SETTING UP UNITS
I assume that you are using AutoCAD Architecture, and not plain AutoCAD, based on you posting in this forum.
Do you have access to out-of-the-box Imperial-unit content, such as that provided in the US Imperial content? If so, best practice would be to start files with one of the out-of-the-box Imperial template files, as you will start out with all the right settings for Imperial-unit drawings, and would only need to set your annotation scale to 1/4" = 1'-0" and then create a Viewport on a layout that is scaled to view the model at 1/4" = 1'-0" (1:48). I am assuming that you plan to follow standard practice of drawing all "real world" elements in model space at their full size, and handle the scale of the plotted output through the scale factor of a Viewport on a layout.
If you have existing drawings that were not started with an Imperial-unit template, you may be best served by starting a new drawing with an Imperial-unit template, and then INSERTing/EXPLODing your file within it, particularly if the file was not created in AutoCAD Architecture, as that will get you the out-of-the-box display settings, as well as the units and other settings. But you could manually change the drawing to Imperial units:
- Make certain that the MEASUREMENT System Variable is set to 0 (for imperial units).
- Type UNITS as the command line and press the ENTER key. On the Units tab of the Drawing Setup dialog, set the Drawing Units to Inches, the Length Type to Architectural and the Length Precision as desired. Make certain the other units settings on that tab are as desired, and then select the OK button to ratify the change and dismiss the dialog.
- When prompted after closing the Drawing Setup dialog, at the very least you will want to rescale modelspace objects (assuming that they were drawn full size in the previous units); you may or may not want to rescale paperspace objects.
- Use the annotation scale control on the Status Bar to set the current annotation scale to 1/4" = 1'-0".
