I would like to know the best way to precisely position circles (Screw holes for my design) based on their central points.

What I would like to do is define a number of screw holes that all need to be cut out of a solid to the same depth with exact measurements to various edges.

The size of the screw holes may change, so I would like to work with the centre position of the holes (circles) not the edges.

As far as I can tell the constraint tool only works with measurements from the edge of the circle not the centre.
Is there some way to precisely constrain circles based on their centre?

One solution I though might work (but I haven't tried yet) would be to mark the centres with points which could be precisely constrained
and then create circles (Screw holes) concentrically constrained with these points.

Can anyone advise the best way to proceed?

Thanks for the reply.

I'm a newbie using Viacad Pro v11 for the first time.

The 'Smart Dimension' tool does exactly what I wanted (and very easily!!)- I had assumed this was an advanced function because of the complexity of the icon.

I was trying to use the 'offset constraint'.

Just for the record I was able to produce an accurate 2D sketch using 'offset constrained points' with 'circles concentrically constrained to these points'.

thanks again


Terry