1.

The SNAPANG variable settings (cursor angle), enter 0

2. The SNAPSTYL variable settings (isometric settigns), choose 0
3. Rotated user coordinate system (UCS), return to the world UCS using UCS Enter Enter
4. 3D display - oblique 3D view, return to the plan view using the PLAN command
5. DYNMODE 494.4159
6. SCALE DWG TO A1 & A3
7. LENGTH OF LAYOUT IN MODEL x 1000 / LENGTH OF SHEET WHICH IS FOR A1 WHICH IS 700MM THE
TOTAL SHEET LENTH IS 841 mm FROM WHICH 16.765% IS FOR TITLE AND OTHER
8. snapang

9. Using Metric Units in AutoCAD and Land Desktop

Metric: AutoCAD Fundamentals

Metric Units in Modelspace and Paperspace

When working in metric units with AutoCAD and Land Desktop:

Modelspace: 1 unit = 1 meter

Paperspace: 1 unit = 1 millimeter

Your title block should be sized in accordance with millimeters. For example, an E size sheet is
about 43" x 33". That same sheet in metric will be 1092.20 mm x 838.20 mm (There are 25.4 mm in
one inch). So in paperspace, your E size sheet will be 1092.20 units x 838.20 units.

Scaling the viewports - A common metric scale is 1/200 or 1/1000. That means 1 meter on paper =
200 meters in the model space drawing. Our first thought would be to scale the viewport 1/200xp.
But remember, our paperspace units are mm. So we would scale the viewport differently - 1 meter /
200 millimeter.

Zooming scales for common metric scales:

Metric Scale Zooming Scale

1:100 10xp
1:200 5xp
1:250 4xp
1:500 2xp
1:1000 1xp
1:2000 0.5xp
1:10000 0.1xp
Then when you plot, you will still be plotting 1 to 1 or 1 drawing unit = 1 mm.
 

Annotation

You have to think of your text size in terms of millimeters and not inches. The actual text size will
then be the millimeter value multiplied by the drawing scale. A text size of 4mm on paper will be .
004 x 500 = 2m tall in the modelspace drawing. Text conversion for millimeter text:

Size in millimeters Size in inches

2 .079
3 .118
4 .157
5 .197
6 .236
7 .276
8 .315
9 .354
10 .394
12 .472
14 .551
16 .630
 

Dimensioning

Dimscale for different metric scales:

Metric Scale Dim Scale

1:100 .1
1:200 .2
1:250 .25
1:500 .5
1:1000 1
1:2000 2
1:10000 10
All the dimensioning variables should be sized in terms millimeters. If you want your arrow size to
be 4 mm on paper, set that variable to 4.

Linetype Scale
In imperial units, the linetype scale is equal to the plot scale. If your drawing scale is 1"=40’, your
ltscale will be 40 when working on your drawing in modelspace, and 1 when plotting your drawing
in paperspace. Unfortunately, it’s not that simple when working in metric. You have to convert
metric to imperial to find the ltscale. Linetype scales for typical metric scales are as follows:

Metric Scale Linetype Scale

1:100 2.54
1:200 5.08
1:250 6.35
1:500 12.7
1:1000 25.4
1:2000 50.8
1:10000 254
To calculate the ltscale, simply multiply the metric scale x .0254. The ltscale in paperspace will be
the same as the ltscale in modelspace.

Block Insertion Scale

If you have drawn and defined your block libraries with regard to imperial units, you must scale
them differently for metric drawings. Typically, when you insert a block into a drawing, you scale it
by the drawing scale (40x for 1"=40’, 20x for 1"=20’). With metric, you will have to scale it by the
following factors:

Metric Scale Block Insertion Scale

1:100 2.54
1:200 5.08
1:250 6.35
1:500 12.7
1:1000 25.4
1:2000 50.8
1:10000 254
To calculate the scale, simply multiply the metric scale x .0254.

 
Metric Drawing and Project Setup in Land Desktop

After creating a project, and starting a new drawing the Load Settings dialog box will appear:

First select a metric profile to start with. On the next screen, the Units should automatically be set to
Metric.
Step 3 allows you to choose the desired horizontal and vertical scale, as well as the sheet size. Here
is a table to help equate imperial scales to metric scales:

Metric H. Scale Imperial H. Scale Metric V. Scale Imperial V. Scale

1:100 1:8.333 1:6 1:0.5
1:200 1:16.667 1:8 1:0.667
1:250 1:20.833 1:10 1:0.8333
1:500 1:41.667 1:20 1:1.667
1:1000 1:83.333 1:40 1:3.333
1:2000 1:166.667 1:50 1:4.1667
1:10000 1:833.333 1:100 1:8.333
 

Choose an appropriate zone in step 4 and orientation in step 5.

