The Units and Angles panel defines how lengths, areas, angles and other numerical values are entered, displayed and interpreted in ARCHLine.XP.

These settings affect numerical input, dimensions, drawing-specific units, area calculations, angle measurement and the formatting of values displayed in the project.

Location:
File > Options > Units and Angles

Unit configuration options

Primary unit of measurement

Defines the primary length unit used in the project.

Typical units include:

• millimetres (mm)
• centimetres (cm)
• metres (m)
• feet and inches

The selected unit is used as the main unit when entering and displaying length values.

For example, when the primary unit is set to mm, entering 2500 represents a length of 2500 mm.

Rounding Off, decimals or closest fraction (inch)

Defines the precision used when displaying values in the selected primary unit.

For metric units, the setting determines the rounding precision or number of meaningful decimal places used for displayed values.

For imperial units, it can also determine the closest fractional inch used for displaying dimensions.

For example, a rounding value of 0.1 displays metric dimensions with a precision of one tenth of the selected unit.

The rounding setting affects the displayed value. It does not reduce the internal geometric accuracy of the model.

Drawing and printing specific measurement unit

Defines the physical measurement unit used for properties whose size is related to the printed output rather than to the model geometry.
For example, the project may use metres as the primary unit while certain drawing-related values are represented in millimetres.

This includes properties such as:

• lineweight,
• font size,
• hatch-related sizes,
• dimension marker size,
• and other paper-based graphical properties.

These values represent physical sizes on the printed sheet and therefore remain independent of the model scale where applicable.

For example, a text height defined as 2.5 mm represents a 2.5 mm high text on the printed drawing.

ARCHLine.XP uses physical units for graphical properties such as lineweights; these remain constant regardless of the view scale and are printed in real units. 

Rounding Off, decimals or closest fraction (inch)

Defines the display precision for values using the drawing and printing specific measurement unit.

This setting works in the same way as the primary-unit rounding setting but applies to the drawing and printing related measurements.

Area unit of measurement (and volume)

Defines the unit used to display calculated areas and corresponding volume values.

For example:

• mm²
• cm²
• m²
• ft²

When m² is selected, calculated floor areas, room areas and other surface values are displayed in square metres.

Rounding Off, decimals or closest fraction (inch)

Defines the rounding precision used when displaying area and volume values.

For example, a value of 0.12 allows area values to be displayed with the corresponding decimal precision.

The setting changes the displayed precision but does not modify the actual geometry from which the area or volume is calculated.

Alternative area unit

Area alternative unit enabled

Enables a secondary area unit.

When this option is active, area values can also be represented using an alternative unit in addition to the primary area unit.

This can be useful when documentation needs to present areas according to two different measurement conventions.

Alternate unit custom multiplier

Defines the conversion multiplier used to calculate the alternative area value.

The primary area value is converted using the specified multiplier.

Alternate unit name

Defines the unit name or abbreviation displayed for the alternative area unit.

This allows a custom unit designation to be assigned to the converted value.

Decimal separator

Accept comma (,) as decimal separator during input

Determines whether a comma can be interpreted as a decimal separator when numerical values are entered.

When enabled, values such as:

12,5

can be interpreted as decimal values.

When disabled, the comma can instead be used as a separator for coordinate input, which provides AutoCAD-compatible coordinate entry. In that mode, the decimal point should be entered using a period (.). (ArchLine.XP Help)

For example:

3, 4

can represent the coordinates X = 3, Y = 4 when comma-as-decimal-input is disabled.

Display decimal separators on drawings as

Defines which decimal separator ARCHLine.XP uses when displaying numerical values on drawings.

The System default option follows the decimal separator configured in the operating system.

Depending on the available options, the display format can therefore follow regional conventions, for example:

1250.5

or

1250,5

This setting is particularly useful when drawings are prepared for countries using different numerical formatting conventions.

Angle Measure

Defines the unit and display format used for entering and displaying angular values in ARCHLine.XP. Three angle measurement formats are available: Decimal Degrees, Deg/Min/Sec, and Grad.

Decimal Degrees

Displays angles in degrees expressed as decimal numbers. A complete circle is 360°. The fractional part of the angle is expressed as a decimal fraction of one degree. 

Examples:

• 45°
• 45.5°
• 90°
• 135.25°

For example:

45.5° = 45° 30′

Decimal Degrees is the most convenient format for general architectural and CAD work because angular values can be entered and calculated directly as decimal numbers.

Deg/Min/Sec

Displays angles using Degrees, Minutes and Seconds (DMS).

