Create Template

[bell531]

Hi,

I am trying to create a better template, my previous one was always a bit awkward, however i'm a bit stuck with the new one.

Is there a step by step guide about the parameters to choose online, I think a little knowledge is a dangerous thing and is tripping me up. I think I am setting some things before others.

Basically I need to work in meters, and print to A3 and I would probably like to specify text and dimension lines etc in mm. I think I have the scales working correctly between paper and model space and the annotation but the text size for say 2.5mm I have it as 0.0025m which it rounds to 0.003.

Or would I be wise to keep everything in m and find where to change the decimal rounding for Properties.

I attach my feeble template effort for someone to look at!

Note I am working in intellicad 9.0 as I have liberated myself from AutoCAD LT (want to get into Lisp and Tins eventually)

TemplateA3.dwt

[SLW210]

I have moved your thread to the AutoCAD Drawing Management & Output Forum.

[BIGAL]

You are probably best to look at annotative text that way 2.5mm is what will plot irrespective of plotted scale.

[bell531]

Hi BIGAL,

Thanks for replying to my question.

I had thought my text was annotative already but only my dimensions are annotative to get the measurements right.

I am now going see if annotative text is good for me and try to understand and use annotative scales.

 

My main issue though is if you use the template I supplied, try some text or a dimension then look at the properties and it will show a text height of .002

I realise I could change the drawing units to display to 4 decimal places then it would show the true 0.0018 but I don't want all my properties to show that precision.

I want to be able to draw in meters, so for five meter line type 5 not 5000 (mm)

I would like my text size in properties to show as 1.8 not 0.002

 

I have seen this done in other peoples drawings, so I think there is something I'm not doing in my template setup.

 

[BIGAL]

We work in metres so make sure your UNITS are set correct, to metres we just work at 1:1 in model a 2.5mm text would be 0.625 at 1:250 ie 2.5/4, we have our title block as an A1 but normally plot it from layout as A3 so set viewport scales correct then plot sheet at 1:2 for A3. If your text is 0.0025 something is not right.

 

Ok found it straight away make your title block in the layout as true mm ie 420x297 etc not 0.42 then set your Mview scale to suit and plot at 1:1. Our A1 is like 802x570 units. Your units are decimal thats ok but Feet set to metres ? I scaled title 1000. start from there. I changed all your layer line thickness to 0.0 I just found using a ctb easier for line thickness so we plot by colour. We use plines for extra thick lines only.

 

Because your metric turn on the viewport toolbar when you go into the model view a number will appear you can type over this number and it will reset the scale look at image. I did a zoom extents it was 2.134 in the view port i overwrote it to 2.0 it then became 1:500 for an A3 sheet. It is a road in metres. scale is 1000/500 =2 1000/250 = 4 lastly we set our lower left title block to 0,0 and have some offset no plot corner markers, but we use auto plot routines so corner is relevant.

 

[bell531]

Hi BigAl,

Thanks for your advice, i've taken a great leap forward in my understanding of templates now. I am still working on rebuilding the template, trying different things etc.

Being self taught I have great gaps in my understanding and have also learned some bad habits along the way.

One thing I couldn't understand was your comment:

"But Feet set to metres?"

I could not find this in the template I posted, could you elaborate on this please.

Regards,

James.

[BIGAL]

UNITS this sets how things work in your dwg, yours was set to feet, there are a lot of other varaiables you can set but start with UNITS.o help.

 

Glad to help. There is plenty here that help so ask questions.