stupid Q: Drawing Units

[rollie]

im drawing a building and i want to measure and draw the layout in meters, however i think i maybe getting the units incorrect. ive put the length type at decimal and the precision at 0.0 and when i say command a line to be 10m it just seems way to small unless i zoom in all the way.

 

any help?

[Attila The Gel]

Wel Is your insertion scale set at meters, I beleve that you're drawing in milimeters.

See here : Tools > Options > TAB: User preferenses> insertion scale Set them to meters.

[rollie]

thanks....ive changed it,but it still seems to be really short. if im doing say 15m wall, shall i leave it at decimal: 0. or do i change it.

 

at the moment im selecting line, pointing it in the direction i want it to go and typing in the length, is that an incorrect way of doing it was the lines never seem long enough??

 

thanks

[Attila The Gel]

are you drawing in an existing drawing or a new drawing?

[rollie]

new drawing

[Attila The Gel]

Your drawing in model space, and this is a endless space(virtually).

So when your units are set to meters and you draw a line like you said then the line is that long. the reason why its so Small is that your looking at it from a zoomed out view! double click your scroll button to zoom extents.

Here we draw everything in millimeters and I think that this is almost everywhere(for metric)?

[rollie]

cheers bro

[Attila The Gel]

No problem! Hope I helped out good,

 

O and welcome to the forum

[dbroada]

if you don't do anything, AutoCAD draws in units - its up to you to decide what a unit measures. I think my units are 1mm long, as does Attila. Our American members probably think they are 1 inch or 1 foot. You can just think of them being 1m long. It is up to you. Setting a precision only affects the displayed units. If you draw a line 1,23456789 units long that is what AutoCAD will remember it as although it may show as 1 or 1,2 or 1,23 etc. to match your precision setting.

 

I think AtheG has covered all your Qs so far.

[rollie]

thanks alot guy...ive really appriceated all your help

[rollie]

ok lol ive got another question for you, if thats possible?

[dbroada]

no problem with you asking questions but please start a new thread for each question. I was aware that AtG was answering you so wouldn't normally have looked in this thread and would have missed any extra questions. It also helps other people find relative answers if you start new threads with relevant titles.

[rollie]

ok..il ask the question here as im sure you would be able to help and in future il start a new thread per question. im design a house and have now design the dowstairs layout in 3d. i would like to do a second floor and not quite sure how i will start this. do i do it completely seperate and paste is, or do i start extending it upwards on the original ground floor.

 

again really appreciate the help dude

[dbroada]

I know nothing about 3D and those that do may not be interested in units.

 

New threads are easier all round.

[ammobake]

ok..il ask the question here as im sure you would be able to help and in future il start a new thread per question. im design a house and have now design the dowstairs layout in 3d. i would like to do a second floor and not quite sure how i will start this. do i do it completely seperate and paste is, or do i start extending it upwards on the original ground floor.

 

again really appreciate the help dude

 

You can really do it however you want really. I would only start stacking floors though if the first floor is more or less how you want it. I only say that because when you start creating multiple floors using 3d solids in autocad the geometry can get complex fast. The more complex things get in 3d the harder it can be to put things where you want (it can get confusing).. It's always easier to work with 3d solids without a bunch of other 3d solids around.. If you have a bunch of 3d solids in front of what you want to look at you have to either turn off certain layers or use 2d wireframe (which is then showing lines all over the place).

 

In my last project I created 3d door jambs and complex windows from scratch and what i ended up with made your head turn if you even tried a 2d wireframe view (but it looked decent when it was done I guess). My motto: "keep it simple". If it's easier for you to draw it as separate floors first, do it that way. A little trial and error always helps too though.

 

-ChriS

[rollie]

thanks. but is it easy to copy and past it onto the existing floor. my project only really involves me designing the building in two perspective views and a detailed drawing of a specific room within the house.

 

so say ive already got the outline for the first floor, should i just change the layout of rooms for the upstairs and just past it onto my building??