Idea for Blender feature that should already be there

I have an idea for a Blender feature, which I’m having trouble figuring out how we do without.

First of all, how do you guys create relistic objects that have accurate measurments?

My idea is that, like CAD software, there is a tool that allows you to set the dimensions of edges, distance between objects, angles between edges, etc…

For example, I want a box that is 2m x 3m x 1m

I can’t do that in Blender right now. All I can do is set the “radius” of the box. I’m sorry, but I didn’t realize boxes had freaking radii.

How has noone thought to implement a simple system of telling blender the dimensions of the objects we create?
There’s already a way to measure the distance between two points in meters or inches, so why is it so hard to go the other way, and set the distance ourselves.

This just seems like a no-brainer.

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, here is an image:


Notice the two lengths (assume they are in meters) of 11.125 and 4.5. If, in the software, I clicked on the top measurement, and changed it to 10m, the square shape would react, and its width would go down to 10m.

Why do we not have this in Blender???

If you are wondering where and how we would use it, here is a scenario:

1 - Add cube

2 - Go into EDIT mode

3 - Select two verticies, and edge, or two edges, and Press Ctrl + Alt + M to add a dimensional constraint.
If two verts, or an edge is selected, you will set the distance between the two verts or the length of the edge. If you select two edges, you will set the angle between them.

You mean… like this?

I agree that setting your starting cube with a radius is stupid, but it’s not like there aren’t options for changing the dimensions of objects in Blender…


Similar to that, but that’s not quite what I had in mind.

That works for squares and cubes, but what if I had an L-shape, or a squared U-shape?

If you press n while in edit mode (brings up menu) you can select multiple items under ‘mesh display’ such as length, area, angle on both faces and edges, plus a whole bunch of other stuff. It took me a while to find as this option is ONLY available in edit mode.

On the topic though I do think blender should have an option that draws lines across the screen (like moving an object along an axis) when multiple objects have lined up.

select starting vert, set cursor there, select end vert snap to cursor, do G, then type a axis, then type a value,

(you can move things exact distances which is what you’re looking for anyway?)

True Grid Snapping in Edit and Object Mode would help a lot too.