What's the best way to scale a house layout?

[Jennifer]

I need to draw landscape layout for a yard. Is it better to set the page dimensions in feet (90' x 60') or inches (1080" x 720")? And then should I apply a scaling factor?

I want any shapes or dimensions I add to show the correct units.

I set up a page. On the Print Setup tab, I selected Letter & Landscape. On the Page Size tab, I entered "90 ft" by "60 ft", but Visio keep changing that back to "1080 in" by "720 in", and Landscape. On the Drawing Scale tab, I selected No scale (1:1).

When I clicked OK, the top ruler goes from 240 to 840 and the left one goes from 60 to 660. Wierd. I thought I could double-click the upper left corner of the rulers to get them to put (0,0) in the lower left corner, but that does not do anything.

When I add a shape, it has the correct dimensions, but if I add a field to display those dimensions, I have to set the font size to something like 600 pts to see it and then Visio cannot center it because it's too long.

What do I have to do to get this to behave other than switching to a different graphics editor?

Thanks

[wapperdude]

In the Page Setup window, proceed as follows...
1) Print Setup tab: 
      > select landscape; keep the default paper size or whatever your printer will accommodate
      > set Print zoom to Fit to 1 sheet across & down

2) Page Size tab:
      > Select Predefined size => standard, same size as above
      > Page orientation ought to be set at landscape.  If not, make it so.  Should be same as Print setup

3) Drawing Scale tab: (this is where you setup scaling)
      > you absolutely do NOT want no scale
      > you may chose Pre-defined, and find setting that gets you close as shown @ bottom of window, Page Size
           * for example, 1/8" = 1' gives you 88' x 68'.  That might be pretty close, but perhaps bit undersized?
      > chose custom to fine tune the results

4) Page Properties tab:
      > main interest here is to set Measurement units.

Hit OK and your page is set.

[Jennifer]

I don't understand your Drawing Scale tab settings. It looks to me like you are saying not to scale and how to scale.

For one project, I want the horizontal ruler to go from 0' to 120' and the vertical one to go from 0' to 30'. And I want it to fit the screen as good as possible when I type Ctrl+Shift+W. I could not get that to happen following your instructions.

Here's what I tried:

Print Setup tab:


Page Size tab:


Drawing Scale tab:


Page Properties tab:


That gets me a standard 8.5 x 11 page. Where do I put the 120' by 30' and get it to fill the screen (as much as possible)?

Thanks

PS: I am still annoyed that they changed Ctrl+w to Ctrl+Shift+W.

[wapperdude]

Did you not read my point 3?  You must choose either Predefined or Custom scale.  Do not use no scale.

Scaling is what converts your physical 8.5" x 11" piece of paper to be 60 ft x 88 ft.  The scaling is applied equally to both horizontal and vertical dimensions.  Choose Custom.  For landscape, with 11 in = 120 ft,  enter those values, with units.  Visio will show you the resulting Page size, based upon 8.5 x 11 aspect ratio.  You should see 120 ft x 92 ft and change.

The horizontal ruler goes 0 - 120 ft & vertical goes 0 - 95 ft

Now, go back to Page Size tab, select Custom, and change the 2nd box from 8.5 to 2.8.  Hit apply or OK.  Your drawing page will now look long and skinny, with vertical ruler going 0 - ~30 ft.

That's it.

One more note.  As this configuration only uses about 1/3 of the paper height, you can, if desired, have it centered on the sheet of paper.  To do this, go to the Printer Setup at b.  Click the setup button.  In the new window, under small drawings, you can select to center the drawing on the printed page.

[Jennifer]

Did you not read my point 3?  You must choose either Predefined or Custom scale.  Do not use no scale.

I read it, I just misunderstood it. I was thrown by the double negative.

Scaling is what converts your physical 8.5" x 11" piece of paper to be 60 ft x 88 ft.  The scaling is applied equally to both horizontal and vertical dimensions.

I get it now.

Now, go back to Page Size tab, select Custom, and change the 2nd box from 8.5 to 2.8.  Hit apply or OK.  Your drawing page will now look long and skinny, with vertical ruler going 0 - ~30 ft.

Got it. I set the scale to 10 in = 120 ft. I then changed the Custom Page Size to 11 in by 4 in. I get a long narrow "page" just like you said.

One more note.  As this configuration only uses about 1/3 of the paper height, you can, if desired, have it centered on the sheet of paper.  To do this, go to the Printer Setup at b.  Click the setup button.  In the new window, under small drawings, you can select to center the drawing on the printed page.

I don't intend to print this, but if I do I'll look at this.

Thank you! 👏👏👍

[wapperdude]

Ah. Good.  I was a bit surprised because you usually lock onto this right away.  Was afraid I messed up my explanation.

Cheers!

[Jennifer]

Naw. I just got flummoxed by the double negative. I'm not sure if it's old age or listening to the grandkids say things like, "No, Never. I don't want no brocolli, never." Does 5 negatives net out to a positive? 🤔🤨😮😲🙄

[wapperdude]

I'm pretty positive that still a negative.