You might remember a while ago I told you about a new way to measure geometry in AutoCAD LT 2010 and 2011. MEASUREGEOM is a handy little feature, because it combines a lot of different measurement types and has a nice heads-up display for visual results. But it turns out that the good old DIST command also includes one of the MEASUREGEOM functions – the ability to measure the distance between multiple points. (Note: Don’t get DIST confused with DISTANCE. The first is a command; the second is a read-only system variable that stores the last value of the DIST command. Of course, the command alias DI works too.) After you start DIST, pick your first point, then check out the command line. Notice there’s an option to enter M, for Multiple. Once you do, you get a bunch more options, including Arcs. As you continue to select points, whether along lines or around arcs, the running total is displayed on the command line. Pretty neat, isn’t it? I’m not sure when this was introduced (I don’t have access to all my old versions today), but it’s at least good through 2010. If someone wants to check an earlier version and let me know the result, I’ll update the post.

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