Setting Up a Drawing for Scaling

Annotations

Section of a Retaining Wall

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 This is a section of a retaining wall used as a detail on several sheets at differ-
ent scales. The annotation for this drawing includes:

■ Text
■ Hatches
■ Leaders
■ Multileaders
■ Dimensions
■ Blocks and attributes

This tutorial outlines the procedures involved in creating annotative objects

in AutoCAD thereby making it easier for the users to create annotations in
model space that appear at the correct size in paper space layouts and when
plotted from model space regardless of the viewport scale.
Audience: AutoCAD users who want to manage annotations efficiently by
reducing the number of steps required to annotate drawings.
Prerequisites: Working knowledge of AutoCAD
Time to complete: 25 minutes

Usage Scenario
Viola Perkins is an average to advanced skilled AutoCAD user. She owns an
architectural firm and has about 8 designers working for her firm. Her draw-
ings are a representation of her firm's professionalism and she wants to
ensure that she is able to create these drawings with the greatest efficiency
without having to worry about the annotation size on the drawing being cor-
rect.
Problem: Viola faces problems with annotation scaling when it comes to cre-
ating detail sheets. She has to spend a lot of time creating duplicate annota-
tions, managing layers and styles, and figuring out what size an annotation
object needs to be created in model space in order to plot or display at the
correct size in a layout.
Solution: The following new usability goals for annotation scaling provide a
solution to Viola's problems:

■ Consistency- The number of new tools and settings required for annotat-
ing drawing is minimal
■ Setup - Setting up of styles that support annotation scaling is minimal.
The burden of managing too many styles and layers is reduced

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 ■ Learnability - It is possible to annotate drawings by using fewer style and
with less duplication of objects
■ Improved efficiency - The new functionality reduces the number of steps
and makes the annotation process easier and minimizes the risk of errors

Features Covered in This Tutorial

1 Setting Up Layouts and Viewports
2 Creating Annotative Styles
3 Creating Annotative Objects
4 Setting the Scales for Annotative Objects
5 Adding and Modifying Scale Representations
6 Making Existing Objects Annotative

Tutorial Files
All the necessary files for this tutorial can be found in http://
www.autodesk.com/autocad-tutorials.
Recommended: Before starting the tutorials:
1 Download the setup_drawing_for_scaling_annotations.zip file from http:/
/www.autodesk.com/autocad-tutorials.
2 Unzip setup_drawing_for_scaling_annotations.zip to C:\My Docu-
ments\tutorials.

Before You Begin

Before you start any of the lessons listed in this tutorial, you must know the
following concepts:
Annotation is a crucial part of your design drawing and creating annotations
can consume a considerable amount of time. The improved functionality
enables you to annotate drawings with greater efficiency and flexibility.
Any object can be used to help annotate the drawing, but text, hatches,
dimensions, tolerances, leaders, multileaders, blocks, and attributes are pri-
marily used for annotation purposes and considered annotational objects.

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 When the annotative property is set to Yes, you can assign annotation scales
to that object.
Annotative objects can be displayed at different sizes in different paper view-
ports with different scales so they can appear at the same paper size on a
sheet. The scale representations allow annotative objects to be drawn at dif-
ferent sizes based on the annotation scale.

In This Tutorial
■ Lesson 1: Setting Up Layouts and Viewports
■ Lesson 2: Creating Annotative Styles
■ Lesson 3: Creating Annotative Objects
■ Lesson 4: Setting the Scales for Annotative Objects
■ Lesson 5: Adding and Modifying Scale Representations
■ Lesson 6: Making Existing Objects Annotative

Lesson 1: Setting Up Layouts and Viewports

Creating two detail views at different scales

In this lesson, you will help Viola to set the viewport scales to create two
detail views at different scales on the same layout.
File Name: wallsection.dwg
Commands used: VPORTS
Concept: Before you add annotations to your drawing, think about the even-
tual scale settings of the viewports in which the annotations will display.
When you create annotative objects in your drawing, you'll base the annota-
tion scale on the scale of the viewports in which the objects will display.

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Set Viewport Scales
1 Click Start menu (Windows) ➤ Programs ➤ Autodesk ➤ AutoCAD
2008.
2 Click File menu ➤ Open.
3 Navigate to C:\My Documents\tutorials, and click wallsection.dwg. Click
Open.
4 Click the Layout tab.
5 Click View menu ➤ Viewports ➤ 2 Viewports to create two vertical lay-
out viewports.
Alternatively, enter VPORTS in the command line.

6 Select Vertical viewport arrangement to divide the specified area vertically

into two viewports of equal size.
Alternatively, enter v or press Enter.

7 Click to specify one corner of the new layout viewport.

8 Drag the cursor and click to specify the opposite corner as shown in the
figure.

9 Select the left viewport object. Click VP Scale button to display list of
scales.

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 10 Select a scale of 1-1/2"=1'-0" from the list of scales. Next, right-click the left
viewport object.
11 Click Display Locked ➤ Yes to apply all pan and zoom operations auto-
matically to the paper space layout.

