QCAD.org Forum

Hi all -- im sure this has been asked, but im having