Standardising Text height in AutoCAD prints

[sammysparkle]

Dear Members,

I am in dire need of information on how text height can be standardised in different drawings of diffetent sizes and printed on different paper sizes.

Is is true there are standard text heights for different paper sizes? If yes, what are they?

How is text height manipulation different in Model space print-out and Paper Space print-out?

Is is possible to scale drawings to different sizes in model space and how?

Responses to these various questions will be highly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.
Sam

 

[SpeedCAD]

Hi...

Generally for normal texts I use height 2.5 (example: dimensions, notes, etc.), for title height 5. But the important is the scale than you are going to occupy at the time of printing. For example:

If the scale of drawing is 1:50 then the height for normal texts will be in ModelSpace equal to 50/2.5, that is equal to 20, therefore, for normal texts in ModelSpace will be 20 units (mt, cm, mm, etc.). it is the same for the others height, for 5 will be 50/5 = 10 in ModelSpace. This way at the time of printing the heights will be the suitable ones.

It agrees to draw in ModelSpace with real dimensions and in PaperSpace scale the drawing by means of the ZOOM command option S (example: 1/50xp). Previously there is than create windows with MVIEW command.

 

[TVE]

We hashed this around in our office when I attempted to put together a drafting standard. You have basically 2 choices:

1) Create text styles than are based on whatever scale the drawing will be printed at. (For example, any of our text styles that are to be used for a 1:500 scale drawing end in M0500. M0250 indicates a 1:250 scale drawing text style.) The only downsides to this method are that you need to determine what scale the drawing will be at before you start putting any text in, and we ended up with about 50 different text styles in our template file.

2) Dimension everything in Paper space. This isn't TOO terrible given AutoCad's ability to do dimensions in Paper Space that are based on the Model Space dimensions, but hardly ideal.

Whatever you choose, always keep in mind that someone will mostly likely reduce your D (24x36) size sheet to Tabloid (11x17) and want it to still be fairly legible.

Dave

 

[IFRs]

We make all normal dimension and note text 0.100" for 11" x 17" paper or 0.125" tall for 24" x 36" paper. We use Paper Space for all title blocks, plot Layout to the appropriate device. We scale the viewports to fit or to be a certain architectural size (like 1/8" = 1 foot). We have simple macros to freeze and thaw viewports and make the viewport borders visible or invisible. We tie LTSCALE to the viewport and dimension in Paper Space snapping to objects in model space inside the viewports. We include a graphic scale on all drawings in case someone reduces the drawing or plots on a device with different unprintable borders. Basically all the objects are drawn in model space but nothing else is. All leaders, text, dimensions, etc are in Paper Space. We have various standard layout tabs for each printer / plotter (pdf, laser, roll-feed ink jet, etc). Once you start this, you will love it. We use the Publish command for painless plotting of multiple drawings to multiple devices. Good luck!!

 

[smcadman]

Similar to IFR, we draw all object in model space, and put all text and dimensions in paper-space. We use .09375" text for 8 1/2 x 11 sheets, and .125" for all other sheets.

Flores

 

[bpeirson]

As more users of AutoCAD have less and less training in drafting and AutoCAD itself (I include myself in that group) standardized text hieghts are almost irrelevant. If you can easily read it then the height is OK.

I dimension all of my drawings in model space (because my lack of training puts me at a disadvantage in paper space). When I plot I do a plot preview to confirm the legibility of the dimensions. If they need a hieght adjustment I can easily select all dimensions in the dimension layer, right click and select the properties menu and type in a new hieght for the text.

The results of this method are not always great but it is expedient therefore I use it.

If someone can easily describe a better way to me I would gladly switch.