Converting Measure to Artwork

To convert a Dynamic Measure into editable artwork, click the “Convert Measure Button,” which is the small icon that looks like a down arrow. While the cursor is over the button, the measure and its data will become bolder as a visual indication of the convert operation.

Dynamic Measure - Converting measures into artwork

To convert all existing measures into artwork, hover the cursor over the text area of any measure and click with the Shift key held down.

The new art is created in a new layer at the top of the layer stack named “Dynamic Measure” (unless such a named layer already exists, in which case that existing layer is used). Each measure is created as a separate group, making it easy to hide or delete one. When first created, the “Dynamic Measure” layer is locked by default, but if you unlock it, it will be left that way.

By default, Dynamic Measure uses a 0.25 pt black rule for the measure line and arrowheads and 8pt/8pt type (with all other characteristics being inherited from the Normal style) for the text data. Dynamic Measure creates both a new graphic style and a new character style for these items the first time you convert measures to paths, both with the name “Dynamic Measure” (unless styles with this name already exist, in which case they are used as is). You can therefore change the look of all of the converted measures — for instance, color, thickness of the line, type style — by simply editing these styles.