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AutoCAD drawing units

13 REPLIES 13
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Message 1 of 14
bryan.busby
799 Views, 13 Replies

AutoCAD drawing units

Hi all,

I need to change my drawing units from inches to feet.  For example, when I draw a line and type "100" it spits out a line that is 100 inches long.  I need it to be a line that is 100 ft long when I type "100".  Basically I need to go from decimal inches to decimal feet.  Any help would be much appreciated!

13 REPLIES 13
Message 2 of 14
Otto
in reply to: bryan.busby

Hello bryan.busby and welcome to the Autodesk community!

It looks like you are looking for information related to drawing units. Community members with similar questions found the following article(s) useful:

UNITS (Command)

Difference between -DWGUNITS and INSUNITS

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Message 3 of 14
Patchy
in reply to: Otto

Skip the long explanation OTTO Smiley Very Happy

 

-DWGUNITS, pick the unit you need and choose YES to Scale your drawing.

Message 4 of 14
bryan.busby
in reply to: bryan.busby

No, that did not help my problem


Message 5 of 14
john.laidler
in reply to: bryan.busby

You change the UNITS with the below option, but this will not convert the drawing.  

 

Command: DDUNITS

 

2017-01-18_14-30-13.jpg

John Laidler
AutoCAD, Inventor and Vault



Please use "Accept as Solution" & give "Kudos" if this response helped you.
Message 6 of 14
bryan.busby
in reply to: john.laidler

Thank you!

Message 7 of 14
bryan.busby
in reply to: Patchy

Thank you for this.  I opened the -DWG dialog box and the units were set to mm but the output was some how converted to inches? I'm migrating from microstation and setting these units is something that I find drastically different. I have fixed my problem through the UNITS dialog box and I'm now able to draw in decimal feet.

Message 8 of 14
rculp
in reply to: bryan.busby

As a note of caution, most people don't draw in decimal FEET, unless they are surveying or machining.  They draw in FeeT-INches (LUNITS = 3 or 4), where a line 100 units long would be 100 inches or 8'-4" long.  To draw a line 100FT long you'd draw a line 100' (add the ft mark).

 

Drawing a line 3FEET 10 and 5/8" long in decimal feet (LUNITS = 2) would require some gymnastics.  With LUNITS = 3 or 4, when keying in length simply enter 3'10-5/8 and you get the line precisely that long.

But hey, that's just me.

Randall Culp
Civil-Structural Design Technician
(aka CADaver)
Message 9 of 14
bryan.busby
in reply to: rculp

I know I'm the oddball with that Smiley Very Happy ! I keep a conversion chart handy for quick reference so  for me it's easier and faster to draw in decimal feet and eliminates the complication of fractions, e.g., instead of typing 3'-10 5/8" I simply type 3.8854' and get the same line with less hassle.  To each his own!

Message 10 of 14
rculp
in reply to: bryan.busby

That depends on your definition of "hassle".  I didn't have to create and keep track of a cheat sheet, or hunt it down when I needed it, or look through it for the number (if your sheet covers 16ths through 1'-0" that's 192 numbers) and then key it in.  

 

3.8854' is 6 keystrokes 3'10-5/8 is 8 keystrokes, but I understand that those two keystrokes are SUCH a hassle and 5/8 is SO complicated, so I can see where you might want to avoid them ..............

But hey, that's just me.

Randall Culp
Civil-Structural Design Technician
(aka CADaver)
Message 11 of 14
scot-65
in reply to: rculp

I have similar execution.
I memorized each 1/8 inch (three decimal places).
3'10.625

???

Scot-65
A gift of extraordinary Common Sense does not require an Acronym Suffix to be added to my given name.


Message 12 of 14
bryan.busby
in reply to: bryan.busby

Actually, rculp, google has plethora of conversion charts already available so I didn't need to create anything. I simply printed it and it's been taped to my cork board next to my monitor for the past 3+ years. As you can imagine I have all the major increments memorized just from using it so much so I only need to glance to my left for that occasional 1/16 or 1/8. Yes, not only am I saving keystrokes by doing this but I'm also not having to type in any special characters. This my seem trivial to you but over the course of a work day it does save time. Lastly, decimals are just overall easier to work with than fractions if you take the time and effort to learn them!
Message 13 of 14
bryan.busby
in reply to: bryan.busby

Also I forgot to mention that I do a lot of civil work and as I'm sure you already know, all of the stationing and other geographical data is in decimal feet. Just much easier to keep one uniform standard
Message 14 of 14
patrick.emin
in reply to: bryan.busby

Hi, the reply to your question depends on what AutoCAD you are using, are you using the vanilla version or a vertical?

Patrick Emin animateur de la communauté francophone


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