If you are working in millimetres, the footpath would be drawn 2,000 drawing units wide but if you are working in metres, the footpath would be drawn just 2 drawing units wide. If, on the other hand you are drawing a landscape masterplan, you would probably want to work in metres (Landscape Architects and Civil Engineers usually use metres).īy way of example, consider a drawing where you need to draw a footpath in plan. For example, if you were creating a detail drawing of a flight of steps, you would most likely use millimetres (Architects will almost always use millimetres). Which of these two units you use will largely depend upon the type of drawing you are creating. However, in most parts of the world it is common practice to work in either millimetres or metres.
One drawing unit could represent one millimetre, one centimetre, one metre, kilometre, mile, furlong or fathom. However, you must decide what units you will use before you start drawing. What these drawing units represent is entirely up to the individual. Most people who use AutoCAD, draw using decimal drawing units. Top of page Am I drawing in metres or millimetres? This has particular advantages because you can, for example, measure lengths, areas and volumes within an AutoCAD drawing and not need to compensate for any scale factor. In AutoCAD you do not need to decide upon a drawing scale until you come to print the drawing and because the scaling of your drawing takes place at the printing stage, you can create drawings at a scale of 1:1. When drawing on paper you must decide do draw at say, 1:20 or 1:200 depending upon the size of the object that you are drawing so that your scaled drawing will fit on the drawing sheet, be that A3 or A1. When you start drawing with AutoCAD you do not have to decide upon a drawing scale as you do when using a drawing board.
This often comes as quite a surprise to those who are new to CAD and have spent a number of years working on a drawing board.
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At what scale should I draw?Īs a general rule, everything you draw with AutoCAD will be drawn full size. This tutorial discusses these concepts, starting with the two most commonly asked questions in this subject area. You cannot start creating sensible drawings with AutoCAD until you are familiar with scale, units and the commands you use to control them. Among the most important concepts that newcomers to AutoCAD need to get to grips with are those of drawing scale and drawing units.