DRAWING SCALE FIELD

[MMccall.83699]

Is there a field that accesses the current drawing scale setting? I'd like to use it's value (and multiples of it) in my graphic scale.


.. and while were on the subject of scale, I have a bit of a newbie question. Why are there so many settings for scales? ie. drawing scale, dimscale, ltscale, and psltscale.

many scale settings ... yet I still have to convert text heights to drawing units!

[badams.84433]

Not sure how you access drawing scales in civil 3d. In LDT 2005 its projects/drawing setup/scale.

Drawing scale is for your layout and sets all Plan and Profile drawing settings. Dimscale sets the dimension factor scale for your drawings. If you set up different dimstyles for different scales for layouts this will become more clear to you. Ltscale is function of the scale your drawing in the model . Set ltscale to the scale your drawing in in model space. Set ltscale to 1 when in layout mode if your layout is plotted 1:1 to see the dashed lines etc. If you are plotting in layout mode different then 1:1 set LTscale to the scale your plotting in.

Your text heights will change according to what you set your drawing scale. No conversion needed.

AutoDesk makes their programs very diverse for customization.

Hope this helps.. See Ya

[stephen.cowling]

I just stumbled upon this, and I think it's what you're after.
Go to the settings tab in the toolspace and right click on the drawing. Then go to edit drawing settings, and the units and zone tab.
There's a scale setting there that should control the overall scale. Note also that many C3D objects like alignment labels and parcel labels scale themselves according to the viewport scale. The crosses on alignment points scale according to the modelspace zoom, which is annoying.

[MMccall.83699]

I was aware of how to set the drawing scale in Civil 3D via the settings tab in toolspace. I guess I didn't word my question very well. My question was how to retrieve this setting/drawing variable after it has been set. On the settings tab there is a check box that reads 'set Autocad variables to match'. Checking this will set the DIMSCALE to match the drawing scale. (but not the LTSCALE) I can then retrieve the DIMSCALE variable with a diesel expression and use it in my graphic scale block, or title block, directly as it is or as multiples of itself. I'd like to retrieve the drawing scale setting directly. Does anyone know the name of the variable it gets stored as?

The drawing scale setting had no effect on my layout.


To adding text to a drawing in model space requires me to multiply my intended plotting scale (drawing scale) by the text height I wish to create. Am I missing something or is this the way it's done?

[badams.84433]

Let me get this straight. If you change your drawing scale to 1:100 your ltscale does not change to 100? Because in Ldd it does. Your text height doesn't change in civil3d? Because if you use the default text styles L80...L100 ect. The text size for L80 should update to a text height of 8 and a text height of 10 for L100 and so forth.

As far as your graphic scale block, Autodesk LDD will insert the default graphic scale block from the "symbol manager" into the drawing at the scale you set for the drawing. No fuss no muss.

Like I mentioned this is how LDD works. I would assume civil 3d is close to the same, no?



Maybe someone will come along and set us both straight.

[MMccall.83699]

Making changes to the drawing scale had no effect on the LTScale setting nor any text style heights.

Civil 3D uses 'styles' to define most everything. In the settings for those styles is an entry for text style followed by a setting for text height. (spec'd in plotted inches) Having text height in the text styles is redundant and a little confusing. I have four text styles setup, reflecting the four fonts I chose to use in my plan preparations, all with a height setting of zero.

[quiggle]

I don't have a solid answer to you question, but there is a pretty informative blog focusing on Civil 3D that you might find interesting and useful . . .
http://acecivil3d.blogspot.com/

[MMccall.83699]

Never mind, dynamic blocks provided a solution.

[JeffreyOld]

While on the subject of text height...

In model space, I have some points which show up 2' high, 20 scale times text height of 0.1. Easy enough...

Those same points appear at ridiculously huge heights in paper space. Paper space is not supposed to pay attention to the scale, it is just supposed to appear at 0.1 units, which in my paper space is inches.

If I fix the problem in paper space by changing the text height to 2" (and thereby making them readable on a page that is 480x720, which is 20 times 24x36), they appear 40' tall in model space. I have tried the paper space at both 1"=1" and 1"=20'.

Any thoughts out there??

jeff

[stephen.cowling]

While on the subject of text height...

In model space, I have some points which show up 2' high, 20 scale times text height of 0.1. Easy enough...

Those same points appear at ridiculously huge heights in paper space.

jeff Try going to the setting tab in the toolspace, right click on the drawing and go to drawing settings, units and zone tab. Play with the drawing scale settings, it might do what you want.

[JeffreyOld]

yes, it seems like the right combination of all scales and heights should do the trick...

i did get the desired effect once i set the overall scale from that settings>drawingname>rightclick to 1. funny though that '1' is not on the preset list. it is a custom setting.

thanks for the tip...