Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
Architectural
E
30 x 42"
Architectural
D
24 x 36"
Large
E
sheet folded in half
Architectural
C
18 x 24"
D
sheet folded in half
Architectural
B
12 x 18"
C
sheet folded in half
Architectural
A
9 x 12"
B
sheet folded in half
ISO
A0
841 x 1189 mm
ISO
A1
594 x 841 mm
A0
sheet folded in half
ISO
A2
420 x 594 mm
A1
sheet folded in half
ISO
A3
297 x 420 mm
A2
sheet folded in half
ISO
A4
210 x 297 mm
A3
sheet folded in half
You select a particular set of sheet sizes based on the common practices in your in-
dustry. You then narrow down your choice based on the area required by what you're
going to draw. For example, most imperial-units architectural plans are plotted on Archi-
tectural or ANSI D- or E-size sheets, and most metric architectural plans go on ISO A1 or
A0 sheets.
If you know the desired sheet size and drawing scale factor, you can calculate the avail-
able drawing area easily. Simply multiply each of the sheet's dimensions by the drawing
scale factor. For example, if you choose an 11-x-17-inch sheet and a drawing scale factor
of 96 (corresponding to a plot scale of 1/8" = 1'-0"), you multiply 17 times 96 and 11
times 96 to get an available drawing area of 1,632 inches x 1,056 inches (or 136 feet x 88
feet). If your sheet size is in inches but your drawing scale is in millimeters, you need to
multiply by an additional 25.4 to convert from inches to millimeters. For example, with
an 11-x-17-inch sheet and a scale of 1:200 (drawing scale factor = 200), you multiply 17
times 200 times 25.4 and 11 times 200 times 25.4 to get 86,360 x 55,880 mm or 86.36 x
55.88 m — not quite big enough for a football field (American
or
European football).
Conversely, if you know the sheet size that you're going to use and the real-world size of
what you're going to draw, and you want to find out the largest plot scale you can use,
you have to divide, not multiply. Divide the needed real-world drawing area's length and
width by the sheet's dimensions. Take the larger number — either the length result or
the width result — and round up to the nearest real drawing scale factor (that is, one
that's commonly used in your industry). For example, suppose you want to draw a
60-x-40-foot (or 720-x-480-inch) floor plan and print it on 11-x-17-inch paper. You divide
720 by 17 and 480 by 11 to get 42.35 and 43.64, respectively. The larger number, 43.64,
corresponds in this example to the short dimension of the house and the paper. The
nearest larger common architectural drawing scale factor is 48 (corresponding to 1/4" =
1'-0"), which leaves a little room for the plotting margin and title block.
