AutoCAD - Creating a Custom Viewport Scale

By Martin Phelps

Once a “Viewport” has been created, it is generally required to scale the contents to a recognised or standard scale. By default, once a “Viewport” has been created, a number of predefined scales will be displayed in the scale list, however these may not be suitable for the drawing or the drawing discipline.

To create a custom scale, expand the scale list in the “Status Bar”, as shown in Figure 1.

All the default scales are displayed, to create a new scale select “Custom”, as shown in Figure 2.

This will open the “Edit Drawing Scales” dialogue box as shown in Figure 3.

Select “Add” to create a new scale, give the scale a suitable name, this will be the name of the scale displayed in the scale list.

Then specify the ratio between “Paper Units” and “Model Units”, as shown in Figure 4.

“OK” the dialogue box to add the new scale to the list, use the “Move Down” button to locate the new scale in its correct location.

Note:- Scales that are no longer required or will not be used can be deleted.

A number of “Custom” scales could be created and saved to the template file.