Default drawing units

Hi guys,

I recently moved country and need to use imperial for the first time. I'm having trouble with making my Autocad 2013 open in imperial. When I open a drawing someone has created in imperial it opens in metric and just causes a big mess if I don't catch on and change it straight away. How do I get it to open in imperial every time? Google has gotten me nowhere.

Cheers!

Hi guys,

 

I recently moved country and need to use imperial for the first time. I'm having trouble with making my Autocad 2013 open in imperial. When I open a drawing someone has created in imperial it opens in metric and just causes a big mess if I don't catch on and change it straight away. How do I get it to open in imperial every time? Google has gotten me nowhere.

 

Cheers!

Installing Civil 3D *should* have provided both an Imperial, and Metric application icon, which loads the respective default Profile for same using the /p switch.

Not sure how your setup has been implemented, but OOTB this would have the following for Target value of the application icon (right click, Properties, Shortcut tab):

"C:\Program Files\Autodesk\AutoCAD 2015\acad.exe" /ld "C:\Program Files\Autodesk\AutoCAD 2015\\AecBase.dbx" /p "[color="red"]<<C3D_Imperial>>[/color]" /product "C3D"

HTH

As far as I know, units are assigned to the drawing file. (I'm not sure how C3D fits into this. Unless, I missed something.)

How are you determining what units are assigned to the file that you are opening and the units assigned when you open it?

I'm not sure how C3D fits into this. Unless, I missed something.

Perhaps I've missed something - I've never heard of someone using Imperial/Metric for non-vertical, such as C3D which inherently uses these since first release (I'm certain folks do, I just happen to work in Civil *shrugs*).

You're correct about Units being saved to drawing, even for vertical such as C3D... Toolspace, Settings tab, Drawing Settings dialog, Units and Zone:

Sorry for taking so long, I have been away.

Thanks for the replies.

So when I started 2010 was installed as the last guy didn't like 2013. For that it was presented just like two different programs, I could open in either metric or imperial. That opened everything in imperial if I opened a drawing. They updated me to 2013 and now there is only one option to start autocad and it opens everything in metric until I go to units and set imperial to default for each drawing. After this they are fine from then on. They must be drawn in imperial though as all dimensions are feet and inches. I'm stumped.

Cheers

I'm confused and I don't think it's the beer.

How are you changing from Metric to Imperial?

It's my understanding, and I could be wrong, the difference between the two shortcuts is the default templates, etc. that are set as default. It shouldn't affect the unit settings of existing drawings.

Sorry for taking so long, I have been away.

 

Thanks for the replies.

 

So when I started 2010 was installed as the last guy didn't like 2013. For that it was presented just like two different programs, I could open in either metric or imperial. That opened everything in imperial if I opened a drawing. They updated me to 2013 and now there is only one option to start autocad and it opens everything in metric until I go to units and set imperial to default for each drawing. After this they are fine from then on. They must be drawn in imperial though as all dimensions are feet and inches. I'm stumped.

 

Cheers

The fact that the dimensions are displaying in Architectural/Imperial does not mean that the drawing was necessarily done on an Imperial template.

Try entering MEASUREMENT at the commandline, and report back what response you get, it will be either for Imperial, or for Metric.

Rob is correct, the two different switches would (most likely) simply target different templates, one being Imperial and the other Metric.

Again, that variable is saved in the drawing. If the issue is as the OP is describing, then the drawings were not set-up properly. I didn't see it at first but can now see why this might be an issue. I had forgotten that the metric template points to a different set of linetypes and hatch patterns, but that is just speculation as to what the real issue is here. We need a better explanation from the OP.

Rob: So currently I'm just changing each drawing using UNITS and setting each drawing to default but not resizing and that works fine as long as I remember for each drawing.

Dadgad: I opened up one of the drawings I haven't changed and it is set at 0 with the measurement command and when I open up units command that is in metric.

The issue I'm having is everytime I forget to set the defaults, I rush through and add in xrefs, copy pastes and all this stuff and then when I got to put it all together it is all at the wrong scale/different units. It is just a loss of time thing and just an issue I don't think has to exist. Or maybe it does, I don't know as I said I have never had to deal with imperial and metric/imperial stuff before.

Cheers

Are you opening existing drawings and needing to change the units or are you starting new drawings from a template?

End all doubt about what is going on by attaching a copy of one of these problematic drawings to your next post. Someone here will take a look at it and advise accordingly.

Dadgad: I opened up one of the drawings I haven't changed and it is set at 0 with the measurement command and when I open up units command that is in metric.

The fact that the Measurement setting in the drawing is implies that it was probably created on an Imperial template. Not NECESSARILY, but highly likely.

I agree with ReMark, this is all speculation, without an actual .dwg file.

Rather than just changing UNITS, you would do well to create a copy of your working file, upon which you can explore the -DWGUNITS command, and the numerous options which it provides, and settings which it can correct or change, if you tell it to. Read the commandline CAREFULLY, it is a wonderful tool, but you have to be careful what you tell it to do. Take your time checking it out, as it is a reasonably comprehensive solution to lots of different problems when receiving drawings from others.

For STARTING a new drawing, create a personalized template with all of the settings, text, dimension & table styles, layers and just about anything else you frequently use, starting from an appropriate Imperial of Metric based template. Once you have done that, in your OPTIONS, on the Files tab, in TEMPLATE SETTINGS, designate that custom template to be your default QNEW Template. In that way when you start a new drawing, you hit the ground running, with most of your favorite stylistic ducks, layers, units and everything else in a row. Or, easier still if you have a drawing which you feel is definitive, in those ways, you can do a SAVE AS and specify .dwt file type, thus easily creating a new template. You may want to erase everything from the drawing (maybe not if you want to keep an existing drawing sheet, for example), but DON"T PURGE it, lest much of what you are trying to preserve for your default template be deleted (Unused Layers being a good example).

