Autocad

[Mark B]

hi,

anyone have any advice on how to set up autocad so i can produce drawings to scale eg 1:50 scale etc. i have always in the past just completed drawings by entering the real dimensions and not workin to any scale as such. im using autocad 2000

cheers for any help

mark

[odowdchr]

Can't remember the commands in 2000, but basically :

You draw at actual size within the "model", you just need to decide whether you're drawing in metres or millimetres. (1 = 1m or 1000=1m).
You only worry about scaling when you come to print the drawing in the Layout tab (might still be called Paperspace in 2000?).
Setup your Layout by choosing the paper size you want to print on. Create a viewport and your drawing appears in the box. You scale the Viewport. You'll need to look in your Help file for the exact commend and the list of standard scales. Tricky subject to understand at first.

[Mark B]

cheers for the reply, i'l hav a try, and see how it goes

ta, mark

[Tony McC]

I've been using AutoCad on-and-off for 15 years and I still struggle with Model space vs Paper Space. Odowdchr is basically right: you draw using actual dimensions and then use "panes" to set up a drawing in Paper Space. An hour and three print cartridges later, you get summat that bears a slight resemblance to what you intended.

The menu system is a bit unwieldy, but you do get used to it, and it's not all that difficult to knock up a good looking drawing: the problems seem to start (for me, anyway) when I want to move that drawing from cyberspace out to the real world via the printer. 15 years, a dozen different computers, two dozen different printers, and I still can't get it right!

For smaller drawings and simple layouts, I've been using TurboCad for the last 10 years. The menus seem more intuitive, and as long as you don't need any fancy 3D lighting effects, it is fast and reliable. However, the biggest benefit for me is that I can get it to print out exactly what I want, at the scale I want, on the size of paper I want, and all with just three clicks of the mouse.

For anyone keen to persevere with AutoCad, you really ought to get yourself signed up for an evening class at the local college. You will make yourself ill trying to learn from books or by trial and error: it's worth a couple of hundred quid in tuition fees just to avoid all that stress!

[bropenene]

Hi pavingexperts,
Congratulations on a magnificent site and forum, unbelievably helpful.

Mark, hope you have sorted your problem, but if not, here's my halfpenn'uth.
Please try it, it might look complex at first [sorry, no offence intended], but you should find it very logical and easy.
Haven't used 2000, so menu wording may be different.

Draw everything in Model Space using reallife units; I work in mm whether designing furniture or garden plots.
Select one of the Layout tabs, Portrait or Landscape.
Goto File/Page Setup (Manager).
Select Portrait or Landscape again, then Modify.
in Plot Area, select Layout
in Plot Scale, select 1:1
also obviously set other things to suit, like papersize, printer.
Click OK, Close.
[All Plots/Prints from now on will be of the selected Layout at 1:1]
Now Goto Paperspace. [dbl click in Layout Viewport or click 'Paper' button at bottom of screen].

You can now arrange your drawing in the Layout to any view and scale you like using Acad's Zoom, Windowing, Pan commands.
Because you have set Paperscale to 1:1, your plot/printout will be what you see on screen.

For example, 'Zoom Extents' will show your entire drawing in the Layout Viewport, just like drawing in Model space, and you can use 'Zoom Window' to show any detail.

If you want the Plot to be a particular scale, use 'Zoom Scale' but hang on,there's a trick. You have to answer the prompt with a reciprocal value of the scale and tell Acad its a Paperspace.
Sounds dreadful but is easy. Say you want to plot at 1:20. Click 'Zoom Scale' then type in 0.05XP. [1/20 is decimal 0.05, XP says Paperspace scaling]. Likewise 1:50 is 0.02XP and so on.

