How to Create a Drawing with a Different Vertical and Horizontal Scale
Posted By Mike Williams on July 8, 2009
How to Create a Drawing with a Different Vertical and Horizontal ScaleHere’s a problem many people face when working on engineering drawings, especially plan and profile sheets. How to create a drawing with different vertical and horizontal scales?
As everyone should know by now, in AutoCAD, you always draw FULL scale. This becomes a problem when working on some drawings, because when you are working on very large horizontal scale, you sometimes must exaggerate the vertical scale in order to make it read.
The best way I’ve found to accomplish this is to create two drawings. In the first drawing, draw everything full scale. Do not put any text on the drawing. When finished, create a second drawing and set it up to the horizontal scale. Then xref the first drawing into the second drawing and change the “X Scale” to adjust for the difference in scale. For example, if your horizontal scale needs to be 1=200, and your vertical scale needs to be 1=20, change the value of the “X” scale to be 10. It will stretch the XREF so that the height is 10 times bigger than the width.
Now add your text. Don’t forget to set all your scales for your layout, dimensions and text to be at the horizontal scale factor.
Mike
P.S. To order my in-depth AutoCAD Video Training Course, go to http://autocadforeveryone.com
About the author
Mike Williams
Michael E. Williams has been using AutoCAD since Release 2.1. He's been providing AutoCAD drafting, training and consulting to the Architectural, Industrial, and Engineering communities for over 20 years. Mike has trained entire drafting departments of a Fortune 500 companies and held classes and seminars for Architects, Engineers and Contractors. He's taken people with zero experience, training or knowledge of drafting, architecture or CAD and turned them into highly productive and knowledgeable drafting professionals. As owner and operator of Michael E. Williams Computer Graphics, he has personally drafted on thousands of projects for hundreds of clients. The tips and tricks he teaches come from personal experience and a pursuit of efficiency and productivity in a production environment. Mike lives in Lake Charles, Louisiana with his wife Tanya and their three girls (Alex, Kate and Eden).Comments
8 Responses to “How to Create a Drawing with a Different Vertical and Horizontal Scale”
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OMG! That is so easy it’s brilliant, and it’s already within my skill set.
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Mike Williams Reply:
July 8th, 2009 at 9:53 am
Thanks Jim, I’m glad this helped you
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Hi Mike, why is xref the best way? I would be use blocks. When you insert a block you also can chose differend scales for x, y and z. And you have just one drawing.
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Mike Williams Reply:
August 23rd, 2009 at 11:49 pm
The reason I use Xref is I find it easier to edit back in it’s original scale. You could use blocks and edit with block editor, especially if you just have one drawing.
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Well I like to browse around when i’m not so busy at work. So are you currently using any Discreet products? If so what do you use?
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Mike Williams Reply:
March 8th, 2010 at 12:15 pm
I use 3D Studio Max for my renderings.
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good tip – in the tip you said change the x scale to 10 – i think that should be the y scale
(maybe i read something wrong)
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Mike Williams Reply:
July 27th, 2010 at 6:16 pm
Yes, you are correct. It should be the Y scale. Thanks for correcting that.
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