Setting Scale on drawings...newbie question

[Al in PT]

Ok. I have a drawing I made on 8.5"x11" paper. On my *real* graph paper, 1'
in the real world = .5" on the paper. So I set Visio to draw that, by setting
the page Setup, drawing scale to Pre-defined scale: Architectural, 1/2" =
1'0". This reduces my page size to 72 ft. x 48 ft. for a printer paper of 11
x 8.5 (horizontal). I don't want my drawing size 36"x24" I want it 8.5" x
11". Is this just the way it is, or can I have the drawing page = the printer
page and still be 1' = .5"? Or am I just missing something here. When I do
this, it resizes and scrambles my header, etc. Do I just have to setup this
size when I begin, and can't go back? It just seems boneheaded. My real paper
1/4" squares can be anything I want, but I just can't get Visio to do the
same....

 

[Al in PT]

fMore frustration: I threw out the entire amount of work I had done, and
started over. By scaling the paper in the beginning it seems to have created
a drawing and paper size that "match" and allow me to create the scale I
needed. (printer paper = 8.5 x 11 landscape, fit 1 sheet across 1 sheet down,
page size is pre-defined standard letter 11 x 8.5) Why it smashed everything
up when I resized it last time is beyond my comprehension. So now, when I
print, nothing comes out, it just sends a page through blank...This is just
way to frustrating. Working by pencil is vastly less complex!

 

[Al Gillis]

Hi Al...

I've found that changing scale values in mid stream can be frustrating and,
especially, text doesn't scale well at all; shapes (boxes, lines, etc.) do
reasonably well, however. Obviously though, if you change a drawing from 1"
= 1'0" to say 3" = 1'0" or .25" = 1'-0" things are going to be different.

Why didn't anything print? Hard to say from way over here. Did you maybe
put everything on a layer and then set that layer to "no print" (in View,
Layer Properties)? Can your printer do graphic things (check for an updated
printer driver, maybe)

Good luck with the pencil! You're right that it's easy and you and your
co-workers are pretty familiar with the process and how to operate both ends
of the tool. But what happens when you need to revise 15% of your drawing?
(Time for a Pink Pearl?) Or let's say you want to portray a plan view of
your office without furniture and then again with several different layouts
of furniture? Maybe you could make the plan view office outline on paper
and then do the furniture on transparencies? But seriously, I'd bite the
bullet, spend some time playing with Visio or some tutorials and, in the
long run, be far ahead with Visio. Remember when you first were learning
how to use a word processor (or, heaven forbid, Edlin)?

Good Luck!

(Another) Al

 

[Al in PT]

Thanks for the reply Al, and yes, I once used Edlin, along with the original
Wordstar. Anyway, I've used Visio a lot in past times, and this is the first
time I've done scaled drawings with it. I'm really at a point where I'm going
to go try out some competitor's products.

My printer works just fine. Prints photos, web pages, everything. I didn't
set anything that I *know* on Visio that caused it not to print properly. It
doesn't properly print any Visio diagram, old or new. I think some setting in
Visio is screwed up. very frustrating. Word, Powerpoint, Excel, photo
programs all print properly. Not sure why Visio doesn't.

 

[Paddy]

Ok. I have a drawing I made on 8.5"x11" paper. On my *real* graph paper,
1'
in the real world = .5" on the paper. So I set Visio to draw that, by
setting
the page Setup, drawing scale to Pre-defined scale: Architectural, 1/2" =
1'0". This reduces my page size to 72 ft. x 48 ft. for a printer paper of
11
x 8.5 (horizontal). I don't want my drawing size 36"x24" I want it 8.5" x
11". Is this just the way it is, or can I have the drawing page = the
printer
page and still be 1' = .5"? Or am I just missing something here. When I do
this, it resizes and scrambles my header, etc. Do I just have to setup
this
size when I begin, and can't go back? It just seems boneheaded. My real
paper
1/4" squares can be anything I want, but I just can't get Visio to do the
same....

Al, I'm not sure if I'm missing a point, or if perchance you are.

If I have paper and printer set to A4 size , and set my drawing scale to
(say) metric 1:200, then 10mm on my drawing represents 2000mm or 2m "real
world". My page size , while physically A4 (297mm x 210mm), is seen by
Visio as being 59.4m x 42m. Of course, it is seen by the printer as A4
paper. However, dimensions are shown to the scale size (200 times the
physical drawn dimensions).

However, as Al Gillis points out in his response, it is not a good idea to
change scale part-way through a drawing. Always set the page setup first,
before you start drawing.

In my classes, my student have to create a stencil of standard architectural
electrical drawing symbols to 1:200 scale. If they do it (or even start it)
at 1:1 scale, it is simply too difficult to re-size or re-scale. I just
smile sweetly and tell them to start again, as penance for not reading
instructions first!

Paddy

 

[Al Gillis]

Well, Visio could be hosed up somehow but did you check to see if a layer
inadvertently got something set on it and then got configured for "no
printing" (Click this: View, Layer Properties,and then see if any possible
layers have no check mark in the "Print" column). If that setting is OK
then I'm out of ideas - Sorry!


Al