outsized insert and scale bounds

[jdfnnl]

When either inserting or scaling an object, I find that the extents of that object often extend well beyond the cursor. I would like to know why this occurs and if there is a way to adjust a setting to correspond the extents of the object with location of the cursor. Here is a screenshot inserting a pdf underlay showing the relative position of the cursor vs the outline of the object:

 

The mismatched sizing is even more extreme with the scale command. Do others observe the same behavior?

[pendean]

Forgive me, but I'm not sure what you are asking and what the graphics may be trying to show.
is this a ZOOM level type query? Or...?

[jdfnnl]

these commands are made more challenging when the cursor does not align with the extents of the object being manipulated .. as you can see, the cursor is located probably less than 10% of the extent of the object and hinders finer adjustment at the given zoom level.

[ChicagoLooper]

Hello @jdfnnl 

You specify HOW you are inserting the PDF. Are you using ATTACH command?

You want to attach (insert) a PDF to modelspace AND when doing so you want to control the insertion point AND the scale of the PDF during insertion.

Do this:

1. Check both boxes as shown in image-1.Image-1                                                                 
2. Click-and-Drag. Left-click to establish the lower left corner of the PDF, keep left button depressed then drag cursor diagonally to upper-right. Release left button to complete the insertion procedure. Refer to image-2. WARNING: A small 'drag' will result in a larger PDF. Even the slightest movement in upper right direction will make the PDF larger. Exercise extreme restraint during the drag.    

Image-2

[MaccyDee]

if youre trying to drag the opposite edge of the object from your base point, to a another point,  hit 'R' for reference after selecting the base point, this basically lets you draw a line from your base point to the edge which makes it much more intuitive to free-scale, make sure you have 'scale uniformly' selected in properties.

[jdfnnl]

The 'reference' option is familiar to me, but as a way of explaining, Autocad seems to always have the default scaled way up, as though I pressed R and clicked from the basepoint to only 10% of the length of the object. Is there a way to scale down this default when inserting objects with 'specify on screen' or even just roughly rescaling. Does no one else notice this, or could my defaults be awry?

[dany_rochefort]

@jdfnnl No, only way to get a handle on that feature is to use the reference option as mentionned by @MaccyDee. And it does take a little bit of practice to dial that option in correctly... 

[ChicagoLooper]

@jdfnnl wrote

<<….Autocad seems to always have the default scaled way up…..>>

No, no. It’s not scaled way up. You and your mouse movement is scaling it up, not AutoCAD.

If you move your cursor a tiny fraction of an inch (or less) away from your insertion basepoint, the pasted objects was get larger.

The trick is not to release the left mouse button, keep it pressed down so you can drag either way—towards top right corner of your monitor to make big or in opposite direction—toward the bottom left to make small. If you release too soon and you’ve moved away from from basepoint, the pasted objects might grow and be too big. Keeping left button pressed down lets you continue to drag enabling you to scale up or down. 

Get into a groove and go by ‘feel’ like a video game. You don’t watch the results of your thumb press or watch your avatar move with your joy stick, you just know how many clicks and exactly how much to move.  

[Kent1Cooper]

---

@jdfnnl wrote:

The 'reference' option is familiar to me, ... Autocad seems to always have the default scaled way up, as though I pressed R and clicked from the basepoint to only 10% of the length of the object. ....

---

It depends on the size of what you're scaling.  What it's doing is using the distance in drawing units from the base point to the cursor as the scale factor.  If you move the cursor to 2 drawing units from the base point, the stuff will be scaled to twice as big.  Things that are many drawing units wide/high will always have this effect, but if what you're scaling is well under one drawing unit wide or high, you will have the opposite effect.  That's why the Reference option is the way to go.  If it's a constant trouble to you, the SCALE command could be redefined to have the Reference option built in.

[jdfnnl]

I see .. yes my drawings are many times the base unit. Is there a way to multiply this down so the commands are not always grossly over-scaling by default?

[Kent1Cooper]

---

@jdfnnl wrote:

I see .. yes my drawings are many times the base unit. Is there a way to multiply this down so the commands are not always grossly over-scaling by default?

---

Since it is so hugely affected by the size of each thing [or group of things] scaled, no -- this is exactly what the Reference option in the Scale command exists for.

If, as your Topic heading suggests, you want to do this directly upon Inserting something, presumably an AutoLisp routine might be devised that would include the Insertion of it, immediate determination of its size in some direction or other [which one?] from its bounding box, and use of that size as the built-in Reference option in a built-in Scale command, presumably using its insertion base point as the Scale base point.

For more general usage, there are routines around to determine the collective bounding box even of multiple objects together, which could be used in the same way.

[ChicagoLooper]

@jdfnnl wrote

<< Is there a way to multiply this down.....>>

Yes, you can but it depends on the (1) command you're using to insert your PDF, (2) the inserting object itself and (3) your drawing scale or dwgunits.

You can use the scale parameter when inserting your PDF. This will 'scale' the object when it's being inserted, not before and not after, but during.

In the image above, scale 0.0100 means the inserted PDF will be 1/100th it's size.

If the number is <1 then you're making it smaller.

If the number >1 then it'll be larger.

This number will vary from PDF-to-PDF and from drawing-to-drawing. What works for one drawing file may, or may not, work on another.....and what may work for one PDF may, or may not, work on another.