Barring that, at least check in the Template Settings and confirm that the default QNEW template is an appropriate one, for the majority of your work. For Metric, you might want to specify ACADISO.dwt, for instance, & for Imperial units, ACAD.dwt .

Thanks guys.

I have attached a drawing file.

I will give that stuff a go throughout the day. I know I have played around with some settings I found googling this problem but I can't remember which I tried so I'll go through all you recommended. I have used autocad for a long time now but I have never had to play around with this unit stuff apart from accuracy.

151.dwg

If this is the original file before you played with it, it has been drawn in millimeters and the dimstyle is converting the measurements to imperial but the conversion is multiplied somehow. I now understand your confusion.

Everything is Imperial when I open it, I draw a pline 120, it measures and dimensions 10'-0".

Command: pl

PLINE

Specify start point:

Current line-width is 0'-0"

Specify next point or [Arc/Halfwidth/Length/Undo/Width]: 120

Command: di

DIST

Specify first point:

Specify second point or [Multiple points]:

Distance = 10'-0", Angle in XY Plane = 0.00000000, Angle from XY Plane =

0.00000000

Delta X = 10'-0", Delta Y = 0'-0", Delta Z = 0'-0"

Command:

DIST

Specify first point: *Cancel*

Command: *Cancel*

Command: dli

DIMLINEAR

Specify first extension line origin or :

Specify second extension line origin:

Specify dimension line location or

[Mtext/Text/Angle/Horizontal/Vertical/Rotated]:

Dimension text = 10'-0"

You are correct. I just looked at the settings for units and stopped without actually drawing anything.

After drawing, have a look at the properties or do a list on that 10' object.

Command: list

1 found

LWPOLYLINE Layer: "0"

Space: Model space

Handle = 4fd01

Open

Constant width 0'-0"

area 0.00 square in. (0.0000 square ft.)

length 10'-0"

at point X=14'-10 17/32" Y=173'-7 1/16" Z= 0'-0"

at point X=24'-10 17/32" Y=173'-7 1/16" Z= 0'-0"

We are getting different results.

Thanks guys.

 

I have attached a drawing file.

 

I will give that stuff a go throughout the day. I know I have played around with some settings I found googling this problem but I can't remember which I tried so I'll go through all you recommended. I have used autocad for a long time now but I have never had to play around with this unit stuff apart from accuracy.

I opened your drawing and ran -DWGUNITS on it. The drawing units reported were , designating mms.

Meaning that if you draw a line and specify length of 1000, it will draw a line one meter long. Because the drawing units in the drawing are mms, areas and volumes will be reported in mms also.

I then ran the MEASUREMENT command, and the commandline response was , indicating that the hatch and linetypes in use in the drawing are Imperial, not Metric (a response of would be appropriate for a Metric drawing).

The fact that it is a Metric drawing does not prohibit the use of Architectural dimension styles.

If you look at the screenshot, you will see that I scaled up the entire drawing by a scale of 25.4, as the mms in which the drawing was created were being treated as inches.

I then applied a scaling factor to the dimension style in use, being 1/25.4=0.0393700787.

I then redrew a dimension on the properly sized drawing, and lo and behold. All good in the 'hood.

The fact that the MEASUREMENT system variable was set to 0, inclines me to believe that it was drawn on an Imperial template, which is supported by the display on the ALTERNATE UNITS tab in the dimstyle manager, which shows a default scale factor of 25.4.

Might you have changed the units of this drawing, without rescaling it?

Only now, as I write this, do I see, that is exactly what has happened to this drawing.

Use the -DWGUNITS command, and reset the drawing units to , leave everything else as it is in the drawing, do NOT rescale it.

If you do it that way you will not need to change the scale factor in the dimstyle, as it will already be okay, left as 1.

Then too you will not need to reset the MEASUREMENT system variable to , as this is meant to be an Imperial drawing, so the current setting of is appropriate.

I know this can get confusing, which was why I suggested going very slowly through the -dwgunits command prompts, and working on a copy of your original file. I hope this helps shed a little light on your day.

BUSTED! I just noticed this, from your ealier post!

"Rob: So currently I'm just changing each drawing using UNITS and setting each drawing to default but not resizing and that works fine as long as I remember for each drawing."

That is NOT a great idea, unless you are hoping to confuse the crap out of everyone else who ever works with your drawings.

They could either be left METRIC with mms as the drawing units, and Architectural formatted dimensions,

or they could be converted by using the -DWGUNITS command to Imperial units for Inches, and if you do that you should also use the SCALE function offered, by responding with Y at the commandline scaling prompt.

The way you address this issue would be dependent upon how it is dealt with, within your company, or based upon the requirements or expectations of the client.

Once again though, in my opinion, if you intend to do a new IMPERIAL based drawing, from scratch, better to use an Imperial template right from the start.

Additionally, there is yet another option, which would be using a dimension style with ALTERNATE UNITS enabled, and so displaying both Imperial and Metric measurements with each dimension.

I'm glad you sorted this out, Dadgad. I had a feeling it was something like that but didn't have a chance to drill down that far. Also, the feet and inches to mm conversion doesn't just happen in my head.

I'm not sure why you mentioned my name here, though.

BUSTED! Rob: So currently I'm just changing each drawing using UNITS and setting each drawing to default but not resizing and that works fine as long as I remember for each drawing.

Unless... you are referring to my comment about it being the original file before he started playing with it.