Topic Title

Is there any way to draw details at their own scale, or do I draw
everything at, say, my overall 1/4" then enlarge them say, 300%
to make a 3/4" per ft detail?? That is really messy, because
symbol and text scale does not change with it .... etc.

Or .... do I draw at 1/4" and, say, make a 6" wall 18" wide ??
That gets old in a hurry, with all the drawing to calc.

I noticed in the print menu, perhaps with "sheet" setup, something
that looks like it would do it, but instruction file was vague.
Something about pasting different scale drawings on one sheet.
Or - can I just keep all drawings of a certain scale on one sheet,
so that that whole sheet is some larger scale? No mixing there.

Started in '91 with Datacad 3, but version in question is Datacad 11.

Am I missing something obvious?? If I get a newer version can I
draw at different scales, versus just "display" scale, which is not it.

Thanks for any help.

always (well mostly always) draw every thing full size 1:1 scale, then print to scale required . If you are wanting to have different scales on the 1 sheet then multi scale plot is the way to handle this. Don't member what version this was introduced in.

Dave

Dave has it right - always draw everything full size, and then use Multiscale Plotting to put things together on one sheet at different plot scales. Save a GTV with the plot scale you want, and then place them linked on the MSP Sheet.

If you need more details on this, search on MSP or Multiscale Plotting, or just ask.

I agree with the others that MSP is generally the way to go, You can also use self xrefs to plot at different scales. While I generally use MSP and prefer it, I sometimes use the self xref method for various reasons. Some people have trouble understanding MSP, though I've never understood why, it has always seemed very straight forward to me.

Thank you.

But upon exploring MSP - as a last resort - after I wrote the question,
it seems that I could do the same thing by just taking an image, enlarging it,
then dragging it onto that sheet. So that wouldn't be plotting at
different scales. It seems that is most intuitive and simple.

The one difference I see is that in enlarging or shrinking an image,
the line-types don't change scale - e.g. insulation wavy line
not longer fills the wall cavity. I believe fonts also do not change
(I'm not sure about that one). Perhaps other symbols also.

I understand the value if that's the reason.

So, evidently, if I draw a detail at full scale, I would then not label it as the scale
at which I draw it, but as the target scale. Also, evidently, I would use much
smaller font so that when it is printed much larger it is not awkwardly large?
( or do fonts not change scale when MSP'ed? )

Those are questions that come to mind. Are there bigger reasons that
MSP is easier / better?


Never tried XRef, never took any lessons of any kind. Should I look into that
mode for this?

Thanks again.

MSP - not sure if you are old enough to remember sticky backs, that is at one time some offices would take different details (usually standard details) copy onto a piece of mylar and then stick onto a sheet. You could arrange different details on a sheet (prior to sticky them down). That is all MSP really is, and taking details that you have drawn, and placing on a sheet at the scale you want them, and the ability to have a variety of scales on the same sheet.

MSP allows you to draw everything (as it shoudl be in CAD) at full size, this way you can always measure items and see the actual size.
You can take a Buildilng Section, have a few notes and dimensions at say 1/8 or 1/4 scale on a sheet. Then you can xref (or self xref) the Section, XClip it, add more detail if you wish and addtional notes, and now have a wall section.

Scales, Dimensions, and Hatch Patterns can change with the scale of plot by have Lock Scale on. I've had mixed satifaction with text and dimension since they appear to move location based on there insertion point relative to the detail.

With text scale on, I typically have my notes all at 1/8" (..4) in height, and don't ever have to think about what scaled size they are, if you have the plot scale set properly, the text is always the correct height.

We use enlarged symbols for our scaled details. Lets us associatively dimension, use Lock Scale, & Symbol Scale within the symbols with no extra work of managing MSP sheets and we just layout each sheet on a GTV. I don't have a lot of time to explain right now (jury duty, boo), but I think Jim Goodman might be doing the same thing but not sure. I will try to remember to respond in more depth.

Good stuff. Thanks again. I now have a few things to look into.

MSP actually saves a lot of time, and it is easier than the way we had to do it before v7.5. That's when we first got MSP - it is the best feature since GTV's, in my opinion.