Drawing Scale / Font Size

[Scribbler]

The relationship between Drawing Scale and Font Size has always confused me a bit.

I'm having trouble with it particularly at the moment because I'm switching between a drawing of a silver ring, I'm making for my wife (Drawing Scale 25.40 (millimeters) / Font size 12) and a room in our house (Drawing Scale 2.540 (centimeters) / Font size 720) which I'm redecorating.

If I switch from ring to room and type a text or put in a dimension I get the message box telling me I created a object too small to see, so I adjust the font size.

If I do the same after switching from room to ring I get a text which is many times bigger than the drawing. So again I adjust the font size.

It would seem to make more sense to me if DCad stored the chosen font size with the drawing but it clearly does not do this.

...or am I missing something here???

Any advice, handier ways of working, random thoughts, would be welcome

Dick Summerfield

(aka Scribbler)

[i44troll]

Dick,

Good to hear from you again! It's been quiet here for some time now. We are getting several new members but little conversation. Is that good or bad? You be the judge.
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Boy, if I had a dollar for every time someone brings up problems associated with text and dimensions. Truth is, geometry that is drawn in one scale looks identical to the same geometry drawn in a different scale, we just "zoom-in" or "zoom-out" to see what we want to see, but you aren't expected to "read" geometry so we have to set a drawing scale so that text and dimensions can be easily seen and rendered.

If you select the proper drawing scale to begin with you will find your text readable without making any adjustments to the font settings, but if you find yourself adjusting font size every-time you want to insert text or dimensions you may never find a drawing scale that suits you. So, a word of advice here, leave the font alone and adjust you drawing scale by trial until it suits you. Don't try to draw two objects on the same page of obvious size differences because you will only be able to set the drawing scale to best suit one of those objects.

Watch this video for an easy way to set your drawing scale

Hopes this helps
Chris

[Admin 1]

Scribbler,

I have experienced that issue too, even when I would start a new drawing. So I've now gotten in the habit of setting drawing scale before the first line is drawn. That does seem to solve the to-big/to-small font size situation when I load a given drawing at a later date.

i44troll,

I think the new recent new registers maybe due to your videos. They come in, watch the vids, and then disappear without leaving at-least a "Thank you". Kinda discouraging (and even a bit rude, IMO), but maybe they'll come back some day and post if they get stumped on something and, with luck, share a project, tip, or whatever too.

[Scribbler]

That most certainly helps Chris, even though it doesn't get me there completely.
I do not mean to criticize the video, far from that - it really is very good but there's just so much you can put across in 2 minutes-odd and after I'd watched it several times and tried it out in DeltaCad (of course it works just fine) I was still trying to get to grips with my own understanding of this issue...

But I think I'm getting there, slowly . As you know I use millimeters and centimeters for measuring. Deltacad documentation says: You want millimeters? Use Drawing Scale 25.4 (25.4mm = 1 inch), centimeters? Use Drawing Scale 2.54 (2.54cm = 1 inch). I've always stuck to this religiously but I no longer understand why they give this information. It seems to me better to let the Drawing Scale vary (setting it according to your method) so that the whole thing can be viewed at a View Scale of around unity, giving readable text at default font size (which seems to be 12).

Dimensions are given just as numbers and fractions anyway with no reference to units (though this probably applies only to Metric) and stay proportional whatever the Drawing Scale

(I think this is possibly what you've been saying all along but I just need to put it in my own words and echo it )

Anyway I'm going to try and kick the 25.4 etc. habit and see how I get along...

Thanks again. Where do I send my dollar ?

Dick.

[Scribbler]

Hi Boss,
I have started this answer twice already and every time something has occurred so that I've had to start again so now I'm going to prepare it offline and copy it to the forum when it's done...

Thanks for your answer. As I've already exhausted my current thoughts on the matter of font size in my reply to i44troll, I'd better shut up about it now.

On the matter of forum traffic though, I wish I could think of something to start the ball rolling. I reckon nobody on the forum can have the slightest problem with using Deltacad, or we would hear about it (right?). Well if no one has any problems what about telling us what you do with DeltaCad?

