Topic Title

[Mark F. Madura]

I don't know why I didn't think of this before...

At the DBUG meeting last night, I demonstrated the new SymbolScale feature that will be added to the Insert Symbol menu in DataCAD 12.

Like TextScale, SymbolScale will allow you to define your drawing notation symbols at their plotted size. So a detail bubble indicator might be 1/2" dia. With SymbolScale enabled, DataCAD would automatically enlarge the 1/2" dia. bubble by 48 for 1/4" = 1' - 0" plotting (via the PgUp/Dn keys).

One of the attendees asked me if this could apply to a drawing scale symbol so you could have one symbol apply to multiple plotted scales. At first, I figured a special entity would be required. However, I realized you could use associative dimensions to achieve the desired result.

Essentially, I created a graphic scale symbol and incorporated specially-formatted associative dimensions so only the numeric portion of the dimensions appear above the scale. Since I created the graphic scale at plotted size, I can now insert the symbol (exploded) at an enlargement of 48 for 1/4" scale. Because the values are associative dimensions, they update to match the new distances.

You can download a copy of the Drawing Scale file I created via the following URL. I think you'll get the idea once you see it.

https://www.datacad.com/support/down/DrawingScale.zip
[Edit] This link was broken. Corrected 10/19/11

FWIW,

MFM

Someone has already came up with something similar to this. I have it if you want it.
From Drop-Down Menu I select my plotting scale, All my Annotation Symbols enlarge itself to selected plotscale.