12 Select the right viewport object. Click VP Scale button to display list of
scales.
13 Select a scale of 3/4"=1'-0" from the list of scales. Next, right-click the left
viewport object. Click Display Locked ➤ Yes.
The annotation scale is automatically set to the VP scale.

Congratulations! You have helped Viola to set the viewport scales to display
the annotations at different scales.

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 Summary: In this lesson, you learned to create two detail views at different
scales on the same layout for easy comparison.
Next Lesson: Lesson 2: Creating Annotative Styles

Lesson 2: Creating Annotative Styles

In this lesson, you will help Viola to minimize the steps and the complexity
required to annotate a drawing by creating annotative multileader style.
Commands used: MLEADERSTYLE
File Name: wallsection.dwg
Concept: Annotational objects like (Text, Dimension, and Multileader) have
a new annotative property. When the annotative property is set to Yes, the
object becomes an annotative object. You need to make sure that you have
created annotative styles for these objects and set these styles as current and
specify the Paper Height value for any annotative text styles you'll use. Paper
Height setting specifies the height that the text will display in paper space.

Create Annotative Multileader Style

1 Ensure that you have wallsection.dwg file open in the work area.
2 Click the Model tab.
3 Click Format menu ➤ Multileader Style.
Alternatively, enter MLEADERSTYLE in the command line.
The Multileader Style Manager dialog box appears.

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 NOTE You can use the existing Standard annotative multileader style, or
create your own annotative multileader styles.

4 In the Multileader Style Manager dialog box, click New to create a new
annotative Multileader Style.
5 In the Create New Multileader Style dialog box, enter new_mstyle in New
style name field.

6 Verify the Annotative option is selected. Click Continue.

7 In the Multileader Style dialog box, on the Leader Format tab, set the val-
ues as shown in the figure:

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8 Click the Leader Structure tab, select Maximum leader points and set the
value to 2.
9 Click the Content Tab, ensure that the Multileader type is Mtext, and then
set the following values as shown in the figure:

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 10 Click OK.
11 Select new_mstyle and click Set Current to set this style as the new Multi-
leader Style.

NOTE You can create annotative multileaders using the newly created
annotative multileader style.

12 Click Close.

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 Congratulations! You have helped Viola to create an annotative multileader
style.

Summary: In this lesson, you learned to create a new annotative multileader

style. This new annotative multileader style is used to create annotative mul-
tileaders thereby minimizing the steps required to annotate a drawing.
To learn more about working with annotative styles, refer to AutoCAD help
for more information.
Next Lesson: Lesson 3: Creating Annotative Objects

Lesson 3: Creating Annotative Objects

In this lesson, you will help Viola to create annotative multileaders.

Commands used: MLEADER
File Name: wallsection.dwg

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 Concept: Objects that are commonly used to annotate drawings have a prop-
erty called Annotative. When the Annotative property for these objects is
turned on (set to Yes), these objects are called annotative object.

Create Annotative Multileaders

1 Ensure that you have wallsection.dwg file open in the work area.
2 In the model tab, zoom into the railing at the top of the retaining wall.

3 Click Dimension menu ➤ Multileader.

Alternatively, enter MLEADER in the command line.

4 In the Select Annotation Scale dialog box, click OK to proceed.

5 Move the cursor to the top section of the retaining wall and click to
choose a point for the leader header.
6 Drag the cursor and click to choose the last point for the leader landing
location.
7 Enter text as shown in the figure.

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8 On the Text Formatting toolbar, click OK.

TIP You can add several other multileaders by repeating the above process. You
can also add some annotative dimensions.

Congratulations! You have helped Viola to create annotative multileaders.

Summary: In this lesson, you learned to create annotative multileaders in

your drawing. The icon shows that the multileader is annotative.
To learn more about creating annotative objects, refer to AutoCAD help for
more information.
Next Lesson: Lesson 4: Setting the Scales for Annotative Objects

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Lesson 4: Setting the Scales for Annotative
Objects

In this lesson, you will help Viola to set the scales for annotative objects that
are saved with model space and layout viewports.
Commands used: MLEADERSTYLE
File Name: wallsection.dwg
Concept: Before you add annotative objects to your model, you set the anno-
tation scale. The annotation scale should be set to the same scale as the view-
port in which the annotative objects will display in the layout (or the plot
scale if plotting from model space). For example, if the annotative objects
will display in a viewport that has a scale of 1:2, then you set the annotation
scale to 1:2.

Set the Scales for Annotative Multileaders

1 Ensure that you have wallsection.dwg file open in the work area.
2 In the model tab, select and right-click the multileader. On the shortcut
menu, click Annotative Object Scale ➤ Add/Delete Scales.

