Measure This Face
Measure this face is a quick way to get the area of one flat face without going to the Measure tab. You right-click the face, pick it from the menu, and the area is written on the face. It is free on every plan and it does not change the model.
Step by Step
- Open a 3D model. The right-click menu does not open on a flat DXF drawing.
- Right-click the face you want, without moving the mouse during the click. The face lights up and the menu opens. Its top line names the part and gives the face size and area, for example a width, a height and an area.
- Click Measure this face.
- The face lights up orange and its area is written on it, in square units such as 12.5 in². The readout says Area, with the note "the highlighted flat face, holes excluded".
- The result is kept on the model as a numbered pill, the same as any other measurement. See Kept Measurements.
What Gets Measured
- The flat patch under your click: every connected triangle of the face that points the same way (within about 2.6 degrees).
- Holes and cutouts are left out, so a plate with a hole reads smaller than its outline.
- The area uses the unit and decimals you chose in the Display group on the Measure tab. Areas always show as decimals, even when lengths are set to fractions. See Units, Decimals, and Text Size.
Measure This Face or the Area Tool
Both give the area of a flat face. Measure this face works from the right-click menu on any tab and needs no tool to be armed. The Area tool stays armed so you can click one face after another, and it also measures a circle or a closed outline on a drawing.
Tips
- If you only want the numbers, the menu header already shows the face size and area. Copy face info under More in the same menu copies them as text.
- On a shared link, the sender can turn off Measuring tools. That hides the Measure button, and it also hides Measure this face and Copy face info in the right-click menu.
- Taking a new face measurement drops any measurement that is still in progress and not yet kept. Measurements you already kept stay where they are.
- To remove the result, use Delete on its pill, or Clear All on the Measure tab.
If Something Goes Wrong
- The menu does not open. You moved the mouse during the click, or held it down too long. Click again without moving. On a touch screen there is no right button, so use the Area tool instead.
- No menu on a drawing. The face menu works on 3D models only.
- A curved face gives a small number. The tool follows the flat part under the click and stops where the surface turns.
- I clicked empty space. You get the View menu (Fit view, Isometric, Front, Top, Right) instead. Right-click directly on the face.