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How to change the scale of fixtures
Posted: Tue Aug 13, 2019 10:03 pm
by jstern01
New to the forum, so forgive me if this topic has already been covered ad nauseam.
I work in scripted television and film, and more often than not, the scale of the plans we're given to are not 1/4 scale, but anywhere from 1/2, 1/8, 3/8 etc. How does one, in LX Beams, change the scale of the native fixtures to accommodate the scale of the PDF Import?
I understand that I can re-scale the imported file, but that kinda defeats the purpose of working in the proper scale, no? Especially when I want to print it to it's native sized paper (ie Arch D) etc...
All advice appreciated
thx,
Jon
Posted: Wed Aug 14, 2019 1:00 am
by admin
The size of the fixtures is fixed to LXBeams' native 1/4" to 1'-0" (or 1:50 metric). When working with imported graphics, it is necessary to shrink or expand to match this scale. There are multiple options to zoom the output to achieve an effective printed or exported (PDF) scale.
For example, you could import a 1/2" scaled ground plan and scale it by 50% to match LXBeams. Then, you can zoom to 200% when either printing or Exporting a PDF to get it back to 1/2" in the output.
You might look at the LXWorkshop teaching files on github.
https://github.com/claudeheintz/LXWorkshop
In particular, look at the the "LX Workshop PDFs" folder for lessons #23 and #24 which cover strategies for dealing with this issue.
Posted: Sun Aug 25, 2019 5:56 pm
by jstern01
This is great, thanks for the reply. I'll messing around with it.
Posted: Sun Aug 25, 2019 7:49 pm
by jstern01
Okay, here's a curveball. What do I do when dealing with native 3/16 Scale plans? It seems the only options for exporting PDFs is 100%, 50%, 200%, Single Page, and Current Zoom.
I needed to scale the origin PDF to 75% to match LXBeams native 1/4 scale. Exporting to keep an accurate printed scale would necessitate saving a PDF with 133.3333% scale, no?
Posted: Tue Aug 27, 2019 2:19 am
by admin
If you have a 3/16 scale PDF and want to match LXBeams' scale, then the PDF will be too small and it will need to be scaled larger (133%).
If you want to output at 3/16 scale, then the zoom needs to be 75% and the export PDF option would be current zoom.
Because it is difficult to precisely set 75% zoom with the scroll wheel, there is a new Set Zoom command added to the latest build. (The latest build is a separate download under "More Downloads" on the download page)
Posted: Wed Aug 28, 2019 1:21 am
by jstern01
Worked like a charm. Thanks for the Update!!