60. Printing to scale using LibreCAD
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 22 ก.ค. 2024
- This video is about drawing and printing to scale using LibreCAD. The process is very simple but there are a couple of details that you need to be aware of.
LibreCAD is a free, open source CAD application that can be run on Windows, Apple, and Linux computers (I am running the Windows version.) (LibreCAD v2.1.3 librecad.org/ ). There is a lot of free support and program documentation that can be found online. There are also several TH-camrs (like me!) that have produced videos about this program and often answer questions from users and viewers.
"Open source" computer programs refers to a group of programs where the "source code" (the part of the computer program that defines and controls how the program actually works) can be studied, modified, experimented with, and shared because its design (the "source code") is publicly accessible. In contrast, commercial software (computer programs where the user must pay for a license allowing them to use the program), typically do not release (or make available to the public) the source code.
Because open source programs have the source code for the program available to the public (for free), the very large, global community of computer programmers have the opportunity to study how the program works and to make changes (hopefully improvements) if desired. This framework for how computer programs can be improved allows for global collaboration and can (but not always) produce a better result (a better program) as compared with a program that is developed only within the confines of a commercial company.
It should also be noted that some commercial software companies do release free versions of their otherwise paid for applications although the source code is NOT released. This allows for the use of the program without the ability to change how it works. As an example, I use SketchUP MAKE 2017 ( help.sketchup.com/en/download... ) which is/was downloadable and usable for free.
LibreCAD is just one example of a successful open source program that I use; there are many others. As an example, I also use OpenOffice ( www.openoffice.org/ ), a suite of programs similar to Microsoft Office. Blender ( www.blender.org/ ) is also another free and open source application that includes everything needed to draw and animate in 3D. (Some users have created their own movies using Blender!)
In this video, I demonstrate drawing a rectangle and circle to scale and then printing them at 2 different scales; 1:1 and 1:2. The actual printed pages are also shown and measured using a ruler.
"Printing to scale" refers to stretching or shrinking the design drawn to fit a certain area of the paper you are printing on. Often times, I print "full scale" (also known as full size or 1:1 or "one to one") so that my printout can be used as a template (glued to the piece of material I want to cut and then cutout along the lines of the template to make a part).
LibreCAD also allows you to print very large drawings (drawings that won't fit 1:1 on a single piece of paper) on several pieces of papers. These printed pages can then be taped together to form the larger drawing all while still printing to scale. This is a very useful feature of LibreCAD when designing and building larger projects.
The whole idea is to be able to draw an object on the computer screen (at a known size) and then print that object out onto paper (also at a known size). Hopefully, watching this video will better explain what I mean.
As always, I welcome your comments or questions. Thanks for watching!
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Music:
"Aces High" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
creativecommons.org/licenses/b...
All video content was written, shot and edited by Matt Ancona. Music provided by the source listed above. The camera used was a Samsung Note 2 smartphone and the video editor used was PowerDirector (version 15). A Samsung S6 was used to record the voice-overs.
A very useful tutorial, Many thanks
You're welcome. I'm glad it was useful. Here's a link to my LibreCAD playlist in case you are interested: th-cam.com/play/PLGCBwUeR2BD2ypYi5k0c4p6M52YO8Z-WD.html&si=VPJvl3obu_dZVqqD .
Thanks for your comment and for watching.
It is really helpful to see that actual print results being so acurate. Thank you a lot!
Thank-you for your comment. Very accurate printouts is one of the things I really like about LibreCAD. I just published another video that explains another way to use the print to scale feature in LibreCAD. Here's the link if you are interested: th-cam.com/video/ULEaZq-g4uU/w-d-xo.html
Thanks for watching.
Hello sir, thank you for this very educational video and all others.
Drawing without being able to print correctly is only half the job.
Thank you also for the clear explanation and statement, I love your soothing voice.
CU Chris. from Belgium
You're welcome. I'm glad my videos are helpful.
