Topic: How do you size text for paper?

[craigr]

Alright, here is a VERY DUMB question, but....

We ALWAYS print to either 11x17 or Letter size, so our smallest text size is .06.

Well one of our engineers wants me to draw something on 44x34 paper.

How do I figure out the smallest text size so the 50 year olds can still read it when printed?

craigr

[Greg B]

Aren't most standards based on the sheet scale?

For instance...our standard sheet scale is 1/8".  So we print 1/8" = 1'-0".

Our text height is 1'-0"


If we were printing our sheet scale at 1/4" we'd have a text size of 6".

[David Hall]

What Greg is trying to say is take the size of the printed text on paper (0.06) and multiply that times the scale of your viewport.  So in Gregs example, 1/8" text times the scale of 96 (there are 96 1/8ths in 1'-0") which equals 12" text.

[Greg B]

What Greg is trying to say is take the size of the printed text on paper (0.06) and multiply that times the scale of your viewport.  So in Gregs example, 1/8" text times the scale of 96 (there are 96 1/8ths in 1'-0") which equals 12" text.

What he said.

[CADaver]

What Greg is trying to say is take the size of the printed text on paper (0.06) and multiply that times the scale of your viewport.  So in Gregs example, 1/8" text times the scale of 96 (there are 96 1/8ths in 1'-0") which equals 12" text.

If your text is in MODELSPACE.  However, if your text is PAPERSPACE (where it belongs, BTW) it needs to be how ever high you want it plotted.  We use 1/10".

[dan19936]

All the architectural offices I've worked for have used 3/32" (0.09375) as the smallest. Sometimes 1/8" for room names. 3/32" is still legible at half-size prints (at least for us young geezers)

Dan

[AVCAD]

There is a standard Scaling system for CAD for text sizes.

Its based off the Scale of the drawings and Text in Model Space (where it should always be, unless its Titleblock information---start the debate  ).

1" = 1" which is a viewport scale of 1/1xp = 0.125" text size
3" = 1'-0" which is a viewport scale of 1/4xp = 0.5" text size
1-1/2" = 1'-0" which is a viewport scale of 1/8xp = 2.25" text size
1" = 1'-0" which is a viewport scale of 1/12xp = 1.5" text size
3/4" = 1'-0" which is a viewport scale of 1/16xp = 2" text size
1/2" = 1'-0" which is a viewport scale of 1/24xp = 3" text size
3/8" = 1'-0" which is a viewport scale of 1/32xp = 4" text size
1/4" = 1'-0" which is a viewport scale of 1/48xp = 6" text size
3/16" = 1'-0" which is a viewport scale of 1/64xp = 8" text size
1/8" = 1'-0" which is a viewport scale of 1/96xp = 1'-0" text size
3/32" = 1'-0" which is a viewport scale of 1/128xp = 1'-4" text size
1/16" = 1'-0" which is a viewport scale of 1/192xp = 2'-0" text size
1/32" = 1'-0" which is a viewport scale of 1/384xp = 4'-0" text size

If your doing metric drawings just take the text size an multiply by 25.4 and thats your text size.

1:200 scale is eq. to 1/16" scale so the text size would be 24"X25.4 = 609.6mm
1:100 scale is eq. to 1/8" scale so the text size would be 12"X25.4 = 304.8mm
1:50 scale is eq. to 1/4" scale so the text size would be 6"X25.4 = 152.4mm

If your doing text in Paper space (layout space) then you can just use the same scaling for the text sizes but scale the text down by the viewport scale (ex. 1/96 , 1/192 , 1/128...)

[Birdy]

All (small) text here prints to 3/32".
Larger text is twice as big.
No fancy fonts.
Very readable. 

[PHX cadie]

We use .1 for normal sized text (pen=.009), .14 with a heavier pen, .023, for things that need to stand out, (on full size, D, and print 1:2 for 11x17), but we do scale the text down to .06 for ltr sized exhibits/figures, ( .1 on 8.5x11 just looks alittle large).

[sinc]

We use .1 for normal sized text (pen=.009), .14 with a heavier pen, .023, for things that need to stand out, (on full size, D, and print 1:2 for 11x17), but we do scale the text down to .06 for ltr sized exhibits/figures, ( .1 on 8.5x11 just looks alittle large).

Ours is similar.  We use .08", .1", and .12" inch text almost exclusively, with a couple of .14" and .20" items.  On smaller exhibits (letter or legal size), we also think those sizes look too large, so our standard sizes on those drawings are .06", .08", and .10".

[PHX cadie]

Craig
Sorry my reply, prob didn't answer you're question correctly, stating what we use for 22x34.  We do use .1 text for most annotations, which plotted 1:2 for 11x17 looks fine at .05. For a larger size sheet, you're 44x34, I would think .1-.125 would still look good, its still the same size no matter the sheet size. If I remember the good ole lead holder days, standard text was .125 (1/8")
I'll have to get back with in 6 years to see if its legible to 50 yr olds. 

[Keith™]

Ours is a tried and true system of using the preset standards developed over years of trial and error. The size has been unchanged for many years and is dependent upon the size of the page being plotted. I don't have the sizes available because they are hard coded into our profile and drawing setup. I think it is something like 3/16 for a D-Size.

[PHX cadie]

......The size has been unchanged for many years and is dependent upon the size of the page being plotted.......

Mmmmm, maybe my thinking is wrong. I understand the need for larger text if its an exhibit hung on a wall, read at a larger distance, but why would the text size increase with the sheet size for regular construct docs?

<thinking aloud> I understand the need to scale down text for a ltr size, is the reverse true? You've got the room, the sheet would prob look more proportional. Still its read from a desk....< end thinking>

I would have to say 3/16 would be legible at almost any age 

[Keith™]

The reason is that we have lots of notes that go on a sheet, if we maintained the same size text for all page sizes, we would not even be able to plot a D sheet on a C sheet as the amount of information would not fit on the page. Imagine 100 lines of notes inside a border at 3/16" .. on a D sheet it takes up about 3/4 of the page ... on a C sheet, the text runs off the bottom of the sheet.

[PHX cadie]

Thanks!
I'm thinkin this wasn't a very dumb question.

[Keith™]

The only dumb questions are those not asked, and those deemed dumb by moi.