Custom North Arrow Inserts Angled

[Joshua7812]

I've seen other posts like this, but nothing has answered my question or solved my problem.

• I have a custom north arrow block that's created with a due north rotation. It has a scale action and a rotation action.
• In a separate drawing, I have a viewport with a due north rotation.
• When I go to my Layout Elements and insert my custom north arrow, select the viewport, and place my north arrow, the arrow has an almost 4 degree rotation to it.
  • Edit: I've just noticed on another layout tab, where I linked the arrow to another viewport that is due north, the arrow came in rotated 1 degree, 46 minutes, 45 seconds (counterclockwise). So, the rotation it comes in at isn't even entirely consistent....

Does anybody know what's going on here or how I can fix it? Obviously, I can rotate the arrow to due north every time I insert it into a drawing, and after that it continues to function properly. However, that's extremely inconvenient and shouldn't be a necessary step.

I've attached a screenshot of the arrow linked to my viewport, as well as my custom arrow DWG file. If anybody can help me sort this out, I would really appreciate it. I've checked/tried everything I've been able to think of.

[tcorey]

That is a dynamic block that has a parameter called Viewport North Rotation. I wonder if you can set that to 0.

[Pointdump]

Hi Joshua,
"the rotation it comes in at isn't even entirely consistent...."
True North is hardly ever the same as AutoCAD Top-of-Page, due to Convergence. Use Command -SHOWGEODETICCALCULATOR to see the Convergence at any point, which can be considerable, depending on the Coordinate System assigned to your drawing.

Dave

[rl_jackson]

I generally don't set my north arrow to rotate to the viewport automatically, I've had bad things happen to the viewport that make the drawing disappear, I've heard this is fixed but I'm reluctant to switch after it's blown up my drawing on a number of occasions.

I use the lisp routine that I found here to rotate my north to my viewport.

[Joshua7812]

Thank you, I'll definitely check this lisp out!

[Joshua7812]

Is there a way to account/adjust for convergence automatically in these situations, where I don't have to worry about a north arrow being inserted and have a tilt to it? The calculator does show a convergence of the same amount my north arrow is rotated by. Alternatively, is it better to avoid linked north arrow and just manually rotate or use lisps?

[Pointdump]

Joshua,
If you want your North Arrow to be the same as Top-of-Page, use Command DVIEW >> TWIST.
Dave

[Joshua7812]

Sorry it's taken so long to respond. We had a snowstorm, and today is the first time I've been in the office since Monday.

DVIEW only works in Model Space, and my north arrow is in Paper Space. Nothing I've done using DVIEW in MS has seemed to fix anything, but I don't have much experience with DVIEW and could be doing it wrong. But when I go in PS my north arrows and viewports are still showing that there's a rotation in the viewport (my viewport itself isn't rotated, it's just showing the object it's viewing to have a rotation). I'm very confused, because these are the same viewports that always functioned properly until I linked a north arrow to them....

At this point, I think I'll go back to non-linked north arrows. Making that aspect automated to avoid potential errors is just something I was trying, but t's causing too many problems and confusion in the template. I'm not entirely sure why they would have a linked north arrow be affected by convergence if the viewport itself isn't rotated and the view isn't wasn't rotated prior to linking the north arrow; and I definitely don't understand why linking a north arrow to a viewport that has otherwise been used and perfectly fine for years would suddenly make the viewport show objects as having a rotation when the viewport or its view had never been rotated before. It could just be my lack of understanding in this area, it just really seems like another ACAD/C3D design flaw to me.

[Pointdump · Accepted solution]

Joshua,
Your ALO-ARRW-NRTH.dwg doesn't have an assigned coordinate system, which C3D needs for the North Arrow to work. Use DVIEW >> Twist on your Viewport Model, not Paper Space.
If that doesn't work for you, rotate a non-linked North Arrow Block to your liking.
Dave