Step 6 allows you to choose a set of text styles to load. For metric you have two choices - milli and
mleroy. Milli will allow you to choose styles based on millimeter sizes that you want to see on paper
- 3mm high, 4 mm high, etc. Mleroy uses the same styles as imperial - L120, L140, etc. These styles
will be sized appropriately such that your text will still be .12" or .14" tall on paper. Mleroy is
probably the best way to go, because you know intuitively how tall L120 is but you may not know
how tall 4mm is.

Click Next to choose a border and click Finish to complete the setup. You generally don’t have to
worry about the border or sheet size here since paperspace is used.

Survey Module

If you work in the Survey module, you need to set the units to metric for this module:

File => Project Settings... => Click on the Edit button for the Survey module => Click on Units for
Survey => Choose Meters

Earthworks Module

If you work in the Earthworks module, you need to set the area and volume calculation suffix’s to
metric:

File => Project Settings... => Click on the Edit button for the Earthworks module

Click on Site for Volumes => Type in m for suffix down at Volume Labeling

Click on Subsites for Utilities => Type sq.m. for Square Units Area Labeling suffix and
type hectare for Area Units Area Labeling suffix

Design Module

If you work in the Design module, you will need to set up Lots and Pipes for metric. To set up Lots:

File => Project Settings... => Click on the Edit button for the Design module => Click on the Lots
button

Type in sq.m. for Area suffix at Square Unit Labeling

Type in hectare for Area suffix at Area Unit Labeling

To set up Pipes:

Pipes => Settings => Units...

The hydraulic units may already be set for metric. If not, you can change them here.

Hydrology Module

If you work in the Hydrology module, you will need to set the units for metric. To set up Hydrology:

Output => Settings... => Click on Units and set the units accordingly

Project Conversion: Imperial to Metric

The following outline relates to the conversion of "master" drawing files from imperial units to
metric units, and the conversion of the associated Softdesk project data files. This discussion focuses
primarily on obtaining the correct mathematical answers, not on the aesthetic considerations of
resizing text, etc.

Drawing Size and Scale

Imperial drawings are drawn at 1 AutoCAD Unit = 1 Foot. Metric drawings are created at 1
AutoCAD Unit = 1 Meter. A line which was 100’ long would be 100 units long in an imperial
drawing. If we convert the drawing from feet to meters, the line can no longer be 100 units long as
that would equal 100 meters. We must scale the line down to be 100 units x .3048 m/ft. The line will
then be 30.48 units long, or 30.48 meters long, which is equal to 100’.

Each design drawing (topo, plan, util, etc.) must be graphically scaled down in size to .3048 of
current size.

Open each drawing, thaw all layers, turn all layers on, zoom extents

Scale all entities around 0,0,0 with a scale factor of .3048

Use the Softdesk File è Setup Drawing command to change the units from Imperial to Metric and set
the desired plot scale

Note: Aesthetics - Whenever the plot scale of a drawing is changed, text in the drawing may need to
be resized. Use Cogo è Utility è Rescale to globally scale text by the ratio of old drawing plot scale
to new drawing plot scale. When you resize text, each piece may need to be manually moved closer
to or further away from linework and adjacent text.

Topo and Point Database

Aerial topo in the form of contour lines, 3D polylines, 3D symbols, 3D AutoCAD points, etc. can all
be scaled from feet to meters as described above. Softdesk points, however, are at zero elevation . . .
their ELEV attribute contains the real elevation of the point. When using the AutoCAD scale
command, the x,y,z of the object is scaled but the ELEV attribute will not be.

Open each drawing containing Softdesk point blocks

Use Cogo è Points è Import/Export Points è Export Points to File to send all drawing points out to an
ascii text file.

Bring that ascii text file into Lotus or Excel and multiply the ELEV column by .3048. Save the Excel
spreadsheet to a DOS text file.

Use Cogo è Points è Import/Export Points è Import Points from File to bring the points back into the
drawing with their new elevation. Use the Overwrite option on the import so that the old points will
be replaced.

Note: Watch your layers. The points will come in all on the current layer unless you use Description
Keys to control their layer by point description.

Digital Terrain Models

DTM files in Softdesk are stored in external databases in X,Y,Z format. Once we scale the project,
the x,y,z values will no longer be the same. The TIN files will need to be rebuilt.

For each digital terrain modeling surface, open the drawing in which the topo data is stored.

