Drawing size and drawing view scale

7.10 Drawing size and drawing view scale
Tekla Structures offers you several combinations of settings that you can use for defining the
drawing size and the drawing view scale. Which one you use, depends on your needs:
•
If you always want to use a certain scale, then you would set the exact scale to be used
and let Tekla Structures automatically select the drawing size that suits the selected
scale. This is called autosizing. You can define different scales for main views and section
views. All main views in a drawing automatically use the same scale unless you fine-tune
individual views manually.
•
If you always need to use a certain drawing size, for example, A3, A4 or A1, then you
would set the size and let Tekla Structures automatically select the drawing view scale
that suits the selected size. This is called autoscaling.
•
If you are not bound to any specific drawing sizes or drawing view scales, you might
want to let Tekla Structures take care of both.
See also Modifying and saving automatic drawing properties before creating drawings on page 312
Using exact drawing size and automatic drawing view scale on page 341
Using exact drawing view scale and automatic drawing size on page 340
Autoscaling and autosizing drawings on page 342
Using exact drawing view scale and automatic drawing size
You can let Tekla Structures find appropriate sizes and table layouts for drawings. This is very
useful if, for example, the number, size, or location of drawing views might change. Tekla
Structures automatically updates drawings to adapt to these changes by using different
drawing sizes and table layouts.
To define exact drawing view scale and let Tekla Structures automatically select the suitable
drawing size:
1. Click Drawings & Reports --> Drawing Settings and select the drawing type.
2. Load the properties that you want to change.
3. Click Layout.
4. Set Size definition mode to Autosize.
5. Select the set of drawing sizes for Tekla Structures to use. You have the options:
•
Calculated sizes: Use this when you want to define the rules that Tekla Structures
follows when it tries to adjust the drawing size.
•
Fixed sizes: Use this when you want Tekla Structures to use fixed drawing sizes A2,
A3, A4, etc.
•
Calculated/fixed sizes: Use this when you want Tekla Structures to select the
smallest of the suitable sizes.
Modifying drawing settings
340
Drawing size and drawing view scale
6. Go to the Scale tab and set Autoscale to No.
This way Tekla Structures uses the exact scale that you have set for the main views and
section views.
7. Click View creation, select the view and the properties that you want to change, and
click View properties.
8. On the Attributes 1 tab, set the desired Scale.
9. Click Save to save the drawing properties, then click OK and create the drawing.
When you create the drawing, Tekla Structures creates the views using the selected scale and
selects the smallest drawing size where the views fit in the drawing. Tekla Structures may
also need to change the table layout to adapt to the new drawing size. It will then use
another appropriate table layout within the same layout specified in drawing properties.
See also Drawing size and drawing view scale on page 339
Drawing layout on page 326
View properties in drawings on page 529
Section view properties on page 532
Using exact drawing size and automatic drawing view scale
If you need to use a specific size in your drawings, for example, A3, A2, or A1, you can specify
the exact size, and let Tekla Structures automatically select the suitable drawing view scale.
The drawing size should always be smaller than the actual paper size to accommodate printer
margins.
To use exact size and automatically scale the view:
1. Click Drawings & Reports --> Drawing Settings and select the drawing type.
2. Load the properties that you want to change.
3. Click Layout.
4. On the Drawing size tab, set Size definition mode to Specified size and enter the
drawing size.
5. Select the table layout from the Table layout list.
6. On the Scale tab, set Autoscale to Yes.
7. Set the main view and section view scales.
Enter the denominators of scales and separate them with spaces. For example, enter "5
10 15 20" for the scales 1/5, 1/10, 1/15, and 1/20.
8. Select the Scale change mode, which defines the relationship between the scales of
main and section views within a drawing.
The options are:
•
main = section: The scales of the main and section view are equal.
Modifying drawing settings
341
Drawing size and drawing view scale
•
main < section: Main view scales are smaller than section view scales.
•
main <= section: Main view scales are smaller than or equal to section view scales.
9. Click View creation, select the view and the properties that you want to change, and
click View properties.
10. Enter the preferred scale.
Do the same for each view that you create.
11. Click Save to save the drawing properties, then click OK and create the drawing.
Tekla Structures creates the drawing using the specified size. Tekla Structures first tries to
use the preferred scale for the drawing views, then the alternative scales, and selects the
largest possible scale.
See also Drawing size and drawing view scale on page 339
Drawing layout on page 326
View properties in drawings on page 529
Section view properties on page 532
Autoscaling and autosizing drawings
If you are not bound to any specific drawing sizes or drawing view scales, you can let Tekla
Structures take care of both.
To use both autoscaling and autosizing:
1. Click Drawings & Reports --> Drawing Settings and select the drawing type.
2. Load the properties that you want to change.
3. Click View creation, select the view and the properties that you want to change, and
click View properties.
4. On the Attributes 1 tab, set the preferred drawing view scale.
Do the same for all of the views you plan to create.
5. Click Save to save the view properties.
6. Click OK to return to drawing properties.
7. Click Layout, go to the Scale tab and set Autoscale to Yes.
8. Set the alternative main view and section view scales.
9. Select the Scale change mode.
10. Enter the Preferred size.
11. On the Drawing size tab, set Size definition mode to Autosize.
12. Select the set of drawing sizes (Calculated sizes, Fixed sizes or Calculated/Fixed sizes).
Modifying drawing settings
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Drawing size and drawing view scale