ADT 3.3 Scale Questions

[mdmurphy]

If possible, could someone lend me a hand with determining the scale of a particular drawing? I need to start development on a site model with context and need to get the scale aspects perfect. I have spent some time trying to determine the scale for myself and have been thus far, unsuccessful **little background - intro:)**.

 

Can someone explain how changing the scale of a drawing affects the dimscale? I gather they are directly correlated - as I change a drawing to 1/8 scale and when I type in dimscale at the command prompt the return statement gives me 8'-0"..so every inch related to 8 ft. This is correct?

 

Next, can I change a drawing back and forth between different scales without any detrimental side effects?

 

Lastly, Once I figure out the drawing scale, would it be reasonably to assume that I could setup limits on a specific site of my topo map and place a grid over it to better relay my the dimensions for my sitemap on a piece of foam core?

 

If this doesn't make any sense let me know.

 

Thanks, in advance, for any insight that anyone could offer.

[nisus]

any one?

 

nisus

[czw-ggg]

Originally posted by mdmurphy:

Can someone explain how changing the scale of a drawing affects the dimscale? I gather they are directly correlated - as I change a drawing to 1/8 scale and when I type in dimscale at the command prompt the return statement gives me 8'-0"..so every inch related to 8 ft. This is correct?

Yes. The Drawing Scale -- there is not actually scale of drawings, it is the scale of annotation tools (dimension, labels, leaders)...

 

Next, can I change a drawing back and forth between different scales without any detrimental side effects?

No When your drafting in ADT you must working at scale 1:1. And set "drawing scale" only for annotation.

 

And what is more there is more naturally and better way.

 

Lastly, Once I figure out the drawing scale, would it be reasonably to assume that I could setup limits on a specific site of my topo map and place a grid over it to better relay my the dimensions for my sitemap on a piece of foam core?

There is no necessity using limits and grids.

At least in our firm we working without them.

 

Sorry for my bad English, hope that my answer is help to you

[Kerry Thompson]

Hi mdmurphy

 

AutoCAD scale is generally 1:1. There is no scale variable.

 

Use the dist command to determine if the line that represents the site is to the correct real world scale. ie find the length of a boundary using the distance command and check this against the survey plans. If there is an issue, the drawing will require rescaling or re-entry.

 

The dimscale does not control the scale of the drawing. It controls the scale of the dimensions in terms of their presentation:

 

A dimension with a dimscale of 1, plotted at 1:1 could plot a dimension arrow 3mm long.

A dimension with a dimscale of 100, plotted at 1:1 would plot a dimension arrow 300mm long.

A dimension with a dimscale of 100, plotted at 1:100 would plot a dimension arrow 3mm long.

 

I do not use imperial so hopefully this will be right.

 

Typically, 1 AutoCAD distance unit = 1 inch, a scale of 1:96 represents 1/8 inch to one foot.

 

A dimension with a dimscale of 1, plotted at 1:1 could plot a dimension arrow 1/8 inch long.

A dimension with a dimscale of 96, plotted at 1:1 would plot a dimension arrow 12 inches long.

A dimension with a dimscale of 96, plotted at 1:96 would plot a dimension arrow 1/8 inch long.

 

The dimscale is often used to control the size of other annotation such as text etc.

 

Hope this helps

 

Kerry

[stefkeB]

In ADT 2004, you have the option to specifically define what the real size of an AutoCAD unit is: I think the command is called AECDWGSETUP.

 

This is important when linking ADT models with VIZ Render and (afaik) the scale is set the first time the link is created (and cannot be directly controlled in VIZ Render).