Obtaining X and Y distance measurements with Autodesk Design Review

A Mr. Richard Feder from Fort Lee, New Jersey writes in:

Autodesk Design Review gives me the ability to measure between two points? It returns one value. How can I get the X and Y components of that value separately? Who do I look like - Pythagoras of Samos?

Boy, Mr. Feder, you sure do ask a lot of questions for a guy from New Jersey. Just the mention of the Pythagorean Theorem brings back painful high school memories. What are trying to do - make me sick?

1. Autodesk Design Review does allow you to measure the distance between two points. For example, you can take a measurement from the corner of a rectangle to the center of a circle.
   
   To get the separate X and Y distance values, the trick will be to add perpendicular lines and use points from those lines to take additional measurements.

2. Autodesk Design Review provides the ability to "snap" to geometry. It provides feedback with a small red circle to identify the point it will select. So it is easy for you to pick the exact center of the circle.
   

3. You can use line drawing tool from the markup palette to draw.
   

4. After selecting the center of the circle, by holding down the shift key while moving the mouse downward, you can constrain the line to be straight down. After drawing the first line, you can then select the corner of the rectangle. Notice how Autodesk Design Review shows the small red circle to indicate you have selected the corner point.
   

5. After selecting the corner point of the rectangle, hold the shift key down, and draw another line by moving the mouse to the right. Holding the shift key down constrains the line drawing to go straight across. You now have two perpendicular lines.
   

6. In addition to snapping to geometry in the DWF file, Autodesk Design Review also snaps to the geometry created by markups. So using the measurement tool, you can snap to the points of the lines you have drawn and get separate X and Y measurements.
   

The ability to get measurements electronically is more accurate than what can be done with calipers and traditional paper. This is another way DWF goes beyond the paper. For those of you too young to remember the original Saturday Night Live American TV show, there really is no Mr. Richard Feder.