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How to edit the length of witness lines on-screen? {solved}

Anonymous
Not applicable
Page 401 of the AC12 reference manual states: "You can edit the length of custom and dynamic witness lines on screen for one or both witness lines of a dimension unit, or for all the witness lines in the chain: select the witness line(s) you want to edit, and drag."

In the example attached, I want to pull the witness line back from overlapping the wall capping.

I have been unable to do this onscreen with the cursor - only by numerical editing the Settings.

Am I missing something?

witness line.jpg
7 REPLIES 7
Erika Epstein
Booster
Select only the node you have highlighted in your screenshot and then move your cursor along the projection of the witness line to where you want it to end. You are effectively drawing this line with your cursor.

HTH
Erika
Architect, Consultant
MacBook Pro Retina, 15-inch Yosemite 2.8 GHz Intel Core i7 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3
Mac OSX 10.11.1
AC5-18
Onuma System

"Implementing Successful Building Information Modeling"
Anonymous
Not applicable
Thanks Erika - for the suggestion - but it doesn't work . I tried in both the plan and 3D document windows, to no avail.

I can dynamically edit all the witness lines of the unit/chain together - just not individual witness lines.

Attached the witness line settings, in case you can see any hint there as to why it's not working.
Erika Epstein
Booster
1. Activate the dimension tool
2. If you want to adjust all the witness lines of a dimension string, select the entire dimension string, place your cursor on one of the nodes when you get a check-makr, click move the cursor down as far as you want.

3. If you want to adjust only ONE witness line length select ONLY the node where the witness line originates, NOT the entire dimension string, and then move your cursor to define the length of a witness line.

Your profile says AC12. Is that what you are really using or is it AC13?
Erika
Architect, Consultant
MacBook Pro Retina, 15-inch Yosemite 2.8 GHz Intel Core i7 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3
Mac OSX 10.11.1
AC5-18
Onuma System

"Implementing Successful Building Information Modeling"
Erika Epstein
Booster
1. Activate the dimension tool
2. If you want to adjust all the witness lines of a dimension string, select the entire dimension string, place your cursor on one of the nodes when you get a check-mark, click move the cursor down as far as you want.

3. If you want to adjust only ONE witness line length select ONLY the node where the witness line originates, NOT the entire dimension string, and then move your cursor to define the length of a witness line.

Your profile says AC12. Is that what you are using or is it AC13?
Erika
Architect, Consultant
MacBook Pro Retina, 15-inch Yosemite 2.8 GHz Intel Core i7 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3
Mac OSX 10.11.1
AC5-18
Onuma System

"Implementing Successful Building Information Modeling"
Stress Co_
Advisor
In addition....
Dim. Tool active
Select node
Hover over dimension line until you get a "Mercedes" icon
Left click, to bring up pet palette
Select "Edit length of Witness line"
Drag
Marc Corney, Architect
Red Canoe Architecture, P. A.

Mac OS 10.15.7 (Catalina) //// Mac OS 14.5 (Sonoma)
Processor: 3.6 GHz 8-Core Intel Core i9 //// Apple M2 Max
Memory: 48 GB 2667 MHz DDR4 //// 32 GB
Graphics: Radeon Pro 580X 8GB //// 12C CPU, 30C GPU
ArchiCAD 25 (5010 USA Full) //// ArchiCAD 27 (4030 USA Full)
Anonymous
Not applicable
Well thanks Erika, and StressCo, I finally did it... although for anyone else having the same problem, there is also another missing piece to add, before it works....
Erika wrote:
1) Activate the Dimension Tool.
3) To adjust only ONE witness line length select ONLY the node where the witness line originates, NOT the entire dimension string, and then move your cursor to define the length of a witness line.
Yep, that's exactly what I tried. But no go.

You're first suggestion wasn't in the manual : Activate the Dimension Tool.

But doing that, however, then clicking a witness line node just started creating a new dimension. So I chose the arrow tool, to "select" the node, then dragged. Nope - no go.

Then it occurred to me to Shift-Select the node, WHILE the Dimension Tool was active (So don't change to the Arrow/Selection tool before clicking the node).

Voila, problem solved!


PS. Erika: yes, my profile reflects my current setup.
Anonymous
Not applicable
Generally operations are more reliable and predictable if you have the tool selected of the element you are editing, but it is not always necessary.

To edit a dimension's witness line select the dimension, then click and drag on the dimension line (the one on which the number sits) and the witness line length will stretch IF you have used the Custom Height or Dynamic Height (right hand button) option in the dimensions' witness line setting.
Picture 2.png

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