Setting Page Scales

Accurate page scales are a vital part of taking accurate measurements and, if a page does not have an established scale, Revu will prompt you to set one before placing a measurement. Revu offers a few different ways to set a page scale to suit your specific needs and workflow. Each method has advantages and disadvantages and which is preferable depends on how you would answer a couple questions:

  1. Is the scale known and common (or has it been previously saved to your list of preset scales)?
  2. Are you sure that no scaling errors occurred during the PDF creation process?

When both of these are true, using a preset scales is a fast and efficient way to set a reliable scale. If you know the scale, but it's not in the preset list, and you're sure the PDF has no scaling errors, entering a custom scale only takes a little more time (and you can always save it to your preset list for later use). And when you're not sure of the exact scale or whether or not there might be scaling issues with the drawing, calibrating the scale to a known length on the drawing is a simple and accurate way to set your scale. Calibrated scales can be saved to your preset list, too.

Pages can have separate X and Y scales. These scales can be set using any of the available methods and different methods can be used for each, even on the same page. Each of the three methods mentioned above provides the opportunity to set separate scales. In addition, pages can have one or more viewports, areas of the drawing that are set to a different scale. See Viewports for more information.

The methods described on this page discuss setting the scale for one or more pages at the same time. Similar functionality is available on the Measurements panel that affects just the current page, but it can be an even quicker way to set a scale as it involves even fewer mouse clicks. The process for setting page scales can also be started from the Thumbnails panel and some prefer it when they want to set a scale for multiple pages and find it easier to pick pages by their thumbnails.

Revu comes with several common scales available as well as the ability to save custom or calibrated scales to the preset list. Any preset scale can be applied to one or more pages. Saved scales can be deleted from the preset list, if desired.

  1. Go to Tools > Measure > Set Scale. The Apply Scale to Pages dialog box opens.
    • Alternatively, click the page scale shown on either the Navigation bar or the Status bar (if no scale has been set for the page, this will say Scale Not Set; click that instead).

  2. By default, the scale is applied to the current page only. To change this, choose one of the following options from the Pages drop-down list:
    • All Pages: Sets the range to all pages.
    • Current: Sets the range to the current page only. The current page number will appear in parentheses, for example, Current (2) if page 2 is the current page. This is the default selection.
    • Selected: Sets the range to the current selection. This option only appears if pages were selected prior to invoking the command.
    • Custom: Sets the range to a custom value. When this option is selected, the field acts like a text box. Delete any text left in the field and enter the page or pages to be printed directly. To enter a custom range:
      • Use a dash between page numbers to define those two pages and all pages in between.
      • Use a comma to define pages that are separated.

      For example: 1-3, 5, 9 will include pages 1, 2, 3, 5 and 9.

  3. Select Preset and select the scale from the Scale drop-down list.
    • If you have previously saved a custom or calibrated scale to your presets, they will be listed at the top.

  4. To set separate X and Y scales, select Separate Y Scale. The scale you just set will default to the X scale. The Y scale can be set using any of the available methods (preset, custom, or calibrate) and need not be the same as the one used for the X scale.

    Note: If Separate Y Scale is unchecked later, the X scale will automatically be used for both X and Y scales for future measurements. Existing measurements will not be affected, however.

  5. Select the measurement precision from the Precision drop-down list. Precision is expressed either as a decimal or a fraction depending on the scale being set (or, in the case of separate X and Y scales, of the X scale).
  6. Click Apply Scale.

Scales that have been saved to your preset list can be deleted at any time. Only the scales that you have saved to the list can be deleted; the default, common scales that come preloaded with Revu cannot be removed.

When viewing the list of preset scales, any that you have saved to it will be automatically shown at the top. Each has a corresponding Delete button to its right. Just click it to delete the saved scale.

When you know the page scale, but that scale is not available in the preset list, and you have confidence that there were no scaling errors made during the PDF creation process, you can enter a custom scale and apply it to one or more pages.

To enter a custom scale:

  1. Go to Tools > Measure > Set Scale. The Apply Scale to Pages dialog box opens.
    • Alternatively, click the page scale shown on either the Navigation bar or the Status bar (if no scale has been set for the page, this will say Scale Not Set; click that instead).

  2. By default, the scale is applied to the current page only. To change this, choose one of the following options from the Pages drop-down list:
    • All Pages: Sets the range to all pages.
    • Current: Sets the range to the current page only. The current page number will appear in parentheses, for example, Current (2) if page 2 is the current page. This is the default selection.
    • Selected: Sets the range to the current selection. This option only appears if pages were selected prior to invoking the command.
    • Custom: Sets the range to a custom value. When this option is selected, the field acts like a text box. Delete any text left in the field and enter the page or pages to be printed directly. To enter a custom range:
      • Use a dash between page numbers to define those two pages and all pages in between.
      • Use a comma to define pages that are separated.

      For example: 1-3, 5, 9 will include pages 1, 2, 3, 5 and 9.

  3. Select Custom and enter the scale using the fields available below. The left side of the equation describes a length on the drawing while the right sets what that length is equal to in the real world. Enter a value and select the appropriate unit of measure for each. Note that the units of measure do not need to match and can even be from different systems.

