4K, 3840 X 2160 resolution problem scaling in AutoCAD 2016

[Anonymous]

We will be replacing all our CAD workstation this year including monitors supporting UHD (4k) resolution. We just had first one configured. And here is the problem – AutoCAD 2016 is not doing very good job scaling fonts, dialog boxes etc. “Start” screen is completely not able to scale in 4k resolution. We use 4K, 3840 X 2160 resolution (UHD), 60Hz on U28D590D - Samsung UHD 28” Monitor. Standard HD resolution (1080p) works perfect. Are you planning to address this in some future service packs or fixes?

[dgorsman]

AutoDesk rarely comments on future developments for a number of reasons.  Plus this board is mostly peer-peer support.

Now that 4K/UHD is more widely adopted among hardware vendors and is actively being used by more product users, there is a much better chance of a future release supporting this.  There is a *slim* chance they might release a patch for the 2016 releases but far more likely is it only going to be added to the next release and later.  Provided, of course, another format doesn't come along and render it obsolete.

[jggerth]

At this point, there seems to be little reason to 'upgrade' to 4K monitors.  In all seriousness, a monitor ought to last you close to a decade, and there are lot of high quality 24" & 27" displays that will work wonders for you compared to the 17" CRT.

Just get two 24" and one 27", and compare productivity (not movies or games)

3D TV was a flash in the pan, and there's little reason to think 4K si going to be different -- since the primary goal of both those initiatives is to sell hardware.

[Anonymous]

I guess you can support your opinion with some research? Can you point me to it? Otherwise this is your personal belief that has zero to do with mine. So please do not make statements that maybe make sense to you (good for you), and try not to sound like you know better than anybody else. And what about you injecting “(not movies or games)” – wow you really are “smart” and know all.

Next time if you are going to try to give advice to specific questions, try at least leave your ego, rudeness and know all attitude out of this forum.  

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I guess you can support your opinion with some research? Can you point me to it? Otherwise this is your personal belief that has zero to do with mine. So please do not make statements that maybe make sense to you (good for you), and try not to sound like you know better than anybody else. And what about you injecting “(not movies or games)” – wow you really are “smart” and know all.

Next time if you are going to try to give advice to specific questions, try at least leave your ego, rudeness and know all attitude out of this forum.  

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Have you tried Here ?

[pendean]

Autodesk offers this reality check as their solution since "...Current versions of AutoCAD (and other Autodesk products) are optimized for monitor displays with a resolution under 2000..." as noted in this document from them:
http://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/autocad/troubleshooting/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/Odd-gra...

This link below is another fix for these advanced monitors and the software that has yet to catch up with them (there are others, not just Autodesk as you can see in the link). Do yourself a favor and research the topic on the internet, it's an ugly reality but it's not a secret

http://www.danantonielli.com/adobe-app-scaling-on-high-dpi-displays-fix/ 

Good luck.

[nrz13]

JGerth:

I agree with you on 3D TV being a gimmick, and I'll even concede that a lot of the 4K hype is gimmick, particularly for TVs under a certain size.  But for monitors, especially 30" and larger, 4K and up is the future.  The higher resolution gets you a better picture and crisper fonts with less eye strain and/or more screen real estate.  With a 4K monitor, you're sitting close enough to notice the difference, unlike a 4K TV where you're viewing it across the room.

I don't think it is an unreasonable expectation that Autodesk update their software to work with higher-resolution screens, which are increasingly common.  I think this could have been done for AutoCAD 2016.

[Anonymous]

Bit until they update buying 4k is just throwing money to the wind.

Sent from my iPhone

[jggerth]

@Anonymous   yes, that's an opinion, a perhaps cynical one based on nearly 4 decades of hearing IT vendors hype, fud & and gimmicks rather than based on peer reviewed literature or academic studies.  However, the bottom line is that the software does not support the hardware under discussion.  that's not an opinion, just a reality.  Movies and espec. games do make more sense for 4K monitors -- but vector graphics really don't at this point.

If you want to buy 4K monitors for your desktops, go ahead.  You won't be happy with them for a couple of years at least, so it seems imprudent.  But heck, if someone wants to buy a Ferrari and drive it in town at the speed limit, great.  It's not my money after all.

@nrz13   I guess that spending dev time on new themes was a higher priority than supporting the bleeding edge of displays.  Frankly Adesk hasn't really seemed to do much with hardware supprt since ADI drivers from the DOS days.  No GPU support, almost no multi-threading, no benefit to having 8 core processors, and they've been mainstream for quite a few years.  H4eck, even the new rendering engine can't use the GPU to offload  rendering calcs onto.  They decided display was all Microsoft's problem, so we are stuck with that.

