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Need Help with scales for working in Meters


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I was hoping to do some drawing using units other than mms or inches as my drawing units ...

 

I don't understand. What is the problem? Attach your *.dwg file here.

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I don't understand. What is the problem? Attach your *.dwg file here.

 

JD I'm really curious, if you duplicate my steps in post no.12 does it work on your computer? Do you see a line drawn to a real life length of 200mm in the 1:1 viewport? thanks again

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I would like to see anybody post a dwg, with a line drawn at 0.2 units in model space, and in paper space on any size or format of paper to plot at the 1:1 scale, and get anything that doesn't measure either .2" or .2mm. You can set any variable that I can think of, to any value you want, paperspace 1:1 only accepts 1 unit as either 1 inch or 1 mm. The various unit settings only affect how objects are inserted and copied between different drawings. If you draw a line in model space 0.2 and you are working in units of 1 meter then to print that from a layout at full size you have to print to scale 1000:1.

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I would like to see anybody post a dwg, with a line drawn at 0.2 units in model space, and in paper space on any size or format of paper to plot at the 1:1 scale, and get anything that doesn't measure either .2" or .2mm. You can set any variable that I can think of, to any value you want, paperspace 1:1 only accepts 1 unit as either 1 inch or 1 mm. The various unit settings only affect how objects are inserted and copied between different drawings. If you draw a line in model space 0.2 and you are working in units of 1 meter then to print that from a layout at full size you have to print to scale 1000:1.
You know, you are exactly right. And I have thoroughly lashed myself with a wet noodle in penance.

 

My thinking was thrown off by the change to meters. I am also used to the 1:1 scale automatically working for me since I NEVER work with meters as a unit. I always either use inches or mm as a base unit in modelspace, and THE SAME UNITS in paperspace. The scales in the scale list are this many paperspace units = this many modelspace units.

 

When I actually tried the OP's methods, and got the same results as the OP, I went and had a drink.

 

dan_m, I offer my condolences to you for having to deal with us.

 

Steven is correct, you will have to add a scale to your scale list like he says. 1000:1 that is 1000 mm (paperspace units) equals 1 m (modelspace units). That is, after all full size.

 

Sheesh, talk about being stuck in a rut. I have no explanation as to why this didn't immediately dawn on me.:oops:

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[ATTACH]49239[/ATTACH]Here's my version, everything set to meters. Line drawn at 0.2. Paper size 11" x 8.5". Layout 1:1 metric.
Hey, don't remind me. I am still hung over from trying to hide my shame.:rofl:
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Hey, don't remind me. I am still hung over from trying to hide my shame.:rofl:

 

 

 

Thanks to all, even those who lashed themselves with a wet noodle lol

 

 

But I still wonder if we are doing everything possible, maybe there's an obscure variable we can set somewhere, it's just weird Acad should act this way

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Thanks to all, even those who lashed themselves with a wet noodle lol

 

 

But I still wonder if we are doing everything possible, maybe there's an obscure variable we can set somewhere, it's just weird Acad should act this way

Stop wondering. It is only the relationship of meters to millimeters. How many model units fit into one paper unit? In this case it is 0.001 model units fit one paper unit, in order to get a full size plot. Now, that does lead me to ask why one would want to draw in meters if the object is to plot full size on a letter sized paper. Or maybe we are just trying to figure out the relationship?
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I think the problem is that the AutoCAD drawing editor doesn't know anything but units. Everything else needs to be calibrated. So, the scale needs to be input during the page setup as well. See Image and associated drawing file.

PageSetUp.png

metersForPrint.dwg

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Setting 1000mm paper units = 1 model unit makes the line draw correctly in a 1:1 viewport...that problem is fixed (and makes sense). The viewport window blows up x1000 the size in the process but you just have to bring it back to size. How (annotative) dimensions and text look like is a different matter though, there doesn't seem to be a magic bullet setting that fixes everything at once. It looks like text sizes, arrow sizes, offsets etc... all have to be divided through by 1000 (ie a 2.5 setting becomes .0025) and to change that .2 to print as 200mm requires a little work there as well. You know what, I'll just keep drawing in mms and inches and learn to live with it..........:roll:

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It looks like text sizes, arrow sizes, offsets etc... all have to be divided through by 1000 (ie a 2.5 setting becomes .0025)
Not if you use paperspace dimensions, leaders and text with 1/8" (+- 3mm), or your prefered text height. Paperspace dimensions always are full sized no matter what the scale of the viewport. Of course that presents its own set of problems when you go to modify the model and discover that only some of the dimensions retain their associations after the mods. And, AutoCad being what it is, sometimes the dimensions show the paperspace size no matter how hard you try to snap to the model osnaps.
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if you change the plot scale in the page setup to something other than the golden 1in paperspace unit = 1 drawing unit (or 1mm paperspace unit = 1 drawing unit for ISO files) then annotative texts and dimensions won't look the way you expect. You have to factor in the scale you've entered in the page setup and make adjustments to the text and arrow sizes that you've defined in your text styles and dimension styles to make them look right again

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if you change the plot scale in the page setup to something other than the golden 1in paperspace unit = 1 drawing unit (or 1mm paperspace unit = 1 drawing unit for ISO files) then annotative texts and dimensions won't look the way you expect. You have to factor in the scale you've entered in the page setup and make adjustments to the text and arrow sizes that you've defined in your text styles and dimension styles to make them look right again
Exactly. The page set up scale change is only a work around. That scale is intended for temporarily forcing a predefined layout onto a smaller or larger piece of paper. It will re-scale EVERYTHING on the paper, text, title block and all.
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. . . . The page set up scale change is only a work around. . . .

It would be a troublesome workaround to apply it to the wrong template.

 

 

If Units = Meters drawings were common, the appropriate template could be set up. Properly scaled Title Blocks, Page Setups, Dim Style, Annotation Scales, etc. could be assembled in a fairly short amount of time. The Cad tech would be off and running whenever the need arose.

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It would be a troublesome workaround to apply it to the wrong template.

 

 

If Units = Meters drawings were common, the appropriate template could be set up. Properly scaled Title Blocks, Page Setups, Dim Style, Annotation Scales, etc. could be assembled in a fairly short amount of time. The Cad tech would be off and running whenever the need arose.

 

Agreed. But still has a bit of that forced-in feel to it...I'm sure the Acad designers weighed the pros and cons of everything when developing their software. If the program behaved the way I wanted it to maybe some other aspect would suffer as a consequence... I'll give them the benefit of the doubt on that 8) At least now I'm content understanding what's going on :) ...well..... kinda understand lol

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I work in metres in model space most of the time and of course paperspace remains in millimetres. What I do is leave units set as is in the acadiso template but add a standard set of custom scales that can be used to scale the viewports. The default scales only work if modelspace and paperspace use the same units (essentially, if modelspace is in millimetres) and so a second set of custom scales is needed when the drawing is in metres. This is potentially confusing but I make sure the name of the new scale indicates which units it is for (m):

 

scale.png

 

Obviously, this scale could be expressed as 20:1 but 1000:50 makes it easier to see what's going on. With a set of these custom scales in your template, you don't need to worry about units when plotting.

 

You'll still need to declare insert units if you're using blocks and xrefs but you'd need to do that anyway.

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It would be a troublesome workaround to apply it to the wrong template.
Yeah, that's my point. For a lot of us, this is a one timer for the guy who just has to have those ledger size prints from the office manager's ink jet printer. You know the guy, the near retirement project manager who can't quite get email to work, never mind a multi-page pdf or drawing viewer.
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