For instance: I talked a neighbour of mine into using it and he makes bus maps for his timetable site for our city bus service.
(see: here for the the main map. Clicking on the big blue numbers gives the sub-maps) The maps themselves are no big deal but they are made with DeltaCad. Of course the bus company has its own website but Adri reckons his is better .

So what do you guys (and gals?) draw with DeltaCad?
(Just tryin'... )

Scribbler

[i44troll]

Dick & Boss,

I have come to the same conclusion about our traffic, that is, when someone eventually needs to ask a question they'll ask, otherwise, they must be getting what they want by visiting the forum. Deltacad is very simple to use and , for the most part, needs no detailed instruction for the user to create the average drawing. I am still learning new tricks, like the fact that I can copy a drawing and paste it directly into a Word or Excel document (doesnt do circles though, you have to break them into arcs first) To me thats quite cool! Almost makes me feel as thought it was made for Office.

Chris

[Admin 1]

Part of this discussion is drifting off the "Request Help" - 'Scale/Font Size' topic of this thread.

With that said, I am continuing that part of this discussion in the "About This Website" forum <here> so we don't clutter-up this topic's question with unrelated chatter about the web site traffic.

Scribbler Wrote:I have started this answer twice already and every time something has occurred so that I've had to start again so now I'm going to prepare it offline and copy it to the forum when it's done...

Sorry you were having problems. If you continue to have issues posting, please let me know in our "Complaint Department" forum so we can try to sort it out. THX

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All are welcome to continue further discussion regarding the "Scale/Font Size" topic in this thread.

The way Font Size vs. Drawing Scale vs. Viewing Scale is done in DeltaCad is something I'm sure many users can easily get confused by. So I expect this discussion will be referenced often and possibly continued in the future by other DeltaCad users. Particularly as it "draws text to scale" rather than to a 'visual point size', as is done in text editors.

In other words, in DeltaCad, a 12-point font is a 12-point font. But it's scaled to the drawing or viewing scale thus making it either smaller or larger than would otherwise be expected in a 'standard text' document.

It does seem to go against the norm to have to use a 48-point font to actually draw a font that would otherwise be a 12-point font on any other document. I believe it's all related to scaling and can be rather confusing to anyone used to using text editors, but not using a CAD program.

[i44troll]

Quote:I`ve tried toggling the snap mode but I can`t actually snap to the grid? I am definitely doing something wrong here I know!

Actually you are NOT doing anything wrong, Clive. Midnight Software just came out with a new patch on 08/28/12 which was supposed to be a fix, but ended up messing things up in other areas. Because you downloaded the demo you got it all without having to upgrade your version. One of those areas was the "snap-to" feature used with the grid. Bill (williamj) immediately noticed the difference after he installed the patch. I would have never noticed it because I never use the grid. Interesting how you would also just come-along and notice it as well. There should be a fix for that shortly, we have been sitting on this new patch trying to find more problems before sending them a bug report. Hang in there Clive!

[i44troll]

Quote:Has anyone tried asking Midnight Software inc. to link this forum -maybe they would be happy to, especially if it is pointed out to them the business it may bring them!

Clive, they are quite aware that we exist, but still, we have no authority over their site. If they feel it is beneficial I would think that the would link to us, otherwise we have to let them do as they feel.

[i44troll]

Quote:I want to set up a landscape template of 910mm x 610mm, to use to draw at 1:1 for 'laser cutting' -please help, much appreciated.

1. Open Deltacad and select FILE/NEW
2. Select Millimeters at the bottom left
3. click NEW to exit and save
4. Draw a box that is 910mm X 610mm
5. Select the VIEW tab and click the ALL button
6. select OPTIONS from the menu
7. Select "Drawing Scale"
8. Input the number from the bottom right corner (between the up and down arrows) into the prompt
9. Click "OK"
10. go back to the VIEW tab
11. Click the ALL button again
12. There is your template