Cheers
Brian

[Mark B]

still trying lol ??? i wont give in... yet

[Clogger]

hi,
You do not need to use paperspace at all,
Simply set your drawing limits to match whatever it is that you are drawing.
frinstance, a piece of A1 paper is 841mmx594mm, so if you set your drawing limits to that, anything that you can fit in those limits can be drawn at 1:1 on a piece of A1 paper.
you can vary these limits accordingly, i.e. set your limits to 16820x11880 (20 times A1) any thing you draw within these limits can be drawn at 1:20 on a piece of A1, simple innit. :;):

[Tony McC]

Might be simple for you, Clogger, but it never works that way for me.

Ona standard drawing using my TurboCad set-up, I draw at 1:1, inputting real life dimensions as I go, and then when it comes to printing I simply select the paper size and the print scale. A "visual" shows me whether and how a drawing will be fitted onto the paper selected, allowing me to re-position the drawing origin or amend the scale. I can even select "best fit" which makes the drawing fit the selected paper size at the largest possible scale, which might be summat like 1:143.78. This can be useful for those drawings where context is more important than scaling.

The real migraine headaches with AutoCad start when I need viewports, which for the uninitiated, are those little 'close-up' details within a larger drawing that are usually at a higher scale, such as 1:10 while the main drawing might be, say, 1:200.

One day, I'll book meself in to the local college (which is now, somehow, part of the University of Chester even though we're 30 miles from there and no-one other than the college admin themselves ever actually use that reference!) and I'll do the proper AutoCad course to see if I can get me head around it. I've seen some of the desk pilots that are completely happy in the AutoCad environment: a good few of them still need a responsible adult to tie-up their shoe laces, so it can't be that difficult, surely! :laugh:

[Jeff H]

This is my first post, so hi everyone,

Ive been using Autocad in anger for 5 years now, working for various consultants and design offices and the simplest way and widespread format to use cad is DONT use paper space or layouts at all,

Basicaly all to do is draw everything in 1-1 ,dont even set up limits just draw your lines as you want them, then type z-e (z then e) thats zoom-extents, it will show you the extents of your drawing,

once you have finished your outline and you know the extent of your drawing, all you do is draw a peice of paper 1-1 add your info box and details etc, text at 2.5, bold text 3, major at 4mm,
eg A1 841x594, then type sc(scale), then select object ie paper rectangle then type 20 or 50 or 100 or whatever till it surrounds your drawing comfortably,
when doing this remember, to make your text look correct, it has to be scaled too, ie, 2.5 normal text, is going to be 250mm at 1-100 , you will also have to do the same in your dimension style, for that just set up yout first desired dimension style, ie, ticks at 2.5 text at 2.5 , make it look good, then select in 'fit' at whatever scale you are using , then call that dimension 1-100 or whatever, then when you want a new drawing just save the first one 'as' then just create new dimension as a copy of 1-100 or whatever, then just change the'fit' if the scale changes in the next drawing, then just rename it the deired scale
so now you have standardised template all the time, and you dont have to redo a new dim style or text every drawing,

it gets tricky when you need to show different scale details on same drawing, but just put them in a different drawing,

it looks more difficult wrote down than it is in practice,

spend a little time setting up your 'template drawing' text stlye dimstyle etc, it will save time in the long run,

[Tony McC]

For my simple paving layouts in TurboCad, I draw at 1:1 and I have text and dimension styles suited to 1:10, 1:50, 1:100 thos ebeing the most commonly used scales I use when printing out.

My drawings are 'framed' with a decorative box that includes drawing information, such as date, reference number, scale, title, etc., and I just pull out the correct 'frame' for the drawing I want to create, which is usually either A4 or A3 in either landscape or portrait format.

The page set-up command allows me to centre or offset the drawing on the page, and choose a standard scale or 'best fit'.

Admittedly, once I move up to more complicated drawings or site layouts with umpteen layers, AutoCad comes into its own and wees all over TurboCad, but for the relatively simple patio and driveway layouts that make up 90% of my design work, TurboCad remains the tool of choice.

[mouldmaker]

Graph paper and pencil, anyone?

I use pencil v1.0, updating regularly with a sharpener.