


With QCAD you can create technical drawings such as plans for buildings, interiors, mechanical parts or schematics and diagrams. 20 x 12 = Scale Factor 240īe sure to check out our article, Converting Between Drawing Scales, if you need to manually change the scale of a drawing or object.QCAD is a free, open source application for computer aided drafting (CAD) in two dimensions (2D). To convert an engineering drawing scale to a scale factor: Invert the fraction and multiply by 12.To convert an architectural drawing scale to a scale factor: Said a different way by Autodesk, "You can change the view scale of the viewport by using the XP option of the ZOOM command when model space is accessed from within a layout viewport." Calculating Scale Factor For instance, you would be in paper space on a sheet, then you would enter model space within the viewport, then you would type Z or Zoom and enter 96xp to scale the drawing to 1/8" = 1'-0" in paper space. The suffix is AutoCAD nomenclature for changing the scale within a viewport. Imperial plans offer two possible options: Decimal Units, commonly used by civil engineers and surveyors. In this case, you may just assume they are set correctly.

In some cases, you wont know the drawing units, which will affect how the scale is to be set.

You will notice that the Viewport Scale in the charts below indicate a scale with the suffix XP. If you already give dimensions then type 1/scale factor value in dimension style > Primary units > measurement scale. In this case, one AutoCAD unit is assumed to be one foot). However, since these drawings get placed on sheets of paper that are much smaller, a scale factor is required so that the final drawing has a usable conversion factor. For instance, when drawing a door in CAD, the door would be 3 feet wide and 7 feet tall. For simplicity and clarity, CAD users draw buildings at full scale.
