Problems with finding the right size of a drawing in Autocad..

[Princess_crow]

Hi all ,

 

I have to make an image for a lasercutter in Autocad. I am an absolute newbie at autocad. I have followed a few tutorials on the internet and now I am a little bit familiar with the basic principles.

 

But I have a question, because the form of the drawing I had to make was quite difficult, I have used an jpg at the right size, pasted it in wordpad and copy and pasted it in autocad (found that method in one of the topics at this forum).

I made the drawing. But now I would like to know what the size is of the drawing.

 

1) I am wondering if the jpg-file pasted in autocad at the method I have used still has the original size, so that the drawing will be too at the right size.

2) I am trying to measure the drawing in autocad, to make sure it has the right size but don't know how. I have used the linear dimension, but when I measure the object, the width of the drawing is 11.093. But I am not sure if that is in inches or something else. I would like to know a way to measure it in cm. The drawing should be something about 39 cm. So I don't know if I have made the drawing too small, or that the linear dimension is just in an another metric system..

 

I hope that somebody can help me..

[ReMark]

Is there one line anywhere in the drawing that you know the exact length of? If so, using the distance command in AutoCAD (or even List for that matter), find out was AutoCAD says it is. That will at least tell you whether the drawing has to be scaled up or down.

 

1 unit in AutoCAD can be equal to anything you want it to be. 1 cm, 1 yard, 1 kilometer or 1 lightyear.

[Princess_crow]

Hi Remark,

 

Thank you for your answer.. Because I don't know if the JPG stays in the same size after pasting it into Autocad, I am not sure of any of the sizes of my drawing..

 

Do I understand it right that if I use the linear dimension, it shows an size in units?

[ReMark]

When you started your new drawing what template did you use?

[Princess_crow]

I have used the acad template.

[ReMark]

You used acad.dwt?

 

I would have recommended the metric template acadiso.dwt.

[Princess_crow]

Well, I could not find any information on the internet about with what template to begin, so I used acad.dwt. I will try acadiso.dwt..

[ReMark]

First and foremost, when you are having a problem in AutoCAD check the Help files. Failing to find an answer then come straight to CADTutor.

[Princess_crow]

I have used now the acadiso.dwt template. But what is the difference between the acad and the acadiso template? My drawing still has the same size in acadiso. I really don't know what size this is and how I can convert it to cm..

 

[ReMark]

What are your units set to?

[Princess_crow]

ehmm.. sorry , I am only for 3 days into autocad.. where can I find these units?

[ReMark]

Type the word Units at the command line then press Enter. I'm thinking they are set to Decimal judging by the dimesion show in your graphic.

 

I think the problem here is you inserted a jpg at a scale that was unknown. That's why I asked if you knew the length of at least one of the lines. That would be a big help.

[Princess_crow]

[ReMark]

You state you have a jpg "at the right size". Is there at least one straight line on this original jpg you can put a scale to and actually measure? Yes or no?

[Princess_crow]

Well, I have made a jpg-file in photoshop and opened it in word. In Photoshop the size was right, but I have just noticed that If I print the file in word, the jpg is a lot smaller then the original size. So it must be that the autocad file is a lot smaller then it should be.. So I really don't know what the real size of the autocad file is...

[ReMark]

It seems then it would be just a matter of scaling this smaller AutoCAD drawing up so it will correspond to the Photoshop image size.

[Princess_crow]

Yes, that isn't the problem, the problem is that I don't know what the size is in cm? Or is that 11,02 size of my image 11,02 cm?

[Princess_crow]

I have opened a dxf file that I took with me to a lasercutter company a while ago, if I use the linear dimensions tool then the size of it is 8.9534.

The lasercutter company measured the same size, and there it was 30,9 cm something. So does that mean that the 11,02 size of my drawing cannot be in cm?

 

[Cad64]

Why are you going from Photoshop to Word to Autocad? Just insert the .jpg straight into Autocad with the IMAGEATTACH command. If the image is the correct size in Photoshop then it should be the correct size in Autocad.

[Princess_crow]

Hi Cad64,

 

Through word was the method I have found at this forum in a topic,

 

but thank you very much, I did not know of the IMAGEATTACH command. I have tried it, it works and has indeed the right size :) I am very happy now :)Thank you too for your help Remark!