Drawing in 1:1 scale vs. 1/4"

[C W]

Currently, and in the past, the office(s) I work in have used 1/4" scales as a standard due mainly to the use of zoom line thickness while drafting. Now however, I've encouraged the drafters to get away from zoom line thickness because I continually see errors in the drawings; lines/polygons not connected, lines crossed, etc. My question is, what other concerns or considerations exist regarding drafting in 1:1 verse 1/4"?

[mike m oz]

The innacuracy problem you cite occurs often with users who work with the zoom line thicknesses option on. It should only be used for checking drawings prior to printing. If you work with it switched off you will be able to work effectively in any scale.

[michaelk]

I've found that it is necessary to draft in 1/4" or 1/2" when I'm using symbols with embedded text linked to a record format. In this situation, when drafting 1:1 the text in the symbols has to be REALLY big to be readable while drafting.

Otherwise I don't care what scale I'm drafting in. Nobody ever sees the design layers. I put everything on Sheet Layer Viewports and set the scale at that time, so the scale that the model is built in doesn't matter.

Michael

[Markus Barrera-Kolb]

With information I got from helpful forum members I just made two scripts that allow me toggle between 'drafting' mode and 'preview' mode for this very reason. I draft with a black background, zoom line thickness disabled, and colors by class. With the design layer at the scale that the drawing will most likely be printed at, I can then switch to preview mode, with a white background, black and white only, and zoom line thickness enabled. The scripts are something like this:

PROCEDURE ScreenDraw;

BEGIN

SetPref(9,False);

SetPref(10,False);

SetPref(16,True);

END;

RUN (ScreenDraw);

...and:

PROCEDURE ScreenPreview;

BEGIN

SetPref (9,True);

SetPref (10,True);

SetPref (16,False);

END;

RUN (ScreenPreview);

I added them to my document right click menu in the Workspace editor...

[monkey]

if people are drawing and polygons are not connected etc then it is purely down to them note using the tools available to them properly, you can see when your lines meet as it says 'point' or 'object'.

I always draw at the scale i am going to have my viewport on my sheet layers, then i know exactly how it is going to look as i am drawing it, reducing the time needed afterwards changing line thicknesses etc. I find this the quickest way of working, but hey, everyone has their own method of doing things.

[Jeffrey W Ouellette]

Turn Zoom Line Thickness OFF and turn on the constraints in the constraint palette. Demote the people who refuse to use constraints.