about plotting with scale

[luchoab]

Hi,I am beginner in autocad and need some help ,please.I can't understand plotting with scale.Here in attached files I am showing what i am doing but there is any mistake I can't find.I prepared Model space to draw in centimetres and drew a line 40cm long.I prepared Layout at A4 and made a viewport.What I saw I think is wrong.A line 40cm long must be seen at scale 1:2 at A4 occuping 60% of the length of a paper A4 which is 29,4cm.What is wrong?Please help!

[ReMark]

I'm guessing you used the default template to start your drawing which, as it turns out, is set to use decimal inches. The template file is named acad.dwt. The one you want to use since you are working in metric units would be named acadiso.dwt. Note that this template file is set to use millimeters as its default but can be changed to another metric unit via the -dwgunits command.

[luchoab]

I'm guessing you used the default template to start your drawing which, as it turns out, is set to use decimal inches. The template file is named acad.dwt. The one you want to use since you are working in metric units would be named acadiso.dwt. Note that this template file is set to use millimeters as its default but can be changed to another metric unit via the -dwgunits command.

 

Thank you for the quick replay.I am using acadiso.dwt.Is it wrong?

[ReMark]

You are using the correct template but you are drawing in millimeters. Use the command -dwgunits and reset it to use centimeters if that is what you want to draw in. You'll have to redraw your line.

 

Edited October 27, 2015 by ReMark

[ReMark]

Should come out looking something like this:

 

 

My viewport, in magenta, has been created on its own layer.

[luchoab]

Thank you.This is the solution.But must I make this settings every time I start drawing?These units in my first picture are useless!Are they useless?

[ReMark]

Are the units useless? Only if you never want to draw using millimeters.

 

Must you change the setting every time you start a drawing? No. Set it and forget it by incorporating the change in your custom template file along with everything else you normally like to use such as linetypes, text styles, dimension styles, layers, multileader styles, etc.

[luchoab]

Thank you!!!

[rkent]

The only thing wrong was you used an A4 border drawn in mm while you were drawing in cm, so rather than a scale of 1:2 it needs to be 5:1 to account for the difference between a mm border and a cm model space.

[luchoab]

Hi rkent,I didn't understand what do you mean.I am thinking this way:

1.I draw a line 40cm long

2.When create dimension the text of dimension must be 40

3.After plotting at A4 when I measure the line 1cm will correspond to 2cm of real drawing at Model space.

Do I make any mistake?

[ReMark]

rkent:

 

What scale would you use if you were drawing this manually on a drafting board to fit on a paper size of A4?

[luchoab]

scale must be 1:2

[ReMark]

I would agree but apparently when we transition to AutoCAD / paper space / viewports, at least for metric drawings, the scale is 5:1 not 1:2. I'm been doing it wrong it seems. Glad I don't work in metric units.

Edited October 28, 2015 by ReMark

[steven-g]

Unfortunately for all the advances in Autocad, scaling remains a problem. You set your units correctly in model space to centimeters, but paperspace always remains millimeters and the standard scale list remains 1 paper unit= 1 model unit, which is 1 mm = 1 cm or in your case 1:2 1 mm = 2 cm (which means 20 mm = 40 cm). Just to confuse you even more keeping the notation used by Autodesk you should really choose the scale 5:1 (which isn't included) as rkent has said. One way to fix this is to use one scale from the list and write a different value in your title block, or alternatively edit all the standard scales in the list taking into account the proper units and then save this as a template file.

[ReMark]

I can only imagine how you'll explain setting the viewport scale in a drawing using imperial units if I wanted to show a line 240 feet long on a 8.5x11 size sheet of paper (portrait mode) yet be able to measure its length using an engineer's scale of 1"=40'. What would the viewport scale have to be?

[steven-g]

Presumably you are using a file with the units set to feet, I would create a scale and use a scale name of 1"=40' and set the units for paper space as 1 and model space units as 40. Using the same notation as Autodesk uses in their standard scales I would imagine it would read 1" = 40'-0" and would be set as 1 paper unit = 480 paper units because paper space can only be inches.

You should try working for a company where we work in mm but in house architects work in either millimeters, centimeters, meters, and decimeters. And one draws everything to scale in paperspace.

[rkent]

I would agree but apparently when we transition to AutoCAD / paper space / viewports, at least for metric drawings, the scale is 5:1 not 1:2. I'm been doing it wrong it seems. Glad I don't work in metric units.

 

The problem arises when we mix cm (MS) and mm (PS). If MS and PS are both mm then the 1:2 works, but with MS as cm then you have to adjust by a factor of 10.

[rkent]

Hi rkent,I didn't understand what do you mean.I am thinking this way:

1.I draw a line 40cm long

2.When create dimension the text of dimension must be 40

3.After plotting at A4 when I measure the line 1cm will correspond to 2cm of real drawing at Model space.

Do I make any mistake?

 

That is correct.

[luchoab]

At the end I understood.I don't set anything in Model and in Paper space scale 5:1 is what I want.It's 1:2 on a paper sheet.Thank's everybody.