With PTC Creo 3.0 and later, you can customize how and where dimensions appear—making it easy to meet your design requirements in your CAD software. This means you can ensure your drawings are as clear and readable as possible. Below are some tips for working with dimensions.

Dimension preview in Creo CAD software

Place dimensions exactly where you want them.

• When you select Dimension and then choose a reference, a preview of the dimension is attached to the cursor.
• If you press CTRL and select additional references, the preview of the dimension updates based on the references you selected.

A dimension preview is attached to the cursor.

Common reference dimensions

To quickly create common reference dimensions, follow these steps:

1. On the Annotate tab, select Dimension.
2. Select the first reference, which will be used as a baseline.
3. Press CTRL, and select subsequent references.
4. As you select each reference, notice that you can see a preview of each dimension. You can then drag and place the dimension wherever you like.

The baseline reference appears as a green line. After you select subsequent references (for example, the center of each of the four circles shown in the upper right), a preview of each dimension appears (shown in the red box). You can drag and place the dimensions wherever you like.

Arc dimensions

Certain dimension types have multiple display options that allow you to customize how dimensions appear. For example, an arc’s dimension can be displayed as a radius, arc length, etc. To customize an arc’s dimension…

1. On the Annotate tab, select Dimension.
2. Select an arc.
3. Right-click and choose whether you want the arc dimension to be shown as a Diameter, Radius, Angular, or Arc Length.
4. Use the cursor to place the dimension exactly where you want.

You can choose whether you want the arc dimension to be shown as a Diameter, Radius, Angular, or Arc Length.

To learn more about the feature, watch this video:

Or read the PTC Creo Help Center page, To Insert Additional Dimensions.

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