Drawing Scale

Use this tool to set the scale.

• The scale must be set in the drawing before starting to work with functions that are scale-dependent (texts, blocks, drawing frames, title box, scale bar, and lines).

• The scale is the plotting scale for a given drawing but not the scale, in which you are drawing. The drawing scale in Novapoint is always 1:1.

• If the scale has not been set before the initialization of different functions, you will automatically be forced to fill in missing values in the dialog box, and will not be able to continue until a scale has been set. Both the horizontal and vertical scale, as well as drawing units, must be set and the scale cannot be equal to zero.

• The drawing scale can be changed at any desired time during the project work.

• A change of scale during the work does not lead to a re-scaling of existing symbols/text. Only new symbols/texts are affected.

Horizontal

The horizontal scale will ensure the correct scaling of scale-dependent drawing information. Select desired scale from the pull-down menu. Define a scale manually if it is not in the list. In this case, Novapoint prompts to add the defined scale to the list so that it can be selected from the pull-down menu in the future.

Vertical

The vertical scale is only used on length profiles. The vertical scale is automatically set when the horizontal scale is changed. Default vertical exaggeration is 1:5, i.e. horizontal scale divided by 5.

Exaggeration

Define the factor for the vertical scale. This box is connected to the fields for the horizontal and vertical scales.

Note: In Novapoint, the scale on DWG template drawings is set to a default exaggeration of 5:1 for most configurations. This scale is in line with local standards for the chosen configuration. For example, in a typical long-section drawing for the Norwegian Road Authority, you will see 1:1000 horizontally and 1:200 vertically, giving a 5:1 exaggeration. For other configurations, the default is set to 10:1 in Novapoint template files (1:1000/1:100), based on similar regulations.

Often, you will want to work with a higher vertical exaggeration as it helps for understanding longitudinal profiles, but you are free to change the scaling as needed. You can also change the horizontal scale. If you set this horizontal scale down to 1:200, the grip points and the text will be much smaller in f.ex., the alignment design tool.

Unit

Select between meter/millimeters as drawing unit. We often use meters.

By editing the configuration files, you can also add additional units like feet, miles, kilometers, etc.

Show scale dialog in a new drawing

With this option, one can choose whether this dialog box is to be displayed every time a new drawing is created.

Details

With this option, the dialog will display the details of the AutoCAD parameters of the current drawing.

Plotted MM = Drawing Units, shows the right scale to plot in the AutoCAD Plot menu.

The horizontal scale affects all these parameters in AutoCAD. The parameters for horizontal scale 1:1000 are shown above and the parameters for horizontal scale 1:500 are shown below:

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