Use Surface è Open to choose the current DTM surface.

Use Surface è Surface Data è Drawing Point Data è By Selection to select the points to be used in the
TIN. Use the Overwrite option.

Use Surface è Surface Data è Edit Faults è Import to import the fault lines for the current surface.

Use the AutoCAD Scale command to scale these fault lines around 0,0,0 by .3048.

Use Surface è Surface Data è Standard Faults è By Polyline to send the new scaled down fault lines
to the TIN. Use a fault description of "metric" so we can identify which fault lines are new.

Use Surface è Surface Data è Edit Faults è Delete Faults to delete all fault lines (From File Only)
that do not have the new fault description of "metric".

Use Surface è Surface Data è Contour Data to send out any contour lines for use in the TIN.

Use Surface è Build Surface to re-create a metric based TIN from the data.

Note: Any surface editing which was originally performed on the imperial version of the tin will
need to be redone on the metric version of the tin. When finished, create contour lines for the new tin
to verify it’s accuracy.

Label new existing ground contour lines with metric interval labels

Cogo Labeling

All bearing and distance labeling will need to be erased and re-created using metric labeling defaults.
Also, any dimensions such as street widths, etc. will need to be erased and re-created with metric
labeling defaults. Use DDIM to control the default settings for AutoCAD dimensions.

Horizontal Alignments

Softdesk stores all horizontal alignment information in x,y,z format so these will need to be updated
as well.
For each horizontal alignment, open the required drawing for the horizontal linework

Re-define the alignment with the same name as was used previously, but using desired metric
stationing

Use the Align è Stations è Create Stations command to create new metric station labels, erasing the
old labels before you begin

Use Align è Stations / Offsets è Label Station / Offset to re-label with new metric stationing any
critical points such as intersections, erasing the old labels as you go.

Profiles

All Softdesk profile information is stored with respect to station. Now that the stations have changed
due to the metric environment, these profiles will need to be completely re-created.

For each profile, open the drawing where the profile is stored.

Use Advanced Design è Profile è Select Alignment to choose the appropriate alignment

Use Profile è DTM Surfaces è Select DTM Surface to choose the appropriate existing ground TIN

Use Profile è Existing Ground è Sample from DTM to calculate the eg based on the new TIN

Rename the layer (probably PFGC) to something else temporarily so that information will not be
erased

Use Profile è Create Profile è Full Profile to bring in the new profile. Make sure to insert it at the
exact same location as the old profile. The routine will erase the old profile for you.

If you used the same vertical exaggeration factor in the new metric scale as you did before, you
should be able to scale your proposed information (the linework on what used to be layer PFGC)
down by .3048. You will then need to move that linework to the appropriate reference location on
the new existing ground profile. Use Profile è Create Profile è List Elevations to verify that the
proposed information is at the correct elevation. Then change the name of the layer back to PFGC

Re-define the proposed vertical alignment using Profile è Vertical Alignments è Define FG
Centerline

Re-label the profile using Profile è Vertical Alignments è Import

 
Cross Sections

Because of the change in units, all cross-section information will also have to be re-created.
Depending on the complexity of the design, the steps required here are too numerous to list in exact
detail. We will assume that all users have existing knowledge of the processes involved for section
design. Only the primary steps will be listed here.

For each road:

Re-sample the existing ground cross sections

Re-draw and re-define the proposed ground cross section template

Use Design Control to re-input the design parameters for Slopes, Benching, Ditches, and Horizontal
and Vertical transition controls.

Erase any old plotted cross sections

Undefine the old cross sections

Plot new cross sections

Re-label any critical information

At this time, the complete roadway should be converted to metric format. Any output you desire
such as earthwork quantities, import quantities, finished ground staking points, etc. should
automatically be generated in metric units.

Pipes

The Softdesk Design Module is used to generate plan and profile gravity flow pipes such as sanitary
sewers and storm drains. Use Pipes è Unit Settings to change the default settings from Feet to
Meters, from CFS to CMS, from Inches to CM, etc.

All pipe information is created based on the lengths of the pipe segments, multiplied by the slopes, to
determine inverts, etc. Unfortunately, pipe lengths were originally set based on the stations of the
manholes. Now that we have changed the units, the stations have changed. All pipe design
information will have to be re-created from scratch.

 
enu Item Description

Reload All References Reloads all referenced files. (Unavailable if no file references are attached)

Select All Selects all file references, excluding the current drawing. This item is not
displayed in tree view.

Attach DWG Starts the XATTACH command.

Attach Image Starts the IMAGEATTACH command.

