Relationship between Plot Scale and Zoom Factor

[Jack Cheong]

I'm quite confuse abt the abv mention
If the Plot Scale is 1"=500', the paper size is 11" x 17", what is the Zoom Factor?
How to calculate?
Anyone can help me?
thx a lot!

Jack Cheong

[Augi Doggie]

I'm quite confuse abt the abv mention
If the Plot Scale is 1"=500', the paper size is 11" x 17", what is the Zoom Factor?
How to calculate?
Anyone can help me?
thx a lot!

Jack Cheong
This is typically confusing to people because you'll have a different answer for the question depending on whether you're in model space or paper space.

In modelspace the plot scale should be equal to the scale that the titleblock was inserted at. If you have an 11x17 titleblock scaled up to 500 times, the plot scale will be 1 to 500.

If you have a titleblock in paper space, it should be inserted at a scale of 1, and the modelspace viewport should be zoomed to 1:500. That way when it's plotted the plot scale will be 1 to 1.

I hope that will clear things up a little bit.

[Jack Cheong]

If you have a titleblock in paper space, it should be inserted at a scale of 1, and the modelspace viewport should be zoomed to 1:500. That way when it's plotted the plot scale will be 1 to 1.Thx for the reply!
Do you mean that I don't need to convert 500' to 6000", and any paper size will make no different for the zoom factor?

[Augi Doggie]

Thx for the reply!
Do you mean that I don't need to convert 500' to 6000", and any paper size will make no different for the zoom factor?
You shouldn't need to convert it if it's in paper space. That's actually one of the reasons main why they created paper space (now called layout tabs) in the first place. The idea was to give the user a place to plot the drawing where the titleblock is the same size as the paper, therefore giving you the ability to plot it at 1:1. All of the scaling is done by zooming the modelspace viewport to the scale you want to use.

It a tricky concept for most new users, but once they figure it out they love it.