Adjusting units and lengths

During conversion, there are three parameters that control how the units in the source system are adjusted to the units in the destination system. Please note that it may sometimes be impossible to modify the Unit and Plan scale parameters, depending on the source and destination system. With the Resizing factor, however, the units can always be adjusted.

The parameters can be set in the Options dialog box, Coordinates and length parameters area.

Unit

Depending on whether your colleague is using m, cm or mm, they will enter 1.0, 100.0 or 1000.0 when drawing a one-meter line. With the Unit parameter, you indicate to the program whether the value is to be interpreted as mm, cm, dm, etc.

During import: This is where you set the unit with which the file being converted (the source file) was created.

During export: This is where you set the unit with which the exported file (the destination file) is to be further edited.

Contact the person with whom you are exchanging data to find out which unit they are using in their files. The reason for this is that in the case of coordinate and length entries, only the figure is present and not the unit. In DWG/DXF files, the elements can be stored in any unit.

Note: In some systems, the unit in which lengths and coordinates are saved is predefined and must therefore not be altered here. In Allplan, lengths and coordinates are always saved as mm, regardless which unit was used when the data was entered. To account for different units, use the Resizing factor parameter (see below).

Note: The unit the destination system saves in is always predefined and is based on the destination system in question. For conversions to Allplan, for example, data is always saved using the unit mm; for conversions to AutoCAD the unit is always m.

Layout scale

This is where you set the reference scale with which the file being converted was created. The layout scale controls text size, text spacing, the size of point symbols, line type definitions and hatching definitions.

Note: Depending on the source and destination system, it is not always possible to change the layout scale. For example, when exporting from Allplan, the current drawing file scale is displayed and cannot be altered.

Resizing factor

You can use this to enlarge (>1) or reduce (<1) coordinates and length values in the data being converted. This parameter is always available. For more information, see Resizing factors.