How to print on 11x17 to scale.

[Anonymous]

Hello -

First time posting in this forum. New user to AutoCAD, having a great time drawing rather than paying other to do it now. Though I have a issue, where there seems to be no clear answer on google.

I am trying to print on 11x17 to scale. I am making a plan set for my local city, and they need it to be 1/4 = 1'.

For the life of me, I can not figure out how to make this happen. I have followed lots of tutorials and still no luck. Closest I have gotten so far is getting everything to double scale. If I  have an 8ft wall, it is coming out to 16...

Please, if this has already been posted or answered my apologies, but again, beating my head against the desk here.

[pendean]

Are you drawing your plan at 1:1 scale? Or something else?
Are you plotting from modelspace or paperspace?
What are your PLOT parameters? We can't see your screen.

[Anonymous]

Plotting in 1:1. and drawing in model space. 

[pendean]

What are your PLOT parameters? Post a screenshot,show us.

[Anonymous]

Heres what I got for you...as stated, I am new to this.

[pendean]

So you don't know you are plotting from paperspace: that might explain your issue.
What is your viewport scale? Because you are supposed to PLOT from paperspace at 1:1 scale and the viewport is set to the plot scale you need.

Did you take any AutoCAD classes by chance? Not sure if I should link you to online tutorials to cover the basics Or you just "forgot" and this reply is the reminder you needed to keep going.

[Anonymous]

I literally took a few crash course videos online, and working with what I learned. Again, brand new to this. I understand there is 1000 things for me to learn. If you could explain though, I would be very appreciative. Also, if you could explain what i need to do...

Any tutorials would be great as well.

[vinodkl]

Hi,

Please attach the drawing, so that we can help you out.

[ChicagoLooper · Accepted solution]

Try this:

Change your viewport scale to 1/4" = 1'-0".

Viewport scale.

Then change the 'Page Setup Manger AND the Plot Dialog Window so they look like this.

Make your page setup and plot dialog like this.

[pendean]

Read this about how to set your desired plot scale to the layout viewport (1/4" in your case) https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/autocad/learn-explore/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2020/ENU/AutoC...

Then PLOT that layout at 1:1 scale.

Try it.

[dany_rochefort · Accepted solution]

There are many ways to do this... 

I made a quick template for you, it's set to 1/4'' = 1'-0

Just paste your plan in the model space rectangle. Go to layout1 tab and hit print. Don't modify plot scale settings. Scale is already adjusted using viewport. 

[asikora_frazedesign]

Your model space drawing should be drawn at a 1:1 scale. 

• Then do to the layout tab
  • right click on the tab at the bottom and select PAGE SETUP MANAGER
    • Select MODIFY
      
      • Select the Paper Size drop down and pick 11x17.  We use ANSI B (11.00 x 17.00 Inches)
        • Click OK
          • Draw a VIEWPORT on the new layout, keep it inside the grey dashed edge of the page.
            • Click inside the viewport, find your model, and zoom in on it.  Then select the scale you want to use at the bottom of the page.
            • Adjust your model to be centered in the viewport.  then LOCK the viewport.

Now just print at a 1:1 scale and you are good to go

Far less complicated than it all sounded.

[Bob_Zurunkle]

OP a few further tips:

If you set up one layout tab the way you want it for plotting, then you make more tabs by copying the first one. They retain the same setups!

You'll have to test out what sort of plot style table you want to use. Default is color while a black and white version (monochrome) is also available.

Layout tabs allow multiple viewports, each with different scales etc

You can override the linetypes and colors of layers in one viewport while leaving the other in its original state.

If you think of one tab = one sheet, and you want multiple sheets, you might want to hit F1 to bring up the Help menu, and explore the PUBLISH command.

Next you'll want to read up all about annotation objects, such as text, linetypes and dimensions.

Good luck!

[R_Tweed]

Hi Keith,

Were you able to get a handle on your printing?  You might want to consider trying the following to get a sense of visual scale while in model space.  This method may be considered outdated by others but will give something of a  starting point.

1. Draw your walls, doors and windows as real world object sizes.
2. Make a block of your 11x17 border drawn at real world size. 11"x17" including edge of paper and border lines etc.
3. Insert that border and  scale it by a factor of 48.  1/4" * 48 = 12" This scales the border to a size that you can understand as 1/4" =1'-0" to fit around your drawing.  If you double the scale factor to 96 then the drawing will be 1/8"=1'-0" when plotted.
4. At this point you can plot from model space and set your plot to 1/4"=1''-0" using a plot window around your border.

The idea is that you draw real world sized objects scale a border up 48 times and then reduce your output by 48 times to fit back on to an actual sheet of paper.

There are some other settings that you will want to research. Consider linetype scale and annotation scale but these are more for presentation-readability. Again.. you are trying to plot to a measured scale with reliable results.

Using layouts  as stated by others will allow you to setup multiple sheets, or views from within a single drawing as well as use the sheetset manger to leverage publishing and  drawing management which may be more than you are looking for at the moment.

[ghanu21]

when i set viewport scale to 1/4 my drawing get zoom in. and when i try to fit it in canvas then the scale get chnage to 0. something.

[pendean]

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@ghanu21 wrote:

when i set viewport scale to 1/4 my drawing get zoom in. and when i try to fit it in canvas then the scale get chnage to 0. something.

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Show us: share your DWG file here!

[ghanu21]

here it is sir.

[pendean]

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@ghanu21 wrote:

here it is sir.

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Nothing attached: please try again. Note, you cannot attach files by replying to an email, you must come to the website to do that.

[ghanu21]

Can u see the file now?

actually I nvere work on this scale before. client want me to redraw the drawing in 1/4inch=1foot scale and print it on 11x17inch paper [1/4inch=1foot scale]

[pendean]

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@ghanu21 wrote:

Can u see the file now?

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Yes, thank you for the DWG file; your issue is you decided to not actually draft at 1:1 scale in modelspace, so anything you want to print is now a total 'mess'

May I ask, are you new to using AutoCAD by chance? Your dimension style is not set up correctly either, it looks like you spend a lot of time manually overriding (and perhaps fudging) dimensions and text sizes.

Once drawn correctly, your shape will not likely fit on an 11x17 at an exact 1/4" scale if you client plans on manually measuring items. here is your shape, in green, at 1/4" scale on an 11x17 full bleed Ansi-B page. (you can do the math, 72feet (x12 to get inches) divided by 48 is greater than 17").