Drawing Scale (R3DWGSCALE)¶

Command: R3DWGSCALE

Sets or displays the drawing scale for the current drawing. The scale is stored in the drawing as an XRecord and is used by text commands (T0–T4) and layout tools to calculate model-space sizes that correspond to consistent plotted dimensions.

Usage¶

Type R3DWGSCALE at the command line:

If a scale is already set, the current value is displayed and you are prompted to enter a new one (or press Enter to keep it)
If no scale is set, you are prompted to enter one

The scale is entered as the denominator — for example, enter 500 for a 1:500 scale.

Current scale is 500. Enter a new scale or press Enter to keep it:

Annotation scales¶

Each time you run R3DWGSCALE (including pressing Enter to keep the current scale), it checks the drawing's annotation scale list for:

the drawing scale (e.g. 1:500), and
the drafting scale used for mark blocks in the Model tab.

If a scale is missing it is added with metre values (e.g. 1:500 = 1 : 0.5). If a scale with that name exists but has millimetre values (AutoCAD's default list), you are warned to correct it with SCALELISTEDIT — R3Survey never edits an existing scale, because that would resize everything using it.

These scales are used by the annotative mark blocks (R3_BC_A, R3_RM_A, R3_PM_A). See Annotative mark blocks.

Scale commands¶

These commands change the Model tab annotation scale, which controls how big the annotative mark blocks (R3_BC_A, R3_RM_A, R3_PM_A) appear while you draft. They work in AutoCAD and Civil 3D, and must be run from the Model tab.

Command	Description
`R3UP`	Scale up — next scale up the ladder (1:500 → 1:1000); marks get bigger
`R3DN`	Scale down — next scale down the ladder (1:500 → 1:250); marks get smaller
`R3SM`	Scale match — sets it to the drawing scale set by `R3DWGSCALE`

Each command:

steps through a fixed ladder (1:1 · 1:2 · 1:5 · 1:10 · 1:20 · 1:50 · 1:100 · 1:200 · 1:250 · 1:500 · 1:1000 · 1:2000 · 1:2500 · 1:5000 · 1:10000 · 1:20000 · 1:50000); a scale between rungs moves to the next rung in that direction
if the current scale has millimetre values (a millimetre scale in a metre drawing), warns you to correct it in SCALELISTEDIT
adds the new scale to the drawing's scale list if needed (metre values), and to every mark block, so marks resize whether or not AutoCAD's ANNOAUTOSCALE is on
removes scales the marks no longer need (keeping the drawing, drafting, viewport and current Model tab scales), so marks don't collect old working scales
in Civil 3D, also sets the Civil 3D drawing scale to match (1:500 → 0.5), so COGO point labels resize as before

These commands don't change R3DWGSCALE (the plan's scale for text) or any layout viewport.

Annotative text is not supported¶

R3Survey does not support AutoCAD annotative text. (Mark blocks are annotative — see Annotative mark blocks. This section is about text only.) All text sizing is handled manually using the drawing scale set by R3DWGSCALE — the model-space text height is calculated as Scale × Paper height / 1000.

If your current text style is annotative, label commands (R3DIMS, R3ADDRMLABELS, R3ADDPMLABELS) will warn you and stop. Switch to a non-annotative text style before running these commands.

Tip

Use the STYLE command to check whether your current text style has Annotative enabled. If it does, either turn it off or switch to a different style (e.g. Standard).

Future versions may add annotative text support.

How scale affects text¶

The model-space text height for T0–T4 commands is calculated as:

Model height = (Scale × Plotted height mm) / 1000

For example, at 1:500 scale, T1 (2.5 mm plotted) creates text 1.25 model units tall.