Skewing Dimension Lines

At times, you might need to force the extension lines to take on an angle other than 90 ° to the dimension line. This is a common requirement of isometric drawings, in which most lines are at 30 ° or 60 ° angles instead of 90 °. To facilitate non-orthogonal dimensions like these, AutoCAD offers the Oblique option:

1. Choose Dimension   Oblique or type Ded O . You can also select the Dimension Edit tool from the Dimension toolbar and then type O .

2. At the Select objects: prompt, pick the aligned dimension at the upper-right of the drawing and press to confirm your selection.

3. At the Enter obliquing angle (Press enter for none): prompt, enter 60 for 60 degrees. The dimension will skew so that the extension lines are at 60 °, as shown in Figure 9.23.

   
   Figure 9.23: A dimension using the Oblique option

4. Exit AutoCAD.