Thanks for your comment and for watching. Please feel free to share any of my videos using any method convenient to you (social media, email, text, ...).
Thanks again for a great video
Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for your comment and for watching.
DUDE THANK YOU
You're welcome. Be sure to check out the LibreCAD playlist on my channel for more videos. Thanks for watching.
Thank you for your videos.
At 2:00, I cannot figure out how you shrank the size of the grid. You seem to only move the mouse pointer and the grid size changes.
Hi George. To zoom in or out (which changes the size of the grid) I used the scroll wheel on my mouse. You can also use the keyboard keys; hold down the Ctrl key and press either + or -. This should give you the same effect as using the scroll wheel.
If you haven't already, I suggest you check out my LibreCAD playlist; here's a link: th-cam.com/play/PLGCBwUeR2BD2ypYi5k0c4p6M52YO8Z-WD.html . The first video (#26) goes over using the program starting from the very beginning.
Thanks for your comment and for watching. Please feel free to share any of my videos.
Thanks!
You're welcome! Thanks for your comment and for watching. Please feel free to share any of my videos.
Thanks for that.
You're welcome and thanks for your comment.
Very useful
Also, you can hold down the middle mouse button to pan, not the slightly more convoluted ctrl left mouse button.
Thanks. I have a couple of other videos about LibreCAD also so be sure to check those out if you haven't already.
The video was very helpful, but I have another question... I have a drawing that shows 3 plans of my woodworking shop. They each have equipment in different layouts, but all 3 plans are in the same drawing. QUESTION: Will LibreCad allow me to print each individual plan by windowing each plan separately?
Hi Paul. If I understand your question correctly, the answer is no, LibreCAD prints the entire drawing, not a selected portion of it. Now, if your drawing has multiple layers (and it sounds like your drawing does not), LibreCAD will print only the visible layers. So if you edit your drawing using LibreCAD and place each workshop layout on it's own layer, then you can print each layout separately.
The other thing you could try with your existing drawing, when you go to print, you can relocate position of the paper over the section you wish to print and only that section will get printed. If your different layouts are spread out enough on your drawing, this might work for you. Just mind the margins your printer will use.
Hope this helps. Thanks for your question and for watching. Please feel free to share any of my videos.
For reasons unknown to me, upon selecting Print; it executes a 'Print check' & I never get the file. What can I do to remedy it? Thanks!
I always do a Print Preview before I print to verify that I have the correct paper size and scale selected. Hope this helps. Thanks for your question and for watching.
Thank you for these great videos. I am a newbie at learning LibreCAD. Please tell me how to get back to the drawing after printing. Thank you!
I clicked on print preview again, and it went back to the drawing.
Yes, that's how you do it. Thanks for your comment and for watching.
Orlamdo, from Barbados.
How can I scale and print my drawing 1/8" to 1'-0"
Hello Orlando. If I understand you correctly, I'm guessing that you want the 12" lines in your drawing to be printed as 1/8" long lines. (1/8" = .125") Maybe you are drawing a house or floor plan. The correct scale factor can be calculated as 12"/.125". This equals 96. On the Print Preview screen (as shown in my video), for the scale, enter 1:96 and then print.
You can easily test this. Step 1: start a new drawing and draw a 12" long line. Step 2: On the Print Preview screen, enter 1:96 for the scale. Step 3: Print your drawing. Step 4: Use a ruler to verify that the line printed on the paper is 1/8" long (.125") while the line drawn on your computer screen is 12" long.
If it does not work correctly, re-watch my video and make sure you have setup the Current Drawing Options correctly.
Thanks for your question and for watching.
How cn v print a big size drawing for example a bicycle frame on multiple A4 sheets?? In 1:1 Scale
This is a great question! One of the things I like best about LibreCAD is that you can draw to any scale and also print to any scale.
Printing a large design at 1:1 scale on letter size (or A4 size) paper will require many sheets of paper printing each section of the design onto a different sheet. The trick is to have some way to align and tape together all of these different sheets. Once completed, you have a full size printout of your design.
