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The Ruler Tool is used to measure indicative distances in the Main Display Window. This can be useful if you want to quickly check measurements such as the depth of a building, or the size of a courtyard in a perimeter block.
You can choose the Ruler Tool by clicking on the Ruler Tool button on the CityCAD Toolbar.
Alternatively, if you are working in the Main Display Window and the last mouse click you made was in the 3D window, then press the keyboard shortcut 'U' to choose the select tool.
Drawing Rulers
Drawing a Ruler Quickly
The method for drawing a ruler is exactly the same as for drawing routes withe the Route tool. However, you can only draw one ruler, and if you start to draw a second ruler, or select another tool, then the ruler will disappear.
Click and drag from any point - the ruler will appear as you move the mouse cursor. The length of the ruler you are drawing will appear in white text next to the mouse cursor. When you have positioned the mouse cursor at the desired end point of the ruler, release the mouse button and the route will be displayed.
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Drawing Rulers more precisely
Click once at the start point of your ruler.
You can then either:
- Click a second time at the desired end-point of the ruler and it will be displayed.
- Position the mouse cursor in the direction that you want your ruler to go, and type in a desired length. The length of the ruler will adjust depending on what you type.
- Type a vector in the form 'x,y', press enter and the ruler will be drawn to that vector. The ruler will only measure distance between two points in the x,y plane).
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Press enter to display the ruler at the length you specify. You can cancel drawing the ruler at any time by pressing Escape.
Ruler Visualization
They only appear once
Once you have drawn a ruler, you can navigate around your model using the shortcuts below. However, if you start to draw another ruler or choose another tool, then the ruler will disappear.
Scale
The following scale marks are displayed on the ruler:
- very tall red markers at either end of the ruler
- tall dark red markers at 10m intervals
- medium black markers at 5m intervals
- short grey markers at 1m intervals
Note that the scale markers on rulers show the distance in metres, even if the unit system is set to a non-metric unit system. The length in white text next to the mouse cursor will display in whatever units have been set in the unit preferences dialog. Also, note that the 1m intervals are not displayed if the total length of the ruler is more than 100m.
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Shortcuts
If you are using the Ruler Tool, you can use the following shortcuts:
- Zoom - You can zoom in and out using the mouse wheel.
- Orbit - You can orbit around the model by holding down the mouse wheel and dragging.
- Grab- You can 'grab' the ground plane and move around the model by holding down Ctrl-key while dragging using the mouse wheel button).
- Pan - You can pan up/down or left/right by holding down Shift-key while dragging using the mouse wheel button.
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