Attach DWF Starts the DWFATTACH command.

Attach DGN Starts the DGNATTACH command.

Attach PDF Starts the PDFATTACH command.

Attach Point Cloud Starts the POINTCLOUDATTACH command. (Not available in AutoCAD LT)

Attach Coordination Starts the COORDINATIONMODELATTACH command. (Not available in

Model AutoCAD LT)

Tooltip Style Modifies the tooltip that appears when you hover over an item in the list view of
the palette.

Preview/Details Pane Turns the display of the Preview/Details pane off and on.

Close Closes the External References palette.

Reference Selected
When you select a file reference, the shortcut menu presents the following functions:

Menu Item Description Reference Status

Open Opens the selected reference Available only for file references with a Loaded
file in the original application status - Unavailable when Unloaded, Not Found
in which it was created or Unresolved.
(specified by the operating
system).
Menu Item Description
Attach Allows you to change
settings such as scale,
insertion point, and path type.
You can also attach a
different page from the
attached PDF file, a different
sheet from an attached DWF
file, or a different model
name from an attached DGN
file.
Unload Unloads the selected file
references.
Reload Reloads the selected file
references.
Detach Detaches the selected file
references.
Bind Displays the Bind Xrefs
dialog box. Only available for
referenced DWG files. This is
not available for images and
underlays.
Xref Type   Attach Specifies that the selection is
an attachment.
Xref Type   Overlay Specifies that the selection is
an overlay.
Reference Status
Always available - status has no affect on this
function.
Always available. Status has no affect on this
function.
Always available. Status has no affect on this
function.
Available for all file references except data link.
Nested xrefs can be detached only from within
the drawing within which they're nested. You can
use the Tree View control in the upper-right
corner of the External References palette to see
how xrefs are nested.
Available only for file references with a Loaded
status.
Unavailable when Unloaded, Not Found or
Unresolved.
Available for DWG xrefs only.
Available for DWG xrefs only.
Menu Item Description Reference Status

Change Path Type  Changes a relative path of a Available for all file references.
Make Absolute reference to a full path.

Change Path Type  Changes the full path of a Available for all file references.
Make Relative reference to a relative path.

You can assign a relative path

to a file reference even when
the host drawing is unnamed.
The Saved Path column
displays a Full path, with an
asterisk prefix to indicate that
a change will take place on
save operation, until the host
drawing is saved.

Change Path Type  Removes the file path from Available for all file references except data link.
Remove Path the name of the reference, for
referenced files stored in the
same location as the drawing
file.

Select New Path... Allows you to browse to a Available for all file references.
new location for a not found
reference file (fix one), and
then provides you with an
option to apply the same new
location for other missing
reference files (fix all).

Find and Replace... Locates all references that Available for all file references.
use a specified path from all
the references that you
selected, and replaces all
occurrences of that path with
a new path that you specify

HPGAPTOL
FOR HATCHING IN GAP AREA

Enter new value for MEASUREMENT <0>: 1

FOR HATCH NOT MATCHING PROPERLY

Change The "Abc' String In MTEXT

When using the MTEXT command in AutoCAD 2005, the letters "abc" appear on the cross-hair to
indicate the current text style that will be used. If you would like to change the "abc" string to
something else, you can use the MTJIGSTRING system variable.

1. On the command line type MTJIGSTRING.

2. Type in the character string that you want to appear.
3. Press Enter.

Sets target drawing units value when INSUNITS is set to 0.

Type: Integer
Saved in: Registry
Initial value: 1
Valid range is 0 to 20.

Value Description

0 Unspecified (No units)

1 Inches

2 Feet

3 Miles

4 Millimeters

5 Centimeters

6 Meters
Value Description

7 Kilometers

8 Microinches

9 Mils

10 Yards

11 Angstroms

12 Nanometers

13 Microns

14 Decimeters

15 Dekameters

16 Hectometers

17 Gigameters

18 Astronomical Units

19 Light Years

20 Parsecs

CAD: Insert and units

You add an external drawing and suddenly the scale is no longer correct. It is a problem
that everyone sometimes encounters. How do you solve that? This article explains the
 consequences of various unit settings. Do you draw in inches? Or mm? Or unitless?
And how are “INSUNITS”, “INSUNITSDEFSOURCE” and “INSUNITSDEFTARGET”
set? Do you find it confusing? Me too. Let’s examine it.

It is a somewhat longer article because it is discussed in depth. It is important that you

remember the final conclusions, so that you can solve scale problems quickly in the
future.