What I have done with my larger projects is the following 3 steps:
1) Complete the design (I prefer drawing in 1:1 scale.)
2) After verifying that my printer paper size has been set correctly, look at a print preview. In this view, you can see how your design can fit across several pieces of paper.
3) Add alignment targets to your drawing and double check in print preview. Once your alignment targets are in place, print each section of your design to a separate piece of paper. Use the alignment targets to align the sheets and tape them together.
If you have a large glass table or a large sliding glass door, you might want to use either (with a light source) to position the sheets and tape them together. The glass surface, when lit from behind, can make it easier to see the alignment targets through multiple sheets of paper. If many sheets overlap, I will sometimes use a sharp knife to trim them.
I hope this makes sense. If not, leave some more questions here.
Thanks for your question and for watching.
I'm stumped ... I Copied a full-size drwng into a 11" x 8.5" file[Letter size']. I then Scaled it dwn to fit inside the 'Letter size' file. But, of cource, the DIMS. now do not read the TRUE Values. How do I adjust them? Thanks!
It sounds like you want to print your drawing full scale which will go beyond the printable area of 1 piece of letter size paper. If this is the case, then you'll need to print on multiple sheets of paper and tape the sheets together to create your full size drawing. Doing this does not change any of your dimensions.
Depending on your drawing, you may want to add some targets to the drawing to make it easier to line up the separate sheets.
To line up the sheets, you can use a large window (or sliding glass door) to back light the sheets to make it easier to see through the sheets. If you have a light box or a backlit drawing pad, you could also use that to backlight the sheets.
I hope this helps.
Thanks for your comment and for watching.
Where can I learn about: Copy between files? Thanks!
Save what you want to copy into its own file. In the new drawing, import (as a block) the file you just saved. Should I make a video about this to demonstrate? Thanks for your question and for watching.
When I clicked on the 1:1 scale in the print preview, the white paper disappeared and it just showed my rectangle and circle on a grey background. what did I do wrong?
I believe your rectangle and circle are drawn very large; much larger than the paper you are using. Try clicking on Print Preview again, choose 1:1, and then zoom in on the center of your drawing. When you zoom in far enough, I believe you will see the piece of paper again. To print your drawing you have a couple of choices: 1) Redraw your circle and rectangle sized so it will fit on your paper. 2) Print your existing drawing at a scale different from 1:1. Try different scales while in Print Preview until your drawing fits onto the paper.
I hope this helps. Thanks for your question and for watching.
Thanks you very much. The manual says to make an outline etc... doesn't make sense.
You're welcome. I made the video to try and make printing to scale easier to understand. Thanks for your comment and for watching.
now how do i print it out in landscape? I find that i have to rotate my drawing 90deg and then print it in portrait.
On the Menu bar, go to Options, then Current Drawing Preferences, then choose the Paper tab, then select Landscape.
For my viewer's convenience, I have placed all of the videos I have done about LibreCAD in a playlist; here's the link: th-cam.com/play/PLGCBwUeR2BD2ypYi5k0c4p6M52YO8Z-WD.html .
Thanks for your question and for watching.
@@ImaginethenMake Thanks, learn something everyday
Can librecad convert dxf to pdf keeping the original size?
To answer your question I ran a quick test. I opened a new document in LibreCAD and added a square, circle, and triangle, saved it as a .dxf and printed it. Then I exported the drawing as a .pdf and printed that. Taking the 2 printouts and putting them on top of each, it looks like all of the lines on both printouts line up with each other. So it looks like to me that LibreCAD will export a .dxf (drawn in LibreCAD) to a .pdf and maintain the original size.
Now, I'm not sure what happens if you import a .dxf originally created using a different program.
Thanks for your question and for watching.
It wasnt clear in the video haw the graid status/scale was changed, ie scrolling, zooming, or what. Nothing I do can get min to change!!
