Unless I am blind to this, as well as the rest of the internet community, there does not seem to be a dimensioning tool in illustrator. It's a crazy thing, a product named "illustrator" doesn't have a basic tool for illustrating. I know I'm not the only one who would use this, not to mention the many times I've just not bothered with Illustrator simply because it's too slow to show a client want I am looking for. Please Adobe, add in this simple feature. I want to be able to design a box, and show how big it is without manually drawing lines adding arrowsselecting the line (lines if i put text between line rather than over)copying dimension (provided it is 100% vertical or horizontal)pasting & centring textadding parallel lines near to the end points of the objectAll this should be done in 1-2 step.A Dimension tool - click and dragging it out of each sideA Filter - that can do more than one side at a time / could do more than one object at a timeIt can't be that complicated. CAD programs have had this for 40 years. to be clear, I am not looking to make Illustrator a CAD program, there is a plug in for that by Hot Door - CADtools. I just want a dimensioning tool.thanks.

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Question

Dimensions tool /plugin / filter missing in Illustrator

Forum|Forum|11 years ago
June 3, 2014
13 replies
55218 views

Unless I am blind to this, as well as the rest of the internet community, there does not seem to be a dimensioning tool in illustrator.

It's a crazy thing, a product named "illustrator" doesn't have a basic tool for illustrating.

I know I'm not the only one who would use this, not to mention the many times I've just not bothered with Illustrator simply because it's too slow to show a client want I am looking for.

Please Adobe, add in this simple feature. I want to be able to design a box, and show how big it is without

manually drawing lines
adding arrows
selecting the line (lines if i put text between line rather than over)
copying dimension (provided it is 100% vertical or horizontal)
pasting & centring text
adding parallel lines near to the end points of the object

All this should be done in 1-2 step.

A Dimension tool - click and dragging it out of each side

A Filter - that can do more than one side at a time / could do more than one object at a time

It can't be that complicated. CAD programs have had this for 40 years.

to be clear, I am not looking to make Illustrator a CAD program, there is a plug in for that by Hot Door - CADtools. I just want a dimensioning tool.

thanks.

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Doug Habben

Known Participant

Dimension_72a (Mac only plug-in, CS6 & CC) is available for 20 USD at worker72a.com.

• Adds dimensions in inches, MM, CM and pixels with optional scale factor

• Overall or Segment dims

• Includes path tool that displays length and angle as you draw

• 30 day money back guarantee

C

chrisdpage7717237Author

Known Participant

looks like 72a doesn't work for CC 2014 or 2015

thanks though guys.

maybe someone at Adobe will realize they forgot this tool and add it in an update in 2020... pun intended.

Doug Habben

Known Participant

There is a CS6 version and a CC version. If you had a problem with the CC version, please contact me. Thanks.

JackBlaguar

Participant

chrisdpage (and anyone else interested),

As a designer for a major national sign company, and part of a team who just upgraded from CS6 to CC, and has CADtools 9 by HotDoor, I can say that our entire design team is encountering problems whenever anyone updates either CC or CADtools. I've put off updating either of them in hopes of finding a forum that can verify that conflicts have been worked out. Right now, I'm one of the few that still has functioning dimension tools. What a train wreck.

So, for those jumping on the hotdoor solution, just be aware that the only correctly functioning configuration at this time is Adobe CC 18.0 and CADtools [up to] 9.02. Updating past either of those program versions renders CADtools almost useless.