Every type of physical product design relies on technical illustration and 2‑D drawing to concisely communicate ideas, specifications, and instructions to people in design, development, and fabrication. Our goal for Rhino 5 is to make it easier to create 2‑D drawings and illustrations for every discipline in every notation system and visual style used around the world. Major areas of enhancement include:

• More control over annotation styles
• History support for dimensions
• Text data fields in text and leaders
• Area and curve length dimensions
• Revision clouds
• Isometric views
• Draw order
• More page layout controls
• Print calibration
• High-resolution viewport capture

Details below...

Major additions and enhancements to the annotation tools mean you may no longer need to export to a 2‑D CAD product to finish your drawings.

New commands

• ConvertDots - Convert objects created with the Dot command to either point or text objects.
• DimArea - Creates text or a leader that displays the area of a closed curve, hatch, surface, or mesh.
• DimCurveLength - Creates text or a leader that displays the length of a curve.
• DupDimStyle - Creates a new dimension styles by copying an existing style.
• FindText - Searches the model for the specified text string.
• HatchBase - Sets the starting point of the pattern for existing hatches.
• HatchScale - In a layout detail, hatch patterns are scaled according to a detail's zoom factor. In model space, hatch patterns are scaled by HatchScale value.
• ImportDimStyles - Import dimension styles from other .3dm files into the current document.
• RevCloud - Draws revision cloud curves.
• ScaleDimstyle - Scale the text size in the selected dimension style.
• SetCurrentDimStyle - Sets the current dimension style.
• Text Field - Text data fields are a new feature for text and leaders. Fields are "formulas" that are evaluated while Rhino is running and the result is displayed in the text. The field options include:
  • numpages - number of layout pages in the document
  • pagenumber - current layout page number
  • pagename - current layout page name
  • notes - contents of the notes
  • date - current date syntax
  • datemodified - date this file was last saved
  • area - area of a closed curve, hatch, surface, or mesh
  • curvelength - length of a curve
  • usertext - usertext for a given object/key combination
  • documenttext - document text from the document
  • filename - path to the file
  • modelunits - active model units
• TextScale - In a layout detail, text is scaled according to a detail's zoom factor. In model space, text is scaled by TextScale value.

Enhancements

• Dimensions
  • Dimension styles have been added to the template files.
  • Scripting options for dimension style name and arrow style have been added.
  • Layout details can now be dimensioned on the layout paper and will be scaled appropriately.
    
  • History support has been added to: Dim, DimAligned, DimAngle, DimArea, DimCurveLength, DimDiameter, DimOrdinate, DimRadius, DimRotated.
• Dimensions Properties Panel
  • Match button matches the dimension properties of the selected dimension.
  • Save as New Style button creates a new dimension style using the current style and overrides.
  • Property Overrides allow suppression of the settings in dimension styles.
  • Scale button has been replaced with Scale under the Property Overrides.
  • Edit Style button opens the style page of the selected dimension object under Document Properties > Annotation > Dimension.
    
• Dim Command
  • Style is an option on all of the dimension commands.
  • Arrowheads aspect ratios of 4:1 and 6:1 are available
  • A new Continue option lets you place chained dimensions. Includes Undo option.
  • The new Object option allows selecting a curve or edge to dimension.
  • Leader: Text masks can be added as a leader property override.
• DimAngle - A new ability to select arcs or polyline arc segments has been added. Rhino automatically draws extension lines from the arc ends towards a center tic and place the angle dimension between the extension lines. The angle format now includes degrees-minutes-seconds.
• DimRadius
  • A new PointOnCurve option aids placement of the dimension. Leaders can pass through the radius center. The arrow location can be fixed at the picked location on the curve being dimensioned.
• DimRotated - Remembers the last angle used as the default for the next dimension
• EditText - Dragging the quick text edit dialog width (double-click edit) now word-wraps text.
• Hatch
  • New Set Base option sets the starting point for the hatch pattern. Set Base button has been added to the Hatch Properties page.
  • The extra confirmation for pre-picked curves has been removed.
  • A selection of standard hatch patterns always loads with Rhino.
  • In Properties, the rotation and scale update when you press Enter for the field.
  • Selecting open curves for boundaries has been improved.
  • The hatch updates as a different pattern is selected in the Properties dialog box.
  • Hatches can now use combinations of curves in details and curves in the layout.
  • Hatch patterns are previewed as they are applied with the Hatch command.
  • You can pre-select curves for a boundary hatch.
  • Patterns can be loaded from another .3dm files.
• Leader
  • A Match button has been added to the Leader Properties dialog box.
  • Special drafting symbols: ˚, ±, and Ø are supported.
  • A Text Field option has been added.
  • Property overrides and an Edit Styles option have been added to match dimensions.
  • Text is aligned to the side where the leader line leaves the text.
• LineTypeDisplay - new options:
  • PatternBySegment - Specifies whether the line pattern restarts at a kink.
  • PatternSegmentBreakAngle - Specifies the angle at which the pattern restarts for the next segment.
• Text
  • Nine Align options have been added.
  • The text height is now retained between Rhino sessions.
  • A Text Field option has been added.
  • A new Mask option hides the geometry underneath in the display and for printing. The mask color and margin can be configured.
  • Endpoint object snap will snap to the corners of the text.

New commands

• Draw Order control provides control over which 2‑D curve, text, dimension, or hatch is drawn in front of another. This new feature also controls the order the Detail Views are drawn in a Layout. The new commands are:
  • BringForward
  • BringToFront
  • ClearDrawOrder
  • SendBackWard
  • SendToBack
• DisableClippingPlane -Turns off selected clipping planes in the active viewport.
• ImportLayout - Imports layout pages from another Rhino file.
• Multipage Layout Print - Any or all of the layouts can be printed at once.
• ShowLayersInDetail - Shows layers in detail views.
• HideLayersInDetail - Hides the selected layers in detail views.
• ShowSelectedInDetail - Works just like the ShowSelected command except it only works on objects that were previously hidden with the HideInDetail command.

Enhancements

• HideInDetail - New options have been added to include/exclude the active and inactive details.
• Text and Dimension style scaling - Text and dimension can be now scaled differently in layout viewports and model viewports. This makes it easier to have text and dimension appear at the same height in different viewports when they are at different scales in a layout.
• Hybrid printing - Both raster and vector printing is used when possible to make higher quality prints.
• Make2D - Speed and accuracy improved. Clipping plane supported has been added.