Units and numbers
How lengths are shown
Section titled “How lengths are shown”In the settings, Units chooses how lengths are written everywhere: Metres, Centimetres or Millimetres, and with metres how many Decimals (1, 2 or 3). A few fields keep a unit of their own whatever you choose, because it is the one people use for them: a wall’s thickness and a plate’s height in centimetres, a floor’s joints in millimetres, angles in degrees.
Language and formats chooses how numbers are written (a comma or a point before the decimals) and dates; As the language follows the language you use Blupinta in.
What a length field understands
Section titled “What a length field understands”You can type a length the way you would say it. A number with no unit is in your unit; a unit written wins.
| You type | It means (with metres as your unit) |
|---|---|
3,45 or 3.45 |
3.45 m: a comma or a point |
345 cm |
3.45 m |
3450 mm |
3.45 m |
3 m 45 |
3.45 m: centimetres after the metres, as said aloud |
2,40+0,15 |
2.55 m: sums… |
3 m - 12 cm |
2.88 m: …and differences |
Where a length can be below zero (a level’s elevation under the ground), a sign in front is read too: -3, or
-3 m + 20 cm for −2.80 m (the sign belongs to the first term only).
Anything else is refused, and the field says why in red; EscEsc puts the value back. A value out of its limits says them (“Between … and …”).
Dragging and stepping a number
Section titled “Dragging and stepping a number”Most numbers can also be dragged by their label: ⇧Shift goes ten times faster, ⌥Alt ten times slower, and the arrow keys step it (see Typing and dragging numbers). How far you drag for one step is in the settings’ Editor (Dragging numbers).