Scale a drawing (based on an import) to fit Legal

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CerpherJoe
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Scale a drawing (based on an import) to fit Legal

Post by CerpherJoe » Thu Jun 06, 2019 9:59 pm

Have had some difficulties getting things to scale as desired.

I received a DXF file created from a very old Surveying tool (Stakeout for Windows.) It imports fine and I have modified it to requirements.
The last thing I have to do is get it into a Legal sized PDF.

So when I double-click Layout1 the drawing seems to disappear to who knows where. I've tried using the PDF centering tools etc., but I seem to have lost the thing altogether. I imagine it is not lost, but ...

The drawing in the imported DXF file was very small and I had to zoom in quite a bit to see it. I noticed that the tool that created the DXF apparently likes to set the center at about 5000'x5000' and use 1' units. So I set the QCAD units to Foot/Foot to match. I have tried other combinations (Foot/Inch, etc.) and various PDF scalings, but I just can't find it :-(

I've attached an image of the drawing.
Scale for Legal document.png
Scale for Legal document.png (88.35 KiB) Viewed 4772 times
I think my understanding of the theory of scaling is letting me down.

Thanks!
Joe

QCAD V. 3.22.1
Win 10

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Husky
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Re: Scale a drawing (based on an import) to fit Legal

Post by Husky » Thu Jun 06, 2019 10:29 pm

Hi Joe,

to help you efficiently we need to see the drawing itself (dxf/dwg) or at least an example drawing which shows the same issue. Can you please attache a drawing? Thanks.
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CerpherJoe
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Joined: Fri May 24, 2019 12:55 am

Re: Scale a drawing (based on an import) to fit Legal

Post by CerpherJoe » Sat Jun 08, 2019 3:27 pm

Sure. Please see attached DXF file.
Attachments
2190026-1a.DXF
(497.68 KiB) Downloaded 359 times

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Husky
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Re: Scale a drawing (based on an import) to fit Legal

Post by Husky » Sat Jun 08, 2019 7:44 pm

Great - thanks for the drawing.
CerpherJoe wrote:
Thu Jun 06, 2019 9:59 pm
I think my understanding of the theory of scaling is letting me down.
I don't think so. e_surprised

You have lost zero lengths entities in your drawing what kicks you from the road. That is the reason why the main drawing is placed x ~ 5000, y ~ 5000 and the printing auto center fails.

Ok, you need to clean up the drawing with the tool "Detect Zero Lengths Entities" below Menu/Modify/Detection. Launch the tool and delete the located entities. After that use the Auto Zoom what should make you already happy .... :wink:

Next step: Adjust the Drawing unit to foot (there is no need to scale the drawing itself!).
Drawing Preferences:
Drawing Unit Foot
Paper Unit Inch

Next step would be to do the desired settings for Dimension and page. What paper size will you use?
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Husky
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Re: Scale a drawing (based on an import) to fit Legal

Post by Husky » Sat Jun 08, 2019 8:37 pm

Husky wrote:
Sat Jun 08, 2019 7:44 pm
What paper size will you use?
Never mind - got it. :oops:

Adjust the settings for page size below Drawing Preferences / Page / to Legal.
Launch the print preview, scale should be somewhat around 1" = 256", Auto Center the page and tell me how it looks to you ....
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If a thread is considered as "solved" please change the title of the first post to "[solved] Title..."

CerpherJoe
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Re: Scale a drawing (based on an import) to fit Legal

Post by CerpherJoe » Sat Jun 08, 2019 11:07 pm

First of all thanks so much for the help. The QCAD support is outstanding and makes the excellent product even more excellent!

Your recommendations worked like a charm and what a great result. Only thing is the Auto-Zoom did not work until I removed the four "Point_..." layers which are unnecessary artifacts of the originating tool.

With the print preview I had to click on"Auto Fit Drawing to Page". Worked like a charm.

Once again thanks so much to you and the QCAD team!

Joe

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Husky
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Re: Scale a drawing (based on an import) to fit Legal

Post by Husky » Sun Jun 09, 2019 4:18 am

CerpherJoe wrote:
Sat Jun 08, 2019 11:07 pm
First of all thanks so much for the help. The QCAD support is outstanding and makes the excellent product even more excellent!
You're quit welcome! :D
CerpherJoe wrote:
Sat Jun 08, 2019 11:07 pm
Only thing is the Auto-Zoom did not work until I removed the four "Point_..." layers which are unnecessary artifacts of the originating tool.
I assume your setting for the tolerances like distance and angle in the "Detect Zero Lengths Entities" tool are different to mine. However - you figured it out and that is what counts. :wink:
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If a thread is considered as "solved" please change the title of the first post to "[solved] Title..."

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