Solved: Drawing initial set-up

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tohm
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Joined: Wed Jun 22, 2022 8:41 pm

Solved: Drawing initial set-up

Post by tohm » Wed Jun 22, 2022 9:06 pm

I'm looking to draw up some automotive wiring diagrams. The drawing for my engine control module needs to be about 10" x 24". I've set up Drawing Preferences with Dimension Setting for Text size at .075"; Drawing Units = inches; Grid x = .1", y = .1"; Page as Arch C - Landscape (to give me my 24" width); Scale of 1"=1". With this current set-up I seem to spend most of my time trying to Zoom in on my little 10"x24" rectangle. I thought that ZA was essentially Zoom-Extents. Apparently not, as when I "Auto Zoom" the first tick mark I see is at 16666'-8", (A long way from 0,0). What am I missing?

I'm using QCAD Pro 3.27.1 on a MacBook Pro. Had some experience many years ago with AutoCAD, but most of that seems to have left me. One comment: I have the QCAD Intro to CAD book, but it does not contain a lot of information on initial set-up of the system or drawing pages.

Thanks
Last edited by tohm on Thu Jun 23, 2022 4:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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andrew
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Re: Drawing initial set-up

Post by andrew » Wed Jun 22, 2022 9:16 pm

Auto zoom zooms to all your visible entities. It zooms the drawing to its maximum zoom, so that everything is visible and nothing is cut off:
https://qcad.org/doc/qcad/latest/refere ... c/AutoZoom

Please note that if you can attach your drawing file, we can help more efficiently, thanks.

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Husky
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Re: Drawing initial set-up

Post by Husky » Wed Jun 22, 2022 9:51 pm

Hi,
tohm wrote:
Wed Jun 22, 2022 9:06 pm
I've set up Drawing Preferences with Dimension Setting for Text size at .075"; Drawing Units = inches; Grid x = .1", y = .1"; Page as Arch C - Landscape (to give me my 24" width); Scale of 1"=1".
Maybe you like to reconsider the Dim Text size of 0.075. Common praxis by a print scale of 1" = 1" would be 3/32" or rounded 0.09 decimal. You could go up to 9/64" or rounded 0.14 decimal. Just saying ... :wink:
tohm wrote:
Wed Jun 22, 2022 9:06 pm
I thought that ZA was essentially Zoom-Extents. Apparently not, as when I "Auto Zoom" the first tick mark I see is at 16666'-8", (A long way from 0,0). What am I missing?
ZA will zoom to EVERYTHING what is in your drawing. If you have "lost" entities at e.g. 16666'-8" AZ will find it - even if it is only one point! Please Doublecheck your drawing for "lost" entities and if possible delete or move them. Easy procedure to get rid of unwanted entities would be to select everything in your drawing what is important to you. Then invert the selection and delete it. Try ZA again and see what happens ...
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Win10/64, QcadPro, QcadCam version: Current.
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CVH
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Re: Drawing initial set-up

Post by CVH » Thu Jun 23, 2022 6:09 am

Husky wrote:
Wed Jun 22, 2022 9:51 pm
the first tick mark I see is at 16666'-8"
I second what Husky proposes.

I usually turn all things visible (YS, YW) and unlocked (YN) and then I select all (TA) and zoom to all or all selected what is the same here (ZA/ZS).
In elaborated drawings I might preserve the layer state first (YM). :wink:

Selection markers are not scaled and may more visibly point out where entities, let's say, 'are not part of the drawing'. :wink:

Regards,
CVH

tohm
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Joined: Wed Jun 22, 2022 8:41 pm

Solved: Drawing initial set-up

Post by tohm » Thu Jun 23, 2022 4:03 pm

Selected all entities in large section of the perceived blank area and located a wayward rectangle. Deleted; Tried ZA, which zoomed to my desired work. Thanks for the assistance. I'm learning.

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