3 In the Annotation Object Scale dialog box, click Add.

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4 In the Add Scales to Object dialog box, select the 1-1/2"=1'-0" scale from
the list. Next, click OK.

5 In the Annotation Object Scale dialog box, click OK.

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 6 Click the layout tab and resize the width of the multileader text as shown
in the figure.

7 Click the Model Tab.

8 Select the multileader and right-click. On the shortcut menu, click Anno-
tative Object Scale ➤ Add/Delete Scales.
9 In the Annotation Object Scale dialog box, click Add.
10 In the Add Scales to Object dialog box, select the 3/4"=1'-0" scale from the
list. Next, click OK.

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11 In the Annotation object Scale dialog box, click OK.

12 Click the layout tab and resize the width of the multileader text as shown
in the figure.

Congratulations! You have helped Viola to set the scales for annotative mul-
tileaders.

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 Summary: In this lesson, you learned to set the scales for annotative objects.
To learn more about setting annotation scale, refer to AutoCAD help for more
information.
Next Lesson: Lesson 5: Adding and Modifying Scale Representations

Lesson 5: Adding and Modifying Scale

Representations
In this lesson, you will help Viola to add and modify the scale representations
of the annotative multileader.
Commands used:
File Name: wallsection.dwg
Concept: When you create an annotative object in your drawing, it supports
one annotation scale: the annotation scale that was current when you cre-
ated the object. You can update annotative objects to support additional
annotation scales.When you update an annotative object to support addi-
tional scales, you add additional scale representations to the object.

Add and Modify Scale Representation

1 Ensure that you have wallsection.dwg file open in the work area.
2 Click the Model tab.
3 Click Annotation Scale button on the right side of the application or
drawing status bar to display the list of scales. Select the 1'-0"=1'-0" scale
from the list.
4 Click Modify menu ➤ Annotative Object Scale ➤ Add Current Scale.

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5 Select the annotative multileader and press ENTER.
6 Click Annotation Scale button to display the list of scales. Select 1"=1'-0"
from the list.
7 Create a new annotative multileader with an annotative scale as shown in
the figure. For more information about creating annotative multileader,
see Lesson 3: Creating Annotative Objects.

8 On the right side of the drawing or application status bar, click the Anno-
tation Visibility button to display only annotative objects that support the
current annotation scale of 1"=1'-0".

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 NOTE When the Annotation Visibility button is turned on, all annotative

objects are displayed. When the Annotation Visibility button is turned

off, only annotative objects that support the current annotation are dis-
played.

Congratulations! You have helped Viola to add and modify the scale repre-
sentation of the annotative multileader and to change the display setting of
annotative objects.
Summary: In this lesson, you learned to do the following:

■ Update an annotative object to support additional scales

■ Use the Annotation Visibility button on the right side of the application
or drawing status bar to choose the display setting for annotative objects.

To learn more about adding and modifying scale representations and display-
ing annotative objects, refer to AutoCAD help for more information.
Next Lesson: Lesson 6: Making Existing Objects Annotative

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Lesson 6: Making Existing Objects Annotative

In this lesson, you will help Viola to change an existing hatch to annotative in
the drawing.
Commands used: PROPERTIES
File Name: wallsection.dwg
Concept: The details in some of your drawings can be modified to take advan-
tage of annotation scaling. In this drawing you will change the EARTH hatch
to become annotative. The other hatches are left as they are.

Make Existing Earth Hatch Annotative

1 Ensure that you have wallsection.dwg file open in the work area.
2 In the model tab, click the Annotation Visibility button to display all
annotative objects.
3 Zoom to the bottom of the retaining wall section.

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 4 Click Annotation Scale button to display list of scales. Next, select 1-1/
2"=1'-0" from the list.
5 On the far-left side of the drawing, click to select the EARTH hatch as
shown in the figure.

6 To display the Properties palette, click Tools menu ➤ Palettes ➤

Properties.
Alternatively, enter PROPERTIES in the command line.

7 In the Properties palette, under Pattern, click Annotative.

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8 On the drop-down list, select Yes to change the annotative property, but
leave the hatch scale set to 6.

9 Close the Properties Palette.

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 10 Right-click the selected hatch and click Annotative Object Scale ➤ Add/
Delete Scales.
11 Click Add.

NOTE You will notice that the selected hatch already has the 1-1/2"=1'-0"
scale assigned.

12 In the Add Scales to Object dialog box, select 3/4"=1'-0" scale. Next, click
OK.

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13 In the Annotation Object Scale dialog box, click OK.

14 Click layout tab to compare the hatches.

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 NOTE The hatches in both the layout viewports are displayed at the same
size. All the scaling calculations were done automatically.

Congratulations! You have helped Viola to change the EARTH hatch to

become annotative.

Summary: In this lesson, you learned to modify the property of existing

objects in your drawing to take advantage of annotative scaling.

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