Drafting to scale in AutoCad...

[LaLaDavies]

Hey everyone,
I have an assignment on producing the architectural drawing set of Palladio's Villa Cornaro. For my floor plan, i'm supposed to use the scale 1/16=1'-0"...now the weird part is that my professor gave us the plan print out and he asked us to measure the plan using an architecture scale on the printout then do it on autocad. My question is how do i do that? i mean he said to use 1/16 scale on the architecture ruler and on autocad..can someone please explain to me how? i emailed him already, he is taking forever to reply...please help..

[Dadgad]

Welcome to the forum.

When working with Autocad you ALWAYS draw everything at full scale 1:1, in your MODELSPACE.
That is true whether you are doing subatomic studies, or astrophysics.

You will later apply whatever scale is appropriate by using a VIEWPORT in PAPERSPACE to scale it onto your sheet for printing.

You may find this previous post by ReMark informative.
http://www.cadtutor.net/forum/showth...bout-Viewports.

If that was news to you, then you might do well to watch the following video too.
http://www.infiniteskills.com/demos/...-demo/0310.mp4

The instructions, as you describe them sound strange.
Was that your interpretation of them, or do you have any written instructions for this exercise from your instructor?

[ReMark]

All you are doing is measuring off the plan and then inputting those measurements into AutoCAD. As Dadgad has mentioned you draw your floor plan at FULL size. AutoCAD doesn't care if you are drawing a paperclip or the world's longest suspension bridge you still draw it at FULL size. "Scale" only comes into play once we switch to our paper space layout and utilize a viewport. It is the viewport that a scale is assigned to and NOT the objects back in model space. When all is said and done and you have plotted your drawing your teacher wants to be able to take his architect's scale out and double-check your noted dimensions.

[LaLaDavies]

so i have a print out of a plan i'm supposed to draft. How do i do this on AutoCad? The scale i'm supposed to use is 1/16= 1' - 0". I cannot find 1/16 on an architecture ruler. Am i supposed to measure the plan on the paper and then do it on AutoCad...help anyone...very new to Architecture drafting and using Autocad....

[ReMark]

Haven't we covered this already?

You draw all your objects in model space at FULL size. You do NOT scale anything in model space as though you were doing the drawing on a drafting board. When you are done you switch to a paper space layout and create a viewport. It is the viewport that a scale is assigned to and not the objects back in model space. Think of a viewport as a "window" which allows you to see the objects you created back in model space. As you get closer to the window objects look larger. As you back away from the window objects look smaller. Make sense?

I see I was correct. Dadgad and I covered this in your very first thread here at CADTutor that you have basically duplicated here.

Go back and read our comments. http://www.cadtutor.net/forum/showth...ale-in-AutoCad...

I would also suggest you look at the links Dadgad supplied this morning.

[ReMark]

"Am i supposed to measure the plan on the paper and then do it on AutoCad"

I'm pretty sure this is what your instructor had in mind unless of course he gave you a fully dimensioned copy of the drawing. Scaling off the plan will only work IF it was plotted to a recognizable architectural scale.

Is this a residence or a commercial building?

Yes, you can measure in sixteenths using an architectural scale. The edge that has whole inches is subdivided into sixteenths.

[JD Mather]

Let's keep it as simple as possible.
Measure the length of one line (in inches) on the drawing.
How long is it?

[LaLaDavies]

i'm sorry i honestly did not know you replied...so you are saying i should just draw the plan without measuring it and then when i change to paper space then i can assign the 1/16 scale through viewport...i'm sorry i know my question is probably so basic but i honestly don't know....sorry

[LaLaDavies]

it's the villa cornaro

[ReMark]

One question: Does the plan your professor gave you have any dimensions on it or not? Yes/No/What is a dimension?

If the answer is "no" but your professor told you it was drawn/plotted to a scale of 1/16"=1'-0" then you would have to scale off the plan to obtain all your dimensions.