General Information - Scale and Dimension Styles

There are two options for detailing a part when working with the DetailCenter: Either the part keeps its original size and the surrounding text (e.g. dimensions, labels, etc.) is scaled to fit the part or the part is scaled and the text keeps its original size. This is to support both of the methods typical for AutoCAD^® .

Scales

The first method allows for a simple—and unscaled—processing of the drawing and does not generate the scale until the time of plotting. Components can also be inserted (unlabeled!) into other plans easily and comfortably. The disadvantage of this method is that this involves some thinking, to keep different scales and the same text sizes within one drawing and still have to copy parts from other drawings.

This is where the second method is more practical: You always plot using the scale 1:1, always use the same text size, and scale the parts to fit the plotting scales – just as you would do when drawing by hand. This allows you easy management of different scales within one drawing.

ProStructures permits both methods when detailing, but you have to stick to one or the other method within one drawing. This is because the dimensioning styles are the problem.

Dimensioning Styles

You define certain AutoCAD dimensioning styles in your model, which you can use within the detail styles for dimensioning. When detailing, the program creates a copy of the style, and from your settings determines the required text and length scaling. This style is assigned a new name indicating the length scaling and is used in the detail block.

Although the program does set the dimension text into the dimension permanently, e.g. to evaluate contractions, you do want to receive an AutoCAD associate dimensioning after the detailing has been concluded; thus the copy. This also keeps your original style intact and you do not need to create separate styles for each individual scale.

If you want to work with the first method using a scale of 1:10, you will obtain a style with a text scaling=10 and with a length scaling=1. The name could be, e.g., PS_STD_1_10. Process another detail with different settings of the AutoCAD dimensioning style and you will obtain the same name for the style.

No problems occurred up to now. Now insert both details into a drawing and the first one will win out because the name is identical. However, this is typical for AutoCAD and ProStructures has no intention of changing that.

Note: If you have problems with the dimensioning styles, you can be assured that this is due to not being consequent in this case.

This is the reason you should make sure that your seed file, into which you want to import the details, does not contain any dimensioning styles (if possible), and that the basic styles with the same name are also identical in different models if you want to mix together the details of different models. Do not change the size by only changing the scale (e.g., when manually dimensioning), but rather define a new style with a new name.

This is the way it should be when using AutoCAD "pure" because there is a good reason for it: If you rescale the parts manually, you are simply exchanging the dimensioning style and all is well again.