2004

620 | Chapter 22 Plot Drawings
Control How Objects Are Plotted
You can control how objects are plotted by setting the plot scale, by using
plot styles and plot style tables, and by setting an object’s layer properties.
Set Plot Scale
When you specify a scale to output your drawing, you can choose from a list
of real-world scales, enter your own scale, or choose Scaled to Fit to scale the
drawing to fit onto the selected paper size.
Usually, you draw objects at their actual size. That is, you decide how to inter-
pret the size of a unit (an inch, a millimeter, a meter) and draw on a 1:1 scale.
For example, if your unit of measurement is millimeters, then every unit in
your drawing represents a millimeter. When you plot the drawing, you either
specify a precise scale or fit the image to the paper.
Most final drawings are plotted at a precise scale. The method used to set the
plot scale depends on whether you plot the Model tab or a layout:
■ On the Model tab, you can establish the scale on the Plot Settings tab in
the Plot dialog box. This scale represents a ratio of plotted units to the
world-size units you used to draw the model.
■ In a layout, you work with two scales. The first affects the overall layout
of the drawing, which usually is scaled 1:1, based on the paper size. The
second is the scale of the model itself, which is displayed in layout view-
ports. The scale in each of these viewports represents a ratio of the paper
size to the size of the model in the viewport.
Set a Specific Scale
When you plot, you can choose the unit type, inches or millimeters, under
Paper Size and Paper Units. For example, if mm is selected, entering 1 under
Plotted mm and 10 under Drawing Units produces a plotted drawing in
which each plotted millimeter represents 10 actual millimeters.
The illustrations show a light bulb plotted at three different scales.