  4. To set separate X and Y scales, select Separate Y Scale. The scale you just set will default to the X scale. The Y scale can be set using any of the available methods (preset, custom, or calibrate) and need not be the same as the one used for the X scale.

    Note: If Separate Y Scale is unchecked later, the X scale will automatically be used for both X and Y scales for future measurements. Existing measurements will not be affected, however.

  5. Select the measurement precision from the Precision drop-down list. Precision is expressed either as a decimal or a fraction depending on the scale being set (or, in the case of separate X and Y scales, of the X scale).
  6. If you would like to save this scale to the list of preset scales for use on other drawings, click + Add Preset. The scale configuration is saved and can be selected as a preset scale later and on other drawings.
  7. Click Apply Scale.

Sometimes it is not possible to be assured that a PDF scaled properly during its creation. In those instances, using a preset scale or manually entering a custom one might create inaccurate measurements, making it preferable to calibrate the scale to the drawing itself. Calibration requires you to be able to identify a known length on the drawing.

To calibrate a scale to the PDF:

  1. Open the calibration tool. There are two ways to get to it:
    • Click Calibrate on the Measurements panel.
    • Go to Tools > Measure > Set Scale to open the Apply Scale to Pages dialog box, then select Custom and click Calibrate.
      • You can also open the Apply Scale to Pages dialog box by clicking Scale Not Set on either the Navigation bar or the Status bar. If a scale has been set for this page, the scale will be shown instead; clicking it will .
  2. A dialog box might appear with instructions regarding the use of the Calibrate tool. If it does, click OK.

  3. Locate a measured length on the page. Click the first point of the known length, then click the second point to finish the line. Hold down SHIFT to snap the two points horizontally, vertically, or diagonally (as appropriate). When the second point is selected, the Calibrate dialog box opens.

    Note: If you are working with a vector-based drawing (as opposed to a scanned PDF), you can enable Snap to Content which makes the cursor snap to the underlying lines and drawing elements, making it much easier to accurately select the two points.

  4. The length of the measurement will be automatically filled in as the left side of the scale equation. Enter the distance the measurement represents in the real world and select the appropriate measurement units on the right side to complete the scale. Note that the units of measure do not need to match and can even be from different systems.
  5. By default, the scale is applied to the current page only. To change this, choose one of the following options from the Pages drop-down list:
    • All Pages: Sets the range to all pages.
    • Current: Sets the range to the current page only. The current page number will appear in parentheses, for example, Current (2) if page 2 is the current page. This is the default selection.
    • Selected: Sets the range to the current selection. This option only appears if pages were selected prior to invoking the command.
    • Custom: Sets the range to a custom value. When this option is selected, the field acts like a text box. Delete any text left in the field and enter the page or pages to be printed directly. To enter a custom range:
      • Use a dash between page numbers to define those two pages and all pages in between.
      • Use a comma to define pages that are separated.

      For example: 1-3, 5, 9 will include pages 1, 2, 3, 5 and 9.

  6. To set separate X and Y scales, select Separate Y Scale. The scale you just set will default to the X scale. The Y scale can be set using any of the available methods (preset, custom, or calibrate) and need not be the same as the one used for the X scale.

    Note: If Separate Y Scale is unchecked later, the X scale will automatically be used for both X and Y scales for future measurements. Existing measurements will not be affected, however.

  7. Select the measurement precision from the Precision drop-down list. Precision is expressed either as a decimal or a fraction depending on the scale being set (or, in the case of separate X and Y scales, of the X scale).
  8. If you would like to save this scale to the list of preset scales for use on other drawings, click + Add Preset. The scale configuration is saved and can be selected as a preset scale later and on other drawings.
  9. Click Apply Scale.

On occasion, it might be desirable to apply a scale that has been set for one page of a drawing to other pages in the drawing. There is a quick and easy way to do that:

  1. Go to Window > Panels >  Measurements or press ALT+U to show the  Measurements panel.

  2. Click Add Scale to More Pages. The Apply Scale to Pages dialog box appears with the current page scale configuration loaded.

    Note: If the Add Scale to More Pages button is not available then there is not a scale set for the current page.

  3. Select the pages you want to apply this scale to from the Pages drop-down list. Options are:
    • All Pages: Sets the range to all pages.
    • Current: Sets the range to the current page only. The current page number will appear in parentheses, for example, Current (2) if page 2 is the current page. This is the default selection.
    • Selected: Sets the range to the current selection. This option only appears if pages were selected prior to invoking the command.
    • Custom: Sets the range to a custom value. When this option is selected, the field acts like a text box. Delete any text left in the field and enter the page or pages to be printed directly. To enter a custom range:
      • Use a dash between page numbers to define those two pages and all pages in between.
      • Use a comma to define pages that are separated.

      For example: 1-3, 5, 9 will include pages 1, 2, 3, 5 and 9.

  4. Click Apply Scale.

This process only applies to pages in the same drawing. If you want to apply the scale to a different drawing, repeat steps 1 & 2 then click + Add Preset to save it to your preset list. That will make it available to select as a preset scale for that drawing.

 

Related topics

Viewports

Measurements Panel

Thumbnails Panel