[dgorsman]

The future is always up in the air.  Old enough to remember Betamax tapes?  How about the large laser disc platters?  Mini-disc, or DAT tape formats?  Did you lay out money for an HD DVD player, only to have everyone switch to BluRay less than a year later?

Yes, AutoDesk could have made support a priority but when there isn't much need beyond a thousand users or so it wouldn't make much sense to place that bet when it could have been superceded before distribution (consider UHD-1 vs. UHD-2, or even 8K).

[Anonymous]

Jgerth,

I respect your opinion just because you have a right to have it, exactly like me or as a matter of fact anybody else. But, I had simple question on the forum specifically created to help users with Autodesk products. If we were sitting in the pub drinking bear we could have discussion about philosophical aspects of monitors, GPUs, CPUs etc. etc. In this case my question was very straightforward, and if you do not have the answer or suggestion simply do not answer. I really do not care what is your opinion regardless of your years of experience, as much as I don’t care about people believing that dinosaurs were roaming with humans not long ago on the earth (some of them with 50 years of experience). There is nothing that makes you more right than someone else – not you age, experience, money or whatever.

I’m really frustrated that one modest question has to trigger all this litany of angry psychological rumbling. Look at “pendean’s” reply. It was great. Is it going to work? I don’t know. But he at least trying to help, understands the question, and most of all shares what he knows.

[nrz13]

Dgorsman:

A scalable interface isn't comparable to format wars.  A well-designed interface works well at any resolution, whether it be HD, 4K, or 8K.  From AutoCAD 2013-2015, Autodesk made a number of relatively arbitrary interface changes that didn't really add anything.  I think that time could have been better spent adding functional scalability.

I would guess there are far more than 1,000 users with high-resolution displays using AutoCAD now, but it's a moot argument because neither of us really knows.

[braudpat]

Hello from France

I am working on a 27 screen with 2560x1440 resolution (since about 16 monthes), and of course no problem (from ACAD 2011 to ACAD 2016) ...

If I remember well, the display problems begin at about 3000 pixels !?

A real scalable interface and a complete redesign of all dialog boxes (if needed !?) is not an easy work !

Autodesk has some others priorities !!

So many things has to be redesigned and optimized into the ACAD Core that this very high resolution problem is not at all a wish for me !

Regards, Patrice (I am not an Autodesk Advisor)

[pendean]

Autodesk states the following design limitation with their products:
"...Current versions of AutoCAD (and other Autodesk products) are optimized for monitor displays with a resolution under 2000..."

Since they acknowledge it I suspect that means they are also working of a solution. When will that be? Hopefully before R2020.

[nrz13]

I agree with you that surely they are working on it.

I find it interesting that the System Requirements for AutoCAD 2016 state:

Display Resolution:  1024x768 (1600x1050 or higher recommended) with True Color

You'd think they would want to list that recommended limit there.

[pendean]

Well, technically, they aren't lying since higher that 1600 is still below 2000 🙂

[mkbastida]

High DPI is already supported in Autocad for Mac OS X, which makes the lack of implementation for Windows not understandable.

[nrz13]

Mkbastida:

The interface for the Mac version was built from scratch, so they could easily account for that in the new design.  Whenever they get around to fixing the Windows version, I suspect that's when the classic toolbar interface will also be removed.

[jpryne]

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@jggerth wrote:

At this point, there seems to be little reason to 'upgrade' to 4K monitors.  In all seriousness, a monitor ought to last you close to a decade, and there are lot of high quality 24" & 27" displays that will work wonders for you compared to the 17" CRT.

Just get two 24" and one 27", and compare productivity (not movies or games)

3D TV was a flash in the pan, and there's little reason to think 4K si going to be different -- since the primary goal of both those initiatives is to sell hardware.

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Must heartily disagree with you here, JGerth. I'm using a 50" UHDTV as my main monitor, and I could *never* go back to a smaller monitor. A 23" display has become *anemically* unsuitable. Nothing beats the clarity, flexibility, & freedom of this much space & resolution! To be honest, I was so surprised that AutoCAD didn't display correctly that I was sure all I needed was a retstart after my initial install. After all, a huge company like Autodesk must surely be on top of these progressions, right? Also, I paid only $440 for this huge, crisp display. Those *three* monitors you're proposing represent far more technical complexity, less real estate, higher costs, and still provide an inferior experience. Don't knock it until you try it, my good man.

[Anonymous]

$440 for a 50"?

Was this a back of the truck special?

Sent from my iPhone