Drafting to scale in AutoCad...

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..

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/showthread.php?72972-Things-you-should-know-about-Viewports.

 

If that was news to you, then you might do well to watch the following video too.

http://www.infiniteskills.com/demos/movie-player.php?h=685&w=890&movie=http://iskills-media.s3.amazonaws.com/autocad2012beg-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?

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.

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....

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/showthread.php?73302-Drafting-to-scale-in-AutoCad...

 

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

"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.

Let's keep it as simple as possible.

Measure the length of one line (in inches) on the drawing.

How long is it?

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

it's the villa cornaro

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.

actually it has a dimension of 1/16 = 1' -0' and he told that it was plotted to a scale of the same dimension..

That is not a dimension.

 

Let's keep it as simple as possible.

Measure the length of one line (in inches) on the drawing.

How long is it?

The length of one line in inches is 2.9

1/16"=1'-0" is a scale and not a dimesnion just as 1/8"=1'-0" and 1/4"=1'-0" which are common scales for architectural drawings in the United States. Your "villa" is in Italy. The plans wouldn't normally be in imperial units but in metric units.

2.9"? What kind of scale are you using? Are you sure it isn't an "engineering" scale?

you said measure in inches, i used a normal scale or ruler...was i supposed to measure using an architecture scale?

 

currently regretting i chose this class as one of my electives...its sooo complicated...doesn't help if the professor is not clear also...

There are 16/16 in one inch.

You have 2.9 inches.

Therefore you have 46.4/16.

Each 1/16 on paper is = 1' in real world

Therefore draw your line as 46.4' (which is equal to 46'-4 51/64") in AutoCAD.

Next line? (see - we can finish this line-by-line)

you said measure in inches, i used a normal scale or ruler...was i supposed to measure using an architecture scale?

 

currently regretting i chose this class as one of my electives...its sooo complicated...doesn't help if the professor is not clear also...

You are quite right. Architectural Drafting is not a good "Elective". At least it's not the kind you pick because you need a tech credit and have no clue what a volt or a molecule is. Aw come on, laugh, I'm kidding around.

 

The confusion arose by your stating that your line was 2.9 long. Is that 2 and 9 tenths of an inch, or 2' - 9" long, or 2 and 9/16"? What's the dot for?

 

OK, a scale is two different things used for exactly the same thing, at exactly the same time. A scale is a stick with marks on it. A scale is also the marks on the stick. A scale is not a ruler. Rulers do not exist in a drafting class.

 

Since, as far as I know, there are no rulers (scales) with inches divided into tenths in common use, my money says you have a combination scale, often given to or suggested to students to buy for drafting classes, rather than an architectural or engineers scale and you've measured something that is 0.29 feet long on your paper by mistakenly using the engineer's full size 'foot'.

 

Let me know if I am mistaken about that. I probably am mistaken. I was mistaken about being awake enough to type this much without editing it 11 times.

 

In either case you will need to represent your dimensions in the proper manner. Measurements are not like words. If they are misspelled, improperly punctuated, or misspoken, something will break, or not fit together. The numbers, dots, dashes, ticks and quotes, even spaces, all have to be in exactly the right place.

 

The full scale side of a combo scale is one foot long, divided into 1/10's & hundredths of a foot on the engineer's side, and oposite it, you will find the full size scale "ruler" with inches divided all the way down to 1/32's as we like them in the architectural world.

 

Since a Combo scale is just that, you will find only the most common 5 architectural scales and 5 engineer's scales on it. With the exception of the full size "one foot ruler" blade, there are two scales per side of each of the three blades. The non-combo version of each, has 11 different scales on it, the full size 'foot', and two scales per each of the other 5 sides, running from oposite ends of the same side, with each of these two being half or double of the other scale on the same side.

 

1/16" = 1'-0" is usually only used in very large structure drafting and it is pretty uncommon to find it on an architectural scale. Just use the 1/8" scale and multiply by 2. If your line is 2'-9" (33") long using the 1/8" scale, then it is 5'-6" (66") long in full size.

 

The other day, I was drawing up a fairly complicated pool bar for one of the hotels here in Orlando. I missplaced my architectural scale for a while, no simple ruler handy either, and I still had to work from architectural plans that had the usual dose of nebulosity added into the dimensioning thinking process. There were places I had to scale (measure) stuff right off the paper plans printed at 1/8" - 1'-0". I took a piece of post-it, held it along a line of known length (3'-0") on the plans, and made tick marks 3'-0" apart along one edge of the post-it, and then subdivided it a little further at one end by using another object that was dimensioned at 6". I got me a 1/8" scale then, made of paper. Good to go. It helped a little bit for what I was doing at the time.

Edited October 10, 2012 by Dana W
Too sleepy to do it right the first 10 times.

Hey Dana,

sorry it took me a while to get back to you...just got out of class....

i used a normal ruler to measure the line of the plan...ha ha ha ...i know...now i dunno what to do, i emailed some of my classmates..they are as confused as i am...can we please start from the beginning and you can explain everything all over again please..

should i post a picture of the plan.