PRIMER 22.1

MEASURE: Measuring the Distance and Angles between Nodes and Points on the Screen

MEASURE Measuring the Distance and Angles between Nodes and Points on the Screen

The MEASURE command is invoked from the Tools panel at the top of the screen or from the shortcut key M. The following table gives a summary of the available options:

Point to Point	The (x,y) distance between two screen points P1 and P2.
Point angle	The angle between vectors P1P2 and P1P3.
Node to Node	The (x,y,z) distance between N1 and N2, where N1 and N2 are either nodes or geometry points.
Node angle	The angle between vectors N1N2 and N1N3, where N1, N2, N3 are either nodes or geometry points.
Nodal coord	The coordinate of node/geometry point N1.
Curve length	The length of the selected geometry curve.
Node to Part	The (x,y,z) distance between N and P, where N is either node or geometry point and P a part.
Part to Part	The (x,y,z) distance between P1 and P2, where P1 and P2 are both parts.
Node Curve length	Cumulative length for node selections.
Distance Plot	The distance between two groups of parts.
Node to Plane	The distance from N4 to plane (N1N2N3).
Node to Line	The shortest distance from N3 to the line defined by nodes N1 and N2.

Screen "points" are simply transient 2d locations on the display picked with the cursor. They do not have any structural significance and are not part of any model. Distances and angles computed from them are in the 2d screen (x,y) space system.

In this example the user has selected two points, labelled P1 and P2 on the screen, and the 2D projected vector between them is to be computed.

The reported distance, and its orientation with respect to the model, will be a function of the current transformation matrix.

Therefore point-based measurement should be used when projected distances are required. For true 3D model space measurement it is better to use nodes.

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