![]() ![]() They’re two very different ways of saying the same thing- that the drawing is 48 times smaller than life. Our scale of (1/4”=1’) is saying the same thing, but is displayed as a fraction and with incongruent units if we multiply by 4 to reduce that fraction to a whole number, we get (1”=4’). In our example, 1:48 means that 1” is equivalent to 48” on the ground, which is another way to say that 1” is equivalent to 4’. While the two previous examples may look a lot different, they actually could be describing the same drawing. Because of convention, and because of the nature of imperial units, it is often more meaningful to tell the reader of the drawing that ¼ of an inch on the page represents 1 foot in real life, for example. This is a bit different than a scale an imperial scale is described as a ratio of inches-to-the-foot. ![]() Typically, a scale factor is unit-less a scale factor of 48 (or 1:48) is saying that for one unit on the page, it represents 48 of the same units in real life. ScaleĪ scale factor is a ratio of change from a drawing to real life. This article will use common imperial architectural scales in its examples, but you should be encouraged to familiarize yourself with metric and engineering scales so that you can intuitively move between them with the help of CAD scale factors- an important skill for our increasingly interdisciplinary and globalized profession. On paper and on screens, our drawings need to meaningfully represent our ideas at scales that are legible and manageable for clients, builders, and our peers. But a full scale drawing is not often very useful outside of AutoCAD, Vectorworks, or your CAD software of choice. Computer Aided Design (CAD) makes it simple and effortless to move between scales and to produce drawings at multiple sizes with the help of CAD scale factors, provided you understand how to apply them.ĭesign work today happens at full-scale that is, while designing in a digital space you are drawing life-sized objects. a site plan)ĭespite these differences in notation, the rules governing all scaled drawing are the same. engineering), and the context of the drawing (a detail vs. imperial), the profession (architecture vs. The particular convention used will depend on the standards of your country (metric vs. It can be metric or imperial, it can be a ratio with or without units, and it can be written in the format of 1:n or n:1. The scale of a drawing can be described and applied in a few different ways. We will be using examples from AutoCAD, but the same steps can be similarly applied in most CAD software. This article will help you gain an intuitive understanding of CAD scale factors and best practices for scaling design drawings.
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