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I may have asked this question before but is there a convenient way to draw to a scale in AD  like in DrawPlus?

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No idea about DrawPlus, but I regularly use ADes for 2D drawings to scale thus: draw a line, rectangle, circle, etc., any size will do. Now use the Transform dialogue to give it the (scaled) dimensions you need. Works fine, but not necessarily do slick as DrawPlus. 

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How do you chnange the dimensions in the Transform tab without it changing the size of the object or shape?

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Mac OS Monterey 12.6.4

AD version 2.3.0

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The aim is to change (transform) any line, rectangle, circle etc. to specific (scaled) dimensions. The transform dialogue is easier to use than trying to draw a line or shape to specific dimensions with a mouse or trackpad. Since AD shapes are vectors you can zoom in or out as much as you like, but the dimensions, as reported in the Transform dialogue, remain the same.  Nothing more to add, sorry !

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If I have a square shape that is shown in Transform tab as being 10cm square but I want draw another square the same size (10cm square)but only showing 5cm square in the Transform tab. How do I do this?

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Mac OS Monterey 12.6.4

AD version 2.3.0

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3 hours ago, jackamus said:

If I have a square shape that is shown in Transform tab as being 10cm square but I want draw another square the same size (10cm square)but only showing 5cm square in the Transform tab. How do I do this?

What do you mean? You seen to have said that you want to make a 10cm square that will show as only 5cm in the Transform panel. As that's obviously impossible (it can't be both) I presume I've misinterpreted your post.

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"How do you chnange the dimensions in the Transform tab without it changing the size of the object or shape?"

Do you mean something like changing dimension in cm to inches? Or do you just want a proportional change? 10 ca to 1/2, i.e 5 cm?

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1 hour ago, walt.farrell said:

What do you mean? You seen to have said that you want to make a 10cm square that will show as only 5cm in the Transform panel. As that's obviously impossible (it can't be both) I presume I've misinterpreted your post.

You are saying exactly what I thought - I was merely repeating what Uuiop was saying.I couldn't understand what he was trying to tell me.

 

30 minutes ago, gdenby said:

"How do you chnange the dimensions in the Transform tab without it changing the size of the object or shape?"

Do you mean something like changing dimension in cm to inches? Or do you just want a proportional change? 10 ca to 1/2, i.e 5 cm?

Yes I simply would like to be able to change the scale but AD doesn't have that feature whereas DrawPlus does.

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Truth does not need to be protected only lies do.

Mac OS Monterey 12.6.4

AD version 2.3.0

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3 minutes ago, jackamus said:

Yes I simply would like to be able to change the scale but AD doesn't have that feature whereas DrawPlus does.

You can change the document units, which would change the units displayed in the Transform panel. It becomes easier in 1.7 where you can change the ruler units directly.

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Sorry Guys but I really do mean changing the scale and the units. i.e. I draw a line that is 10cm long but the Transform tab shows 5cm long which is half scale. This AD cannot do. In my view this feature should have been there right from when it was first published and that's why I still use DrawPlus for this kind of work.

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Rules are for the guidance of wise men and the obedience of fools.

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Truth does not need to be protected only lies do.

Mac OS Monterey 12.6.4

AD version 2.3.0

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Engineers and architects are familiar with using scales.

If you want to draw something very large like a house then it makes sense to draw it to a smaller scale. In DrawPlus you choose your scale like letting 1cm on the page represent 1M. This is a reduction of 100:1. Also if you have a drawing produced by someone else in jpeg format and you want to measure it then hen you need to know the scale and set your rule to that scale.

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Rules are for the guidance of wise men and the obedience of fools.

To be ignorant of world happenings is forgivable - to be willingly ignorant is unforgivable.

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Mac OS Monterey 12.6.4

AD version 2.3.0

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To an extent I can see how it could be useful, but I couldn't see it as essential. Scaling numbers isn't too hard, especially in mm. Does draw plus save the scale with the document or is it set in the UI? What happens if you are switching between two open docs with different scales? If it's in the document setting, what happens if I get a file from you and don't realise it's auto-scaling? I'll end up with the wrong sizes?? To my thinking, I prefer the app is "honest" to me with the sizes - the drawing states the scale and everyone know where they stand :)

I agree on the measurement from an image, setting the ruler scale is useful, although it's easy to work around.

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If you want to draw 1M but have it really only be 1cm then set the units to cm and if then ignore the units and do everything in meters.  So a 3 meter square you input 3 into transform and it will draw 3cm but you know that is 100:1.  For a 1 cm square you want a .001M so just enter .001. 

The other way is to always draw 1:1.  AD will let you have pretty well unlimited dimensions for the drawing as long as the resolution x longest dimension doesn't exceed about 260,000 pixels (for a square canvas).  If your house is 30M square AD will let you draw it that size with the proper resolution, about 210 DPI.  No need to scale it other than 1:1 unless you have to have a higher resolution.  I did my yard and house, I wanted to work in inches (1200" x 1700") with a 1:1 and AD had no problems.  I used only 72 DPI because I wasn't after the prettiest picture I just wanted to be able to record where pipes and wiring were in the house and yard for future use.  I can easily tell a water pipe is 65 inches east of a certain window.  I could have used up to 150 DPI.

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With the greatest respect I do not think you understand what 'drawing to scale' is.

I had a pdf file of an engineering drawing that I opened in AD. The dimensions were shown in mm. However, a dimension of 50mm actually scaled at 38mm in AD. If I wanted to edit this file I would have to draw an object of 50mm and enlarge the pdf file until the 38mm dimension matched 50mm. In technical terms this is an enlargement of 1:1.315.

