Architectural Drawing

Do you have a question you want to ask an existing QCAD user about QCAD and what you can do with it? Do you want to know if a particular feature exists? This is the place to ask.

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HDK
Newbie Member
Posts: 7
Joined: Thu Apr 07, 2016 6:23 am

Architectural Drawing

Post by HDK » Thu Apr 07, 2016 7:25 am

For many years I used AutoCAD to create architectural drawings. Now that I'm retired, I would be interested in purchasing a CAD program to use at home. I have done several searches of the forums to see how I can set up the program to accept input in feet and inches, with no success. I understand that the units can be set for feet or inches, but apparently not both. How would I draw a line that is 6'3" long for example? Looks like I would have to calculate the decimal equivalent if the unit was set to feet or calculate the total number of inches if the unit was set to inches.

Another issue I've had is that QCAD doesn't seem to be able to see external drives. I can create a drawing, save it to the drive, but then am unable to browse to the directory to open it later. The open dialog box only shows the internal drive and the user directory. If I select open recent in the menu I can select the file and open it. Any suggestions?

The program seems stable and does most of what I want, but both the browsing problem and the apparent limitation in architectural drawing would limit its use for me unless there is a practical work around. I'm hoping for a solution so I can make the purchase.

I'm running QCAD 3.13.1.0 on a Mac with OS X Yosemite 10.10.3, 24GB ram and lots of room on both the internal and external drives.

Regards,
David

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andrew
Site Admin
Posts: 9037
Joined: Fri Mar 30, 2007 6:07 am

Re: Architectural Drawing

Post by andrew » Thu Apr 07, 2016 9:36 am

HDK wrote:I understand that the units can be set for feet or inches, but apparently not both.
Yes, the drawing unit can only be feet or inches, but not both. Inch is far more common than feet, even if dimensions are shown in feet.

If you wish to display inches as feet and inches in dimensions, you can set the dimension format accordingly under Edit > Drawing Preferences > Dimension > Dimension Settings > Linear Dimensions > Format:
Screen Shot 2016-04-07 at 10.19.18.png
Screen Shot 2016-04-07 at 10.19.18.png (131.98 KiB) Viewed 11455 times
HDK wrote:How would I draw a line that is 6'3" long for example? Looks like I would have to calculate the decimal equivalent if the unit was set to feet or calculate the total number of inches if the unit was set to inches.
You can enter feet and inches as feet'inches, for example "6'3" (without the "). This is essentially shorthand for entering "6*12+3".
Similarly, 6'3/4 would be 6' and 3/4" and 6'3 1/2 for 6' and 3 and 1/2".
HDK wrote:Another issue I've had is that QCAD doesn't seem to be able to see external drives.
Please make sure that the system file dialog is being used:
Edit > Application Preferences > File > Load/Save > Use system file dialog
Screen Shot 2016-04-07 at 10.27.32.png
Screen Shot 2016-04-07 at 10.27.32.png (144.08 KiB) Viewed 11455 times
External drives should then be listed at the left in the file dialog under Max OS X, under 'Devices':
Screen Shot 2016-04-07 at 10.25.41.png
Screen Shot 2016-04-07 at 10.25.41.png (17.33 KiB) Viewed 11455 times
You can show / hide individual devices in Finder preferences:
- Launch Finder
- Finder > Preferences... > Sidebar

HDK
Newbie Member
Posts: 7
Joined: Thu Apr 07, 2016 6:23 am

Re: Architectural Drawing

Post by HDK » Thu Apr 07, 2016 4:41 pm

Thanks for the prompt response, both problems are resolved. :D
QCAD 3.14.3.0 on a Mac with OS X Yosemite 10.10.3, 24GB ram

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