Reading a Measurement Window

With two or more cubes, a thin line runs between each pair of cube centers, and a measurement window floats over the middle of it. This page walks through every field on that window. All measurements run center to center.

The line and its markers

Three tiny white spheres sit along the line, marking its 1/4, 1/2, and 3/4 points. The middle one is the exact midpoint between the two cubes — useful any time you need a center point (see How To - Find a Deck Center and How To - Find a Canvas Center).

LEVEL

A spirit level, like the bubble level in a toolbox. It reads one of two ways, and the card's title tells you which:

  • LEVEL / Horizontal — for two cubes side by side. The bubble drifts toward the higher side; centered means the two cube centers are at the same height.
  • LEVEL / Vertical — for two cubes stacked nearly straight up and down. Now it acts like a plumb vial, showing whether the line between them is truly vertical.

The app switches between the two automatically, based on how the cubes are arranged. See Action - Use the Spirit Level, Slope, and Pitch.

TOTAL DISTANCE

The straight‑line distance between the two cube centers, shown three ways at once:

  • METRIC — centimeters under a meter, meters at or above.
  • DECIMAL IMPERIAL — inches under a foot, feet (as a decimal) at or above.
  • IMPERIAL — feet and inches with fractions to the nearest 1/64 inch, finer than a tape measure reads.

AXIS BREAKDOWN

The same distance split three ways — how far apart the cubes are along X, Y, and Z — each in metric, decimal imperial, and fractional imperial. The Y row is the pure height difference; the X and Z rows are the sideways and front‑to‑back gaps.

The bottom strip: ANGLE, SLOPE, PITCH

This strip describes the tilt of the line:

  • ANGLE — how many degrees the line rises above level. 0° is dead level; 90° would be straight up.
  • SLOPE — the rise over the run as a percent. A line that climbs 5 cm for every 100 cm across reads 5%. Straight up reads ∞ (infinity), because there is no run.
  • PITCH — the same steepness in builder's units, three ways: metric (millimeters of rise per meter), decimal (feet per foot), and imperial (inches of rise per foot, the classic "rise in run"). These are the numbers used for ramps, drains, and roofs (see How To - Assess a Handicap Ramp).

The footer names the two cubes this window belongs to, for example "CUBE A TO CUBE C."

Minimized form

Minimized, the window shrinks to a small tag showing the two cube letters and the distance between them. Maximize it to see the full breakdown again. See Action - Minimize, Maximize, and Resize Windows.

A note on what is measured

Every value here is center to center. To measure a real thing, put each cube's center on the feature you care about. Showing the pivot point makes that easier (see Action - Show the Pivot Point and Axes and Concept - Pivot Point).