Jump to content
You must now use your email address to sign in [click for more info] ×

How to scale a vector drawing accurately to a specific dimension


Recommended Posts

I am an amateur luthier and an Affinity Designer newbie. I recently started a new project to recreate a historic and now out-of-production electric guitar. As my first step, I have been able to produce a vector drawing of the guitar by tracing over images of the guitar I found on the web - a task I found Affinity Designer particularly well-suited to as compared to traditional CAD programs such as Sketchup. As my next step, I need to print out full-scale drawings of the guitar which I will then use to cut my routing templates that will be used for building the actual instrument - and that is where I am stuck.

While my vector drawing is a fairly accurate representation of the shape and proportions of the guitar, it is nowhere close to its actual dimensions and therefore must be scaled. I know I can scale the document by tampering with its DPI, and I suppose I can calculate the ratios needed, but I fear that will not give me the accuracy I need.

I have access to one critical dimension of this particular guitar: its scale length which is 25.5 inches, same as that of the Fender Stratocaster. I have been able to mark that out along the center line between its anchor points in my drawing, similar to the red vertical line shown below in the simplified diagram of a Fender Strat. So my question is: is it possible to somehow "assign" a length of 25.5" to this particular vector, and have the entire drawing scale in exact proportion to it? Any help/suggestions would be highly appreciated - thanks in advance!
 

Strat2.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
3 hours ago, prophet said:

I'd just do the simple math.

(length of segment in inches x 2550) = scale percentage.

Grab all the art and Transform by that percentage

That was what I was going to do if no specific tool was available. Thanks so much for the suggestion!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

35 minutes ago, Karakoram said:

Where can I access the Point Transform Tool?

https://affinity.help/designer/English.lproj/pages/Tools/tools_pointTransform.html

If it is not displayed on the Tools panel, then

https://affinity.help/designer/English.lproj/pages/Workspace/customizingToolsPanel.html

Affinity Store (MSI/EXE): Affinity Suite (ADe, APh, APu) 2.4.0.2301
Dell OptiPlex 7060, i5-8500 3.00 GHz, 16 GB, Intel UHD Graphics 630, Dell P2417H 1920 x 1080, Windows 11 Pro, Version 23H2, Build 22631.3155.
Dell Latitude E5570, i5-6440HQ 2.60 GHz, 8 GB, Intel HD Graphics 530, 1920 x 1080, Windows 11 Pro, Version 23H2, Build 22631.3155.
Intel NUC5PGYH, Pentium N3700 2.40 GHz, 8 GB, Intel HD Graphics, EIZO EV2456 1920 x 1200, Windows 10 Pro, Version 21H1, Build 19043.2130.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Guidelines | We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.