In this system:

1 degree = 60 minutes
1 minute = 60 seconds

The conventional symbols are:

° = degree
′ = minute
″ = second

For example:

45° 30′ 00″

represents the same angle as:

45.5°

Another example:

30° 15′ 30″ = 30.258333...°

The conversion to decimal degrees is:

Decimal Degrees = Degrees + Minutes / 60 + Seconds / 3600

DMS notation is commonly used where traditional angular notation or geographical/surveying data must be represented precisely. 

Grad

Displays angles in gradians, also known as grads.

Unlike the degree system, which divides a complete circle into 360 parts, the gradian system divides a complete circle into 400 grads. Therefore:

400 grad = 360°
200 grad = 180°
100 grad = 90°
1 grad = 0.9°

For example:

The gradian system is particularly associated with surveying and triangulation and provides a decimal division of a right angle into exactly 100 units. 

Recommended use: surveying and engineering workflows where gradian/gon angular measurement is required.

Example – the same angle in all three formats

The selected Angle Measure changes how the angle is represented; it does not change the actual geometry.

Thus, changing Angle Measure allows the project to follow the angular notation required by the user's discipline or local drafting standard.

Note: The Rounding Off, decimals or closest fraction setting below Angle Measure controls the displayed precision of the selected angle format.

Rounding Off, decimals or closest fraction (inch)

Defines the precision used when displaying angular values.

For example, a value such as 0.12 determines the corresponding decimal precision used for displayed angles.

This setting affects the representation of the angle, not the internal geometric accuracy.

Angle Direction

Defines the convention ARCHLine.XP uses to determine the positive direction and reference direction of angles.

Three angle direction modes are available:

• Counter-clockwise
• Clockwise
• Topographical

The selected direction convention affects how angles are entered and interpreted during drawing, rotation and other angle-based operations.

Counter-clockwise

Angles increase in the counter-clockwise direction.

This is the standard mathematical and Cartesian coordinate convention. The zero direction is normally the positive X-axis, pointing to the right, and positive angles are measured counter-clockwise from this direction.  

With the standard reference axis:

For example, entering an angle of 45° creates a direction 45° counter-clockwise from the positive X-axis.

Clockwise

Angles increase in the clockwise direction.

The reference axis remains the same, but the positive angular direction is reversed compared with the Counter-clockwise setting. 

With the standard reference axis:

For example, entering 45° creates a direction 45° clockwise from the reference axis.

Topographical

The Topographical setting uses the convention commonly applied in surveying and topographical work.

Unlike the standard Cartesian convention, the reference direction is North (+Y) rather than the positive X-axis, and angles increase clockwise from North. This corresponds to the convention used in land surveying, where directions are measured clockwise from the northern or southern meridian.

The typical topographical convention is therefore:

For example, an angle of 45° represents a direction halfway between North and East, while 135° represents a direction halfway between East and South.

Recommended use: surveying, site plans, georeferenced projects, terrain models and workflows where directions are specified as azimuths.

Comparison of Angle Direction modes

The difference between the three settings can be illustrated by entering the same value, for example 90°:

This distinction is important when working with survey data or exchanging coordinates with other CAD, GIS or BIM applications. A direction entered as 90° does not necessarily represent the same orientation under all three conventions.

Positive axis to left direction

The Positive axis to left direction option reverses the horizontal orientation of the reference coordinate system used for angular input.

When enabled, the positive horizontal reference direction points to the left instead of the standard right-hand direction. This provides additional flexibility when ARCHLine.XP must follow a project-specific coordinate or surveying convention.

Calculator 

Use a calculator to enter the dimensions

Enables calculator-style input when editing dimensions.

When activated, numerical expressions can be used instead of entering only a final numerical value.

This can simplify drafting when a dimension must be calculated during the command rather than calculated separately beforehand.

For example, instead of calculating a value first, an arithmetic expression can be entered and ARCHLine.XP evaluates the result.

ARCHLine.XP supports the entry of numbers and arithmetic expressions through its numerical input system. 

Options saved with the project

Some settings in the Options dialog are stored as part of the current project, while others are application-level settings.

Settings marked with an asterisk (*) are saved into the project.

Therefore, when a project containing these settings is opened on another computer, the project-specific configuration is retained.

Options that are not project-specific are stored in the application's user settings and can affect other projects as well.

Recommended settings

For a typical European architectural project, a practical configuration is:

These settings provide a conventional metric drafting environment suitable for architectural and interior design documentation.