[solved] Setting new drawing scale

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KralcSivad
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[solved] Setting new drawing scale

Post by KralcSivad » Sat Jan 28, 2023 11:42 pm

Hello. How can I set the scale of new drawings? Whenever I start a new drawing the scale of the view defaults to about 300 by 150 inches which is not convenient for my usual use of Qcad which is to make drawings of machine parts. I have tried creating a template and setting the view scale in that file but it does not seem to apply when I do a "New drawing from template". Thanks.

p.s. I love Qcad and use it almost daily.

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Husky
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Re: Setting new drawing scale

Post by Husky » Sun Jan 29, 2023 12:14 am

Hello KralcSivad,
KralcSivad wrote:
Sat Jan 28, 2023 11:42 pm
Hello. How can I set the scale of new drawings?
No. Common praxis in CAD is to draw everything in 1:1. No matter is it a part of a watch or a skyscraper.

KralcSivad wrote:
Sat Jan 28, 2023 11:42 pm
Whenever I start a new drawing the scale of the view defaults to about 300 by 150 inches which is not convenient for my usual use of Qcad which is to make drawings of machine parts.
What exactly do you mean with "scale of the view"? Is that the view when you load the drawing? If so please check the Application Preferences for: Auto Zoom on load.

Husky_2023_01_28-01.png
Husky_2023_01_28-01.png (58.57 KiB) Viewed 2033 times

If that doesn't solves the issue please elaborate the issue in more detail and provide example dxf/screenshots etc. Thanks.
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KralcSivad
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Re: Setting new drawing scale

Post by KralcSivad » Sun Jan 29, 2023 1:27 am

Thanks for your quick response Husky.

I do draw everything at 1:1.

What I mean by "scale of view" is the zoom level of the default view of a new drawing with no entities in it yet. Qcad defaults to showing about 300 units in x and 150 units in y. I would like it to default to showing something like 2 units in x and 1 unit in y. That way I would not need to zoom in by a factor of ~150 to get an initial view that is close to what is convenient to see when designing small machine parts.

I do have "auto zoom on load" enabled but a new empty drawing does not yet have any entities to zoom to. I tried putting a 2 unit long horizontal line in my template file and it zooms to that on load as expected. Deleting this line is easier than having to roll the zoom wheel several times. I guess I could put the line on a hidden layer so I don't need to delete it but I thought that there might be another way to control the "default zoom level".

Thanks for you help.

Version: 3.27.8.0 (3.27.8)
Build Date: Oct 6 2022
Revision: dea3962
Qt Version: 5.13.2
Architecture: x86_64
Compiler: MSVC++ 14.0 (2015)

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Husky
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Re: Setting new drawing scale

Post by Husky » Sun Jan 29, 2023 2:06 am

KralcSivad wrote:
Sun Jan 29, 2023 1:27 am
What I mean by "scale of view" is the zoom level of the default view of a new drawing with no entities in it yet
Ok, got it now. Thanks!
KralcSivad wrote:
Sun Jan 29, 2023 1:27 am
I would like it to default to showing something like 2 units in x and 1 unit in y
Nope - QCAD has no settings for something like that.

KralcSivad wrote:
Sun Jan 29, 2023 1:27 am
I tried putting a 2 unit long horizontal line in my template file and it zooms to that on load as expected. Deleting this line is easier than having to roll the zoom wheel several times.
Ok, that sounds like a practical workaround. Now you have to decide - will you use it as "New from Template" or in general as "New" drawing? The first variant is kind of flexible, the second variant means EVERY new drawing is a copy of that template (with a 2 unit line in it).

Thinking about this ... e_confused
Do you have experience with the View List? That could kill two birds with one stone e_surprised if used as "New" drawing template (Menu/File/New). In which unit has the template to be ...?
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KralcSivad
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Re: Setting new drawing scale

Post by KralcSivad » Sun Jan 29, 2023 6:55 pm

I like the idea of using the "view list". I put a view in the "view list" at the zoom level I want in my template file. With that it is a single click to get to that zoom level and there are no unnecessary lines.

I see how to open a template file with "new from template" command but it sounds like there is a way to make the "new" command open a default template automatically. How would I set that up?

Thanks.

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J-J
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Re: Setting new drawing scale

Post by J-J » Sun Jan 29, 2023 7:30 pm

Look into "Edit, application preferences", you can specify your default template on start-up
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JJ Win7 pro-64

KralcSivad
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Re: Setting new drawing scale

Post by KralcSivad » Mon Jan 30, 2023 9:42 pm

Perfect. Thanks.

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