Table of Contents
 INSUNITS
 INSUNITSDEFSOURCE and INSUNITSDEFTARGET
 Inserting blocks with INSUNITS is 0
 Conclusions for blocks with INSUNITS is 0
 Inserting blocks with INSUNITS other than 0
 Conclusions for blocks with INSUNITS other than 0
 How does copy and paste work?
 Final conclusions

INSUNITS
“INSUNITS” or insertion units is a value that is stored in the drawing. In this example we
use some values:

Value Units

0 No units

1 Inches

4 Millimeters

6 Meters

Remember that you work in a drawing that itself has an INSUNITS value, while if you
insert a block in that drawing, that block may very well have a different INSUNITS value.
That is where the problems arise because your CAD program will try to apply a scale
factor that does not always seem logical.

INSUNITSDEFSOURCE and INSUNITSDEFTARGET

The value of INSUNITS is stored in the drawing itself. The values of
“INSUNITSDEFSOURCE” and “INSUNITSDEFTARGET” are stored in the registry and
are therefore the same for every drawing that is opened.

But what do those values do?

INSUNITSDEFTARGET sets the value of the drawing units of the destination if

INSUNITS is set to 0.

INSUNITSDEFSOURCE sets the value of the drawing units of the source if INSUNITS
is set to 0.

Beautiful! Does that make us wiser? A little. It is time for an experiment. We have blocks
(drawings) with different values for INSUNITS, we have values for
INSUNITSDEFSOURCE and INSUNITSDEFTARGET and we insert the blocks in a
drawing that itself also has a value for INSUNITS. We can put that in a table.

To keep things organized, abbreviations are used:

IUB = INSUNITS of Block
IUS = INSUNITSDEFSOURCE
IUT = INSUNITSDEFTARGET
IUD = INSUNITS of Drawing

Inserting blocks with INSUNITS is 0

We are going to insert blocks that themselves have INSUNITS 0, no units, …

IUB– IUS– IUT– IUD– Result

0 6 6 0 No scaling

Assumed is m (meters) as source and mm (millimeters) as target.

0 6 4 0
Inserted block is scaled 1*1000.

0 0 4 0 Assumed target is mm. No scaling.

0 0 4 6 No scaling.
 Assumed is mm as source and m as target because IUD 6
0 4 0 6
overrules IUT. Inserted block is scaled 1/1000

Conclusions for blocks with INSUNITS is 0

 If you insert a block that itself has INSUNITS = 0 in a drawing with INSUNITS = 0, then
the values of INSUNITSDEFSOURCE and INSUNITSDEFTARGET are used for the
scale factor.
 If the drawing itself has a different value of INSUNITS, then that value overrules the
value from INSUNITSDEFTARGET. The INSUNITSDEFSOURCE value and the
INSUNITS value of the drawing are used for the scaling factor.

Inserting blocks with INSUNITS other than 0

We are going to insert blocks that themselves do not have 0 as the value of INSUNITS
…

IUB– IUS– IUT– IUD– Result

INSUNITS of Block is mm, overruling INSUNITSDEFSOURCE.

4 6 6 0 INSUNITSDEFTARGET (m) is used because INSUNITS of
drawing is 0. So the inserted block is scaled 1/1000

INSUNITS of Block is 6 (m), not 0, so overruling

INSUNITSDEFSOURCE. INSUNITSDEFTARGET (inches) is not
6 0 1 4
used because INSUNITS of drawing is not 0 and set to 4(mm).
So the inserted block is scaled 1*1000.

Conclusions for blocks with INSUNITS other than 0

 If you insert a block that itself has a value other than INSUNITS = 0, then
INSUNITSDEFSOURCE is ignored. Block setting of INSUNITS is then used for the scale
calculation.
 If the drawing itself has a value of INSUNITS other than 0, the value of
INSUNITSDEFTARGET is ignored.

How does copy and paste work?

BricsCAD uses this principle to determine the scale factor also when copying and
pasting. Also consider commands such as COPYBASE (ctrl-shift-c) and PASTEBLOCK
(ctrl-shift-v). To the best of our knowledge: AutoCAD does not support the calculation of
the scale factor, you have to do that yourself.

Final conclusions
For the automatic calculation of scale factors when inserting blocks and, exclusively
with BricsCAD, when pasting blocks (ctrl-shift-v) or objects (ctrl-v), the following rules
are used:

 Only if the value for INSBASE of a block to be inserted is 0, then the value of
INSUNITSDEFSOURCE is used.
 Only if the value for INSBASE of the current drawing is 0, then the value of
INSUNITSDEFTARGET is used.