AutoCAD 2000/2000i/2002 DWG Format Archive

[#1]

Has anyone seen this message when trying to scale an object?

Alfredo Medina

[#2]

Yes. I think it's new to AutoCAD 2000. You can force it to appear by
using something ridiculously small (such as 1e-99) as a scale factor. I
haven't experimented to discover just where A2K sets the limit to
"smallness," but it might be a fun (if useless) thing to do.
__
"Alfredo Medina" wrote in message
news:38C2A8AD.488B7D23@hotmail.com...
> Has anyone seen this message when trying to scale an object?

[#3]

Thanks, Paul
I was using Decimal units, in milimeters. I was drawing a small cone, just
the wireframe. I had drawn a circle of radius=1 and I had drawn the height
of the cone as a vertical line of 2.6 units. I just wanted to scale that
line from 2.6 to 1 and I got this message. I noticed that if I ignore it
and type R for reference again, the command goes on. But it did not happen
in other previous releases. Why do some old commands such as Scale start
doing weird things all of a sudden?

Alfredo Medina

Paul Turvill wrote:

> Yes. I think it's new to AutoCAD 2000. You can force it to appear by
> using something ridiculously small (such as 1e-99) as a scale factor. I
> haven't experimented to discover just where A2K sets the limit to
> "smallness," but it might be a fun (if useless) thing to do.
> __
> "Alfredo Medina" wrote in message
> news:38C2A8AD.488B7D23@hotmail.com...
> > Has anyone seen this message when trying to scale an object?

[#4]

It's likely Autodesk's way of combatting the problems some have found
with "precision" that exceeds AutoCAD's limits on significant digits.
I've found that a scale factor of 0.000000001 (1e-9) works with my
default settings, while 0.0000000001 (1e-10) fails with the "Extremely
small scale factor ignored" error.

Autodesk has all but forsaken its old philosophy about avoiding changes
that can cause scripts and Lisp routines to fail. Interestingly, R14
seems not to have such a limit on scaling; no error is ever returned, and
even though such a small scale factor may make objects too small for even
the tightest zoom, they are still there.
__
"Alfredo Medina" wrote in message
news:38C2AF15.8DF0F0B@hotmail.com...
> Thanks, Paul
> I was using Decimal units, in milimeters. I was drawing a small cone,
just
> the wireframe. I had drawn a circle of radius=1 and I had drawn the
height
> of the cone as a vertical line of 2.6 units. I just wanted to scale
that
> line from 2.6 to 1 and I got this message. I noticed that if I ignore
it
> and type R for reference again, the command goes on. But it did not
happen
> in other previous releases. Why do some old commands such as Scale
start
> doing weird things all of a sudden?
>
> Alfredo Medina
>
> Paul Turvill wrote:
>
> > Yes. I think it's new to AutoCAD 2000. You can force it to appear by
> > using something ridiculously small (such as 1e-99) as a scale factor.
I
> > haven't experimented to discover just where A2K sets the limit to
> > "smallness," but it might be a fun (if useless) thing to do.
> > __
> > "Alfredo Medina" wrote in message
> > news:38C2A8AD.488B7D23@hotmail.com...
> > > Has anyone seen this message when trying to scale an object?
>

[#5]

Paul,

What is really confusing is that I got that message even before entering any
scale factor at all.
I just typed Scale, then I selected the objects, and the error message showed
up.

Alfredo Medina

Paul Turvill wrote:

> (...)
> I've found that a scale factor of 0.000000001 (1e-9) works with my
> default settings, while 0.0000000001 (1e-10) fails with the "Extremely
> small scale factor ignored" error.

(...)

[#6]

That *is* mysterious. Maybe an inadvertant stray click or two got
interpreted as a "very small distance." In any case, I'll be watching for
similar behavior (none so far...).
__
"Alfredo Medina" wrote in message
news:38C2CC8A.3C0C3D29@hotmail.com...
> Paul,
>
> What is really confusing is that I got that message even before
entering any
> scale factor at all.
> I just typed Scale, then I selected the objects, and the error message
showed
> up.

[#7]

Paul,

I have some clues. The error message has something to do with Otrack & Osnap,
while the current view is not the plan view.

Please take a look at this:
Start a new drawing. In Ddunits set Type: Decimal. Drawing Units: milimeters.

Now, draw a square of side = 1
Now, try to scale it. It works fine.
But...Switch to an isometric view of the square.
Attempt to scale it in the isometric view. If Osnap & Otrack are on, the
"Extremely small scale factor ignored" error message shows up before you
indicate any scale factor. (?!) If Osnap & Otrack are off, it works o.k.
Also, even when Osnap & Otrack are on, Scale would work o.k. if you attempt
to scale the object from a plan view.

