Learn how to ensure scaling and consistency of scale for all the data in your drawings. This article provides a step-by-step guide to detail your drawings, including the use of Insert, Move Window, and Scale functions.
Key Insights
- Scaling and consistency of scale are crucial for accurate representation in your drawings. Understanding scale factors, such as 2 or 4, and their implications for the drawing's size is essential.
- Utilizing functions like Insert and Move Window can provide more control over the placement and visibility of details in your drawing. These functions allow you to optimize the space in your drawing, ensuring that all necessary information is included and clearly seen.
- Manipulating the properties of text, such as its height, and converting text to M text, can improve the readability of your drawings. Additionally, the use of color can enhance the distinction between different components of your drawing.
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Let's begin our next detail. Let's go File, Open. I'm going to slide down and choose Detail 03, Original.
File, Save As. Detail 03. I'm on Layer 0. I'm going to Insert.
So Insert. More options. Browse.
I'm going to slide down and choose the Detail Border, 1 Horizontal by 1 Vertical. Now let me guess. This drawing looks pretty tight.
So I'm going to say that it's maybe a scale factor of 2. So I'm going to say 6 inches equals a foot. And the name of the information is Stringer Intersection to Walkway Column. Zoom Extents.
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Zoom Realtime. You know, I think that's going to work. Because you can see that I have a bunch of information up here where it's just carrying on and carrying on.
And I don't really need to have that much shown. So I'm going to say Move Window. From here down into here.
And you know what? I was wrong. The graphic area is just a little bit too tight. So what I'm going to do is just place it right over here.
Scale this guy from the insertion point. Scale factor of 2. I'm going to list it. And so it's a scale factor of 4, which means that the scale needs to be 3 inches equals a foot.
OK, I'm just going to type LTS for line type scale and make that scale factor 4. Again, making everything match. Move Window. I'm going to say from the end of the graphic.
Nearest to the border. Just position it up and down. Control S to save.
Now the scale factor for the drawing is 4. I'm going to pick on the text. Right button properties. So an eighth of an inch times the scale factor of 4 would mean half an inch.
You can see that I have individual text here. I'm also going to move Window. Just move it up.
Move previous and that up to here. Erase Window. Get rid of the dots that are in there.
I'm going to go into layers. A text. I will make it color 120.
A title block. I will also make that color 120. And save the file.
I need to convert the text to M text. So again, I go to Express Tools. Convert text to M text.
Select that. And then text to M text. Group them all.
- Select the text. Control A to select it all.
And I will make the height a half an inch. Sometimes this can be tricky. Close the editor.
Double click it. Select it. Give it a height of half an inch.
Close. Double click. Control A to select everything.
Half an inch. Control A. Half an inch. Close.
Save. I'm going to take these. And you can see that they're pretty strange.
This is again some of the kind of things that you'd receive sometimes from people. So I'm simply just leaving the leaders in position so I can marry things up. I'm going to move the text from the insertion point of the text to the node of here.
Move the text from the insertion point of the text to the node of here. Move the text from the insertion point of the text to the node of here. Move the text insertion point to the node.
Control S to save. We only have a few more things to do. I'm going to pick on the M text and I'm confirming where the text is going.
I think that I'm just going to let it expand out a little bit that way because I like how it looks better. That's going a little bit too far. I can expand this.
And I can expand this. Control S to save. We're going to have to go into the M leader.
Again, I'm confirming that I'm on the text layer. Go to M leader. I go to the parameters.
M leader. Right button. Rename.
- Set current. Modify it.
Eighth of an inch is fine. I do want it to be a straight. Leader structure.
A scale factor of four. Content. I can change this to an eighth of an inch if I'd like.
Again, it's a habit that I am in, but we're not going to be using the text that way. I'm going to go back to M leader. I'm going to start off nearest to here.
Again, remember that the length of the initial M leader controls the visibility. I'm going to go over and turn on polar. Again, 30 degrees off vertical.
Close the editor. M leader. I'm going to go down for this one.
Nearest to here. Again, 30 off vertical. Close it.
M leader. Close the text editor. Draw a line from the node straight down.
Move last. Control S to save. Pick on the leader.
Pick on the grip. Pick on the arrow. Go perpendicular to the line.
Grip. Arrow. Perpendicular.
Grip. Arrow. Perpendicular.
Erase the line. Zoom extents. Erase window here.
Zoom extents. Save the file. File.
Drawing utilities. Purge. Purge all.
Make sure the nested is selected. Close. Save the file.
And there we are. Now, again, what we're focusing on is scaling and consistency of scale for all the data that's going in here. I really am not trying to focus so much on draw the line from here to here.
This is a 2 × 6 stud, so this would have been drawn actual size, an inch and a half wide, five and a half inches tall. Information like this right here is pulled out a bit so that people can better see what all is happening in the detail itself. So let's save this file and let's start working on our next drawing.
