Been away from Cad for a few years have some questions??????

[fire guy]

Okay I haven't been with this glorious program for 5 years (previously used 14, now use 2005). The problem that I am having is that I am having a serious brain fart when it comes to working between model space and layout! :evil: Talk about frustrating!!!!!!!! If I have my drawing that I am working on in Model space, how do I see it in Layout??????

As well I am having a problem with scaling. How can I change the scale of a drawing??? Say I import a ceiling plan of a floor area at 3/16" = 1'-0", and I want to change the scale to something else say 1/4" = 1'-0", how do I figure out the scale factor.

I know these are very beginner questions :oops: (It's been 9 years since college and 5 years since my last design) but I seem to have remembered most other things from designing before except for this area here. Any comments would be greatly appreciated!
Note to Mod: If this is posted in the wrong forum kindly repost in the respected area.

Thanks

[VERYCIVILDRAFTER]

I don't have much time but maybe this will help.

MVIEW will draw view ports in layout to view model space.

1. A drawing 'should' be drawn at real world scale 1 = 1
2. the viewports 'should' be zoomed to a usable scale
3. dimension style settings should be scaled to match that of the viewport

[MickD]

You could think of paperspace as your 'drawing', where you have your border etc for plotting.
Now, in p'space you insert view ports which are like a 'window' or camera to your model. In paper space you can have as many vports as you like all looking at different parts of your model and all at different scales if you wish.
To draw one in pspace, type in mview as VCD said and follow the prompts, dont worry too much yet, just get it in the pspace. Now you can drag it to size (you'll get this by experience) to suit your drg view.
To see your model in this new view you can either dbl click in the vport or hit the model/paper button down near the ortho button in the status bar. This activates the vport and it should have a thicker border (for the currently active one). Now you can use your zoom/view commands etc as if your were in model space.
Find the area you want to focus on and zoom in, you may want to drag the vport larger first if required to the size you think you want. Once you have it roughly the right view, dbl click outside the vport to change back to pspace (or use the button). Right click the vport and pick properties, here is where you can change the scale of the view and once you set the scale you may have to drag the vport larger or smaller to suit the view.
You can move the vports any where you like (even overlapping) to set out your drg. Once everthing is lined up you can add dim's etc and with 2004/5 you can set up 1 dim style and it automatically scales the dims to the vport scale (there is a variable that needs setting for this, can't remember at the moment :( ). Everything you add to paper space stays in pspace so if you move a view, take you dim's etc. with it.
When you want to plot you can either turn of the layer your vports are on or hit the 'no print' icon in the layer manager.
hth,
MickD

[csiarch]

Just to add to the confusion.....

View ports are used to "scale down" objects drawn full size (scale factor 1:1) so they can be plotted. What confuses some people is the terminology.

Suggest you try to start thinking in terms of scale factors instead of some fraction of an inch equals a foot. Images seen in viewports are reduced from their original size by the value of the viewport scale factor.

"1/8 inch 'scale' drawings" are 1/96th actual size so images viewed in a viewport with a scale factor of 1/96 are 1/8" = 1'-0" when plotted.

The reason VCD advised drawing everything full size is because it makes the math easier.
Title blocks go in paper (layout) space because their size is such that can be plotted on most plotters. If you plan on drawing objects whose real-world size is larger than the traditonal largest size a plotter can print (usually 42 x 30) then it should be drawn full size, scaled down in a viewport of the proper scale factor so it can be plotted.

Well, I'm beginning to repeat my self aren't I?

Keep asking questions; you'll usually get more answers than you need to know.

:D

[fire guy]

Okay I get what everyone is saying, and thanks for the prompt replies. I'm still just confused about what to do when I get the ceiling plan file and it has a scale say 3/16"=1'-0". If I try to demension something that I know the distance of say a light to a wall ( in Model space ) my demension doesn't come out right, therefore I am thinking I have a scaling problem. Am I right???? I would assume that if it were drawn in 1 : 1 or real world size then I shouldn't have this problem, right?????

[csiarch]

Not quite that simple.

First of all, 3/16'=1'-0" (scale factor 1:64) is sort of a non-traditional scale.

Next, you should investigate defining dimension styles. As was mentioned earlier, viewports scale images down from 1:1 to a reduced size that can be plotted on a real world sized piece of paper. To ensure dimensions display properly, a dimension style must be defined that has the proper scling factor built in to it so values will be correct and text and arrows will be the proper size when displayed in a scaled view port. In the dimension style dialogue box (somewhere) there is a box where the overall scale factor can be entered. The value entered in this box is a multiplier which is applied to text height, arrow size and other variables of the dimension style. This value should be the SAME as the scale factor of the viewport it will be used in. In essence, you're ddefining a dimension style that is larger than 1:1 so it can be scaled down along with the images in the view port.

Does this help or confuse?

:wink:

[fire guy]

A little of both. I get the essence of what everyone has offered up here so I'm going to try a few things out before I post back, and hopefully I can figure this out without to many more questions. :D

[fire guy]

Okay thanks to everyone for the answers, I've been playing with the Model space, Layout, and viewports, and every thing is working nicely. One question though in the properties menu for the view port what is the difference between Standard Scale and Custom Scale???? :?: :?:

[VERYCIVILDRAFTER]

what is the difference between Standard Scale and Custom Scale

Not much.

Standard scale is a group of PREDEFINED scales by ratio or fraction
Custom scale is just the decimal display of either a standard or a user defined scale.
e.g. Standard Scale 1:50 = 0.02 Custom scale
1 / 50 = 0.02

[MickD]

...and say you have just zoomed up to how you want your view to look, 'roughly' the right scale. This is when you will have a custom scale, just set it to the std scale you want it to be to match your dim scale.