I have seen other weird things related to the new Otrack feature, when
combined with old commands. It seems that it was not checked with all of
them, in different situations. None of these things is a big deal, really,
and the usefulness of Otrack is notorious. I love it because now I can draw
without using point filters anymore.I think Otrack is one of the coolest
additions to the program. But, if Autodesk does not put these small problems
in their "to do list" usually they go on and on forever. The problem is that
they eventually pile up, and then we have many of those "small" problems here
and there...

Thanks for everything, Paul.
Alfredo Medina

Paul Turvill wrote:

> That *is* mysterious. Maybe an inadvertant stray click or two got
> interpreted as a "very small distance." In any case, I'll be watching for
> similar behavior (none so far...).
> __
> "Alfredo Medina" wrote in message
> news:38C2CC8A.3C0C3D29@hotmail.com...
> > Paul,
> >
> > What is really confusing is that I got that message even before
> entering any
> > scale factor at all.
> > I just typed Scale, then I selected the objects, and the error message
> showed
> > up.

[#8]

Alfredo,

I tried this a bit and I do get the message about Extremely small scale
factors, when entering a scale factor with more than 9 decimal place, like
0.000000009.
From the sound of what you are running into, is before you enter a scale
factor, and with your Object Snaps turned on, AutoCAD is trying to scale on
the fly, so if it snaps to a point that creates to small of a scale factor
it would return the small scale factor message.
I would imagine if you turn off you OSNAP's before starting the scale
command, you would not get the message.
Also check in Options and User Preferences and the Priority for Coordinate
Data Entry, the default should be Keyboard entry except scripts.

Thanks,
Danny Hubbard
AutoCAD Product Support, US
WW Support & Services, Autodesk
Discussion Q&A: http://www.autodesk.com/discussion

"Alfredo Medina" wrote in message
news:38C2FE56.D344023D@hotmail.com...
> Paul,
>
> I have some clues. The error message has something to do with Otrack &
Osnap,
> while the current view is not the plan view.
>
> Please take a look at this:
> Start a new drawing. In Ddunits set Type: Decimal. Drawing Units:
milimeters.
>
> Now, draw a square of side = 1
> Now, try to scale it. It works fine.
> But...Switch to an isometric view of the square.
> Attempt to scale it in the isometric view. If Osnap & Otrack are on, the
> "Extremely small scale factor ignored" error message shows up before you
> indicate any scale factor. (?!) If Osnap & Otrack are off, it works o.k.
> Also, even when Osnap & Otrack are on, Scale would work o.k. if you
attempt
> to scale the object from a plan view.
>
> I have seen other weird things related to the new Otrack feature, when
> combined with old commands. It seems that it was not checked with all of
> them, in different situations. None of these things is a big deal, really,
> and the usefulness of Otrack is notorious. I love it because now I can
draw
> without using point filters anymore.I think Otrack is one of the coolest
> additions to the program. But, if Autodesk does not put these small
problems
> in their "to do list" usually they go on and on forever. The problem is
that
> they eventually pile up, and then we have many of those "small" problems
here
> and there...
>
> Thanks for everything, Paul.
> Alfredo Medina
>
> Paul Turvill wrote:
>
> > That *is* mysterious. Maybe an inadvertant stray click or two got
> > interpreted as a "very small distance." In any case, I'll be watching
for
> > similar behavior (none so far...).
> > __
> > "Alfredo Medina" wrote in message
> > news:38C2CC8A.3C0C3D29@hotmail.com...
> > > Paul,
> > >
> > > What is really confusing is that I got that message even before
> > entering any
> > > scale factor at all.
> > > I just typed Scale, then I selected the objects, and the error message
> > showed
> > > up.
>

[#9]

I have the same problem with some entities in a particular situation.

If I scale some entities (3 lines), and pick the end point of one of the lines, located very near other entities, as the base point, before I even enter a scale factor I get the message ''Extremely small scale factor ignored'' but I can proceed with the command.
If I pick another base point, I might not get that message.

Sorry, wasn't able to send attachment.


Mon Grain

[#10]

If you save the drawing in 2013 format and re-open the drawing then issue is fixed.

however this still needs fixing for those working in a mixed environment.

My findings in summary:

1. scaling to a base point selected by OSNAP is fine.

2. scaling to a base point in free space causes the issue.

3. this behaviour only happens in pre-2013 drawing formats.

Hope this helps

Joe