Hey - 3d artist here. When you're working with CAD/Solidworks drawings, you can import them directly into 3ds max as paths (2d shapes), and work with them in the viewport with accurate dimensions. I would be very surprised if that wasn't the typical Ikea workflow.
Failing that, I've heard of some artists actually whipping out calipers to take measurements from real-world pieces, but it seems like that method would defeat the purpose in this case.
Failing that, I've heard of some artists actually whipping out calipers to take measurements from real-world pieces, but it seems like that method would defeat the purpose in this case.