How to scale a drawing in the begining

Hello,

I am new in using Autocad and my first problem is this, when I open a empty drawing and draw a line "L spacebar 100 enter" then I get almost invisible line because it is so short on the screen, to see it I must zoom in very mutch, If I draw a short line with the mouse and check the length of it then I get a number of 12 digits like "125214572145" If I on the other hand open up a ready made drawing and add a line there with the command "L spasebar 100 enter" then I get a visible line, my question is how can I scale my drawing so what I draw in the screen will be visible.

Regards

Hreiðar

The one thing you do not want to do is to "draw to scale" like one might do if their were creating a drawing on a drafting board.

I'll take a wild guess here and say you probably want to be using metric units but there is a chance you started a new drawing using an imperial template which utilizes, as a default, decimal inches.

Everything you draw in model space no matter if it is the size of a postage stamp or the size of the Great Wall of China should be drawn at FULL size and not scaled.

Have you had any AutoCAD training?

Have you looked at any of the tutorials here at CADTutor or at another website such as mycadsite.com?

The command LIMITS can help as it sets a working area if you know roughly the size of your objects to draw, say its a 100 units then limits 0,0 200,200.

The do a Zoom A it should reflect this size now, a good idea is to save this dwg for future use. Look up using a template DWT.

EDIT: I did not see the 3 hour old responses from AL and Re up yet. What gives with that?

You do not scale in the beginning. Never scale ANYTHING in modelspace.

Your problem may lie in understanding units and how to use them. The drawing you see the tiny lines in may be set up in units different than you expect, or you simply did not expect to be zoomed out so far from the point you were attempting to draw a very short line from. For instance, if your drawing units are millimeters, 100 of them would just about fit diagonally across the palm of your hand, and the initial modelspace view, before zooming could have been 500 meters wide.

What units do you wish to draw in, millimeters, meters, inches, feet?

What was the file extension of the brand new drawing that you opened? Was it acad.dwt, acadiso.dwt, or drawing1.dwg? Did you use a template, a pre-existing dwg file, or simply the Start, or + file tab.

The command sequence "L spacebar 100 enter" only gets me a starting point a random number of units from 0,0 in a random direction. It does not complete the line command. I don't understand what your command sequence is supposed to do for you.

Try this. type L, then click a starting point for your line, then drag the cursor in the direction you want the line to go, type 100, .

The command LIMITS can help as it sets a working area if you know roughly the size of your objects to draw, say its a 100 units then limits 0,0 200,200.

 

The do a Zoom A it should reflect this size now, a good idea is to save this dwg for future use. Look up using a template DWT.

If I wanted artificial limits, I would just Rect D 0,0 200 200 then click inside the rectangle. Then later, if the limit proved to be too limiting, I'd just grab a midpoint and streeeettttttttccccccchhhhh the rectangle.

I actually do this. I like to keep a separate non-plotting frame around each of the millwork packages that I am working on. For instance I may have a frame around the highly over designed reception area millwork package, and another frame around the cheap particle board & laminate break room cabinet package, and so on.

Draw your initial line then type ZOOM EXTENTS

dJE

When you open your drawing, type on the command line "viewsize". This tells you how high the current screen is. Then you will know how long your line should look in comparison to the screen.

Thank you very much, the problem is solved

You can modify your template so that the view is closer. Just open the template or start a new drawing. Make that line. Zoom to it. Erase it. Save as a template file (.dwt) over the one that is being used. If you are using one of the AutoCAD default templates, additional steps are needed to save a custom template and change the default in your profile. Do not save over one of the ones that come with AutoCAD.

Thank you very much, the problem is solved

I have to admit that it was just a bypass, because I have not been able to put the property right ones and for all, but what I did was that I used the command "Z spacebar E spacebar" if I did that before I draw a single line on the screen then everything came in a visible scale, but that is only valid for the drawing I am working in, if I open another one then I must use this command again.

Why? Is someone (yourself?) saving drawings while zoomed in to a particular area? Before getting out of a drawing by habit I will always do a Zoom > Extents and then save. I like to see the whole drawing the next time I open it. I have a coworker who always zooms into the titleblock and then saves the drawing. He says he does that so the next time he opens the drawing when he opens the drawing he'll know whether or not it's the right one.

What kinds of drawings are we talking about? Site plans? Architectural? Schematics? Other?

Zoom extents is a command that people use quite frequently. Get used to it. Most people use double click middle mouse button to activate it.

A drawing will open with the last saved view. Plan ahead.

You may have missed this the first time I posted it:

You can modify your template so that the view is closer. Just open the template or start a new drawing. Make that line. Zoom to it. Erase it. Save as a template file (.dwt) over the one that is being used. If you are using one of the AutoCAD default templates, additional steps are needed to save a custom template and change the default in your profile. Do not save over one of the ones that come with AutoCAD.