the Measure icon in the bottom right corner of the window to open the dialog.

   

3. Use the dropdowns to select Measurement type, Length unit, and/or Angle unit. These can all be changed at any time as you work.

   

Measuring more than two entities in an assembly will provide you with the minimum distance, maximum distance, total area, center axes distance, or length of those entities.

Measure dialog options

• Measure type - Filters the type of measurements displayed in the Measure dialog. Options are Show all. Position, Center position, Min distance, Max distance, Length, Diameter, Radius, Angle, Face tangent angle, Curvature deviation, or Surface area.

• Length unit - Select the length unit. Options are Centimeter, Foot, Inch, Meter, Millimeter, or Yard.

• Angle unit - Select the angle unit type: Degree or Radian.

• Diameter - Diameter of an arc or circle.

• Radius - Radius of an arc.

• Center Dist. - The center distance between two entities.

• Perp axes angle - Perpendicular axes angle between two entities.

• Area - Area of a surface.

• Face tangent angle - Tangent angle between a selected surface and a line that meets the surface.

• Curvature deviation - Deviation between a selected surface and a line that meets the surface.

• Center - The center dimensions for an arc or circle (X, Y, Z).

• Center Dist. - Center distance between two entities (X, Y, Z).

• Min Dist. - Minimum distance between two entities (X, Y, Z).

• Max Dist. - Maximum distance between two entities (X, Y, Z).

• Max Rad Pt. - Minimum elliptical radial point (X, Y, Z).

• Max Rad Pt. - Maximum elliptical radial point (X, Y, Z).

• Length - Length of an entity; for example, the length of a line, or circumference of a circle.

• Point - Location of a point, vertex, or mate connector (X, Y, Z).

Using values

You are able to use the information displayed to enter values elsewhere in the system, for example, as a dimension.

1. With the Measurement dialog expanded, click to highlight the value you want to copy. One click captures the maximum precision value, clicking a second time captures the lower precision.
2. Use keyboard shortcuts to copy the value.

Interpreting the measure information

When you hover over measurement information in the panel, the measurement is visualized in the graphics area, depicting the exact measurement referred to.

Bold dotted lines

Minimum, maximum, or center axes distances between entities:

• Min, max, or center distances are shown in black
• Changes in X are shown in red
• Changes in Y are shown in green
• Changes in Z are shown in blue

An example showing the minimum distance X, Y, and Z between entities when the cursor hovers over the Min Dist X, Y, or Z values.

An example showing the maximum distance between entities when the cursor hovers over the Max Dist value.

Note that when measuring to the center of a circle, you are able to select a planar face, edge, and edge of a cylinder.

Thin lines

Angles:

Dynamic updating of measurement values

If the Measure dialog is opened, measurement values are updated dynamically as parts are dragged on screen. Some examples are:

• If a circular edge or Mate connector of a part is selected, the center or point location relative to the origin point updates as the part is moved.

• If the origin point and a part entity (edge, face, vertex, Mate connector) are both selected, the distance between the entity and the origin point updates as the part is moved.

• If one part is fixed and another is not, selecting an entity from the fixed part (edge, face, vertex, Mate connector) and an entity from the non-fixed part (edge, face, vertex, Mate connector) updates the distance values between the two selected entities as the non-fixed part is moved.

Dynamic updating does not work when using Section view.

Steps

The Measure tool displays measurements dynamically whenever you select entities.

1. Tap the Measure tool to active it.

   With the Measure tool active:

2. Tap to select an entity or entities to measure.

   The relevant measurement information appears in the dialog at the bottom of the screen. Tap the top of the dialog to collapse or expand it. Swipe inside the dialog to scroll up or down.

   

3. Use the dropdowns to specify Measure type, Length unit, and Angle unit (these can be changed at any time).

4. Tap the X in the upper right corner of the Measure dialog to close it and exit the measurement tool.

The measurement tool displays information using the units of measurement that you have set for your document. To change the units of measurement, select Units from the document info panel and select desired unit.

The Onshape Measure tool is available in Part Studios, for sketches and parts, and in Assemblies for parts and assemblies; it appears in the far right of the main toolbar at the top of the screen. It displays measurement dynamically whenever you select an entity. The tool shows all possible measurements for the selected entity/entities including, but not limited to, minimum distance between entities, total surface area, angles, length, parallel distance, etc.

Steps

1. Tap the Measure tool in the top right corner of the graphics area.

   With the Measure tool active:

2. Tap to select desired entities to measure.

   The relevant measurement information appears in the dialog at the bottom of the screen. Tap the top of the dialog to collapse or expand it. Swipe inside the dialog to scroll up or down.

   

3. Select Measure type to filter the type. Select Length unit or Angle unit to change the unit used.
4. Tap the X in the upper right corner of the Measure dialog to close it and exit the measurement tool.