In DrawPlus I could just select the 'Scale' feature and enter 50 in one box and 38 in the other box. This would mean that when I drew a box that measured 50mm square , in the real world, it would only be 38mm square in the pdf. If I drew a  box 85mm square it would only be 64.6mm square.

 

If voting made any difference it wouldn't be allowed!

Rules are for the guidance of wise men and the obedience of fools.

To be ignorant of world happenings is forgivable - to be willingly ignorant is unforgivable.

Truth does not need to be protected only lies do.

Mac OS Monterey 12.6.4

AD version 2.3.0

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Ah, well yes that is a different thing to what I thought you were talking about. I thought you was making the drawings yourself from scratch. Plus you mentioned nice round scale factors like 1:100.

Is that pdf drawn to a scale of 1:1.315? I know that AD is odd in the way it ties sizes to the document raster DPI. If it's not giving you the right sizes, try altering the DPI in document properties, with items set to scale with page. If that 50mm line was drawn at 50mm in the pdf, you should be able to get AD to show it as 50mm too.

 

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So it might just be a matter of changing the DPI. I'll try that thanks. However I'm not always dealing with pdfs. What about a jpeg?

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Rules are for the guidance of wise men and the obedience of fools.

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Mac OS Monterey 12.6.4

AD version 2.3.0

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It's the same as far as I am aware. It also has it's quirks - best to pick a DPI, apply it and see if it gives the correct sizing. If not, don't just apply another value - close and reopen the file first.

Failing that, you don't have to draw an object to match to and do the scaling visually - you can use the size input and put in a multiplier to increase/decrease the objects sizes to give you a nicer scale to work off e.g. 1:2 rather than 1:1.315 (or actual size if it would fit canvas limitations).

Neither is what you ideally want, but might make things a little less painful to use.

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This may be a bit off topic but when I think about "drawing to scale" I think about physical documents like blueprints or templates. In the digital realm I can't think of a good reason not to work at 1:1 scale -- it isn't as if I am working with a sheet of paper that is too large to conveniently fit on a drafting table or anything like that.

So at least in that sense this reduces to printing or otherwise creating physical documents.

Does that make sense?

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1 hour ago, R C-R said:

This may be a bit off topic but when I think about "drawing to scale" I think about physical documents like blueprints or templates. In the digital realm I can't think of a good reason not to work at 1:1 scale -- it isn't as if I am working with a sheet of paper that is too large to conveniently fit on a drafting table or anything like that.

So at least in that sense this reduces to printing or otherwise creating physical documents.

Does that make sense?

Sure. It makes sense.

Let's say you design something at 1:1 that is 17.8 feet long (it's a car wrap design). AD handles this at !:1 pretty well. But now I need to send it off to the vinyl print/cut company. What format do I send it to them in?

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6 hours ago, MikeW said:

Sure. It makes sense.

Let's say you design something at 1:1 that is 17.8 feet long (it's a car wrap design). AD handles this at !:1 pretty well. But now I need to send it off to the vinyl print/cut company. What format do I send it to them in?

In whatever format their software uses to cut the design out.

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8 hours ago, R C-R said:

This may be a bit off topic but when I think about "drawing to scale" I think about physical documents like blueprints or templates. In the digital realm I can't think of a good reason not to work at 1:1 scale -- it isn't as if I am working with a sheet of paper that is too large to conveniently fit on a drafting table or anything like that.

So at least in that sense this reduces to printing or otherwise creating physical documents.

Does that make sense?

You are quite right RC. This is what CAD drawing is all about. However in my case its only a problem if I open a file that contains a drawing that is not 1:1 scale that I want to edit in AD,

If voting made any difference it wouldn't be allowed!

Rules are for the guidance of wise men and the obedience of fools.

To be ignorant of world happenings is forgivable - to be willingly ignorant is unforgivable.

Truth does not need to be protected only lies do.

Mac OS Monterey 12.6.4

AD version 2.3.0

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22 minutes ago, firstdefence said:

In whatever format their software uses to cut the design out.

I have been working on engineering project in which I use the services of a CAD designer. He uses 'Solidworks' to make a 3D model that I can only view using an 'easm' file reader for checking. Once the 3D model has been OKd he then produces the design in various formats so that it can be made using CNC or laser cutting. He also produces the drawings in pdf for me for editing. This is when I need a graphics program that will allow me to scale the drawing and I have to use DrawPlus to do that or turn the pdf into a jpeg and do it in AD.

If voting made any difference it wouldn't be allowed!

Rules are for the guidance of wise men and the obedience of fools.

To be ignorant of world happenings is forgivable - to be willingly ignorant is unforgivable.

Truth does not need to be protected only lies do.

Mac OS Monterey 12.6.4

AD version 2.3.0

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51 minutes ago, jackamus said:

I have been working on engineering project in which I use the services of a CAD designer. He uses 'Solidworks' to make a 3D model that I can only view using an 'easm' file reader for checking. Once the 3D model has been OKd he then produces the design in various formats so that it can be made using CNC or laser cutting. He also produces the drawings in pdf for me for editing. This is when I need a graphics program that will allow me to scale the drawing and I have to use DrawPlus to do that or turn the pdf into a jpeg and do it in AD.

Have you ever looked at sketchup?

I'm sure it will have limitations but may be worth a look to see if it can have some benefit to your workflow. There's no substitute for apps like solidworks but it wouldn't hurt to check sketchup out if you haven't already: https://help.sketchup.com/en/layout/creating-scaled-drawing#create-scale

 

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