To change the grid size, I move the scroll wheel on my mouse. In this video; th-cam.com/video/21pD_rFdoDQ/w-d-xo.html at about the 4 minute and 8 minute marks, I demonstrate this. I hope this helps.
You might also find it useful to watch my other LibreCAD videos; I have organized them into a playlist to make them easier to find. Here's a link to the playlist.: th-cam.com/play/PLGCBwUeR2BD2ypYi5k0c4p6M52YO8Z-WD.html
Thanks for your question and for watching.
what if you're printing something that's larger than the letter size paper?
Excellent question! I hope you can see in Print Preview that you can move the paper that you are printing on around (left mouse click and drag the paper to move it to a different position). If my design is larger than the paper, what I do is add some alignment targets to the design in strategic places. When I print each section out on its own paper, I can then use the alignment targets to line up the different sections and tape the papers together making one large printout. I have done this several times and it does make an accurate, large printout. You just have to work carefully when taping the sections together. I hope my explanation makes sense. Thanks for your question and for watching.
@@ImaginethenMake Yes that makes sense. I've seen it done (the taping part), but wasn't sure about the CAD part. This video and your answer will help much. Trying to print violin designs. Thanks.
You're welcome Brian. Good luck with your project.
I want to make a drawing for my woodworking shop and it has three drawings in three different scales on the same page. Is this doable with libreCAD?
Hopefully I understand you question so I'm going to say "yes", you can create a printout of your shop with 3 sections all at different scales. I can think of 3 different ways to do this.
Way #1) Make 3 separate drawings for each section. When you go to print the 1st section, set the scale using the drop down box shown in the video. This allows you to set the scale to whatever you like just for that section. During Print Preview, drag the paper you are going to print on to position where the 1st section should be printed. Take that printout and load it back into your printer. Repeat the previous steps only for section 2. Choose the scale you want to print this section at. Be sure to drag the paper in Print Preview so the 2nd section does not print over the 1st. Repeat for section #3. I think this will work.
Way #2) Print each of the 3 separate drawings on their own sheet of paper at whatever scale you choose. Tape the 3 pieces together to create 1 large drawing with each section printed at its own scale.
Way #3) Create one drawing will all three sections. Each section can be drawn at its own scale but you will need to manage that. Let's say you draw section 1 at 1:10 scale (so the drawing is 10 times smaller then the actual). When you draw your lines, each line will be drawn at a length that is 10 smaller then the actual full size length. Then you draw section 2 at 1:20 scale (so the drawing is 20 times smaller then actual). When you draw your lines for this section, the lines are drawn 20 time smaller the actual full size length. Then you draw section 3 at 1:50 scale (so that section is drawn 50 times smaller then the full size actual). When you print the drawing, you can choose the largest scale that will allow the entire drawing to fit on 1 piece of paper; each of the 3 sections will print at the correct scale relative to each other.
I hope this makes sense.
Thanks for your question and for watching.
@@ImaginethenMake way 3 is what I would like to do, but I don't know how. I don't want to have to calculate the scale myself and was wondering if there was a way to set it so the program calculates it automatically for me.
I do not know of a way for LibreCAD to make the calculations to allow you to draw in 3 different scales in one drawing. If you have watched my earlier videos introducing LibreCAD, I said the program is really just a computerized pencil and paper. Before computerized drawing (CAD), draftsmen would often draw in different scales in different sections of their drawing. Back then, the draftsmen had to do the calculations to determine how long to draw their lines. I believe LibreCAD works the same way.
Good luck with your drawing.
@@ImaginethenMake thank you for your kind replies. Right now I'm doing all my drawings by hand and I have a special ruler with 6 different scales. That allows me to draw different scales with pencil and paper without having to actually calculate anything. I was hoping a function like this was included in this CAD program, which is why I was asking.
Thanks for all the hard work you put into your TH-cam channel! I really appreciate it.
You're welcome for the videos. I do enjoy making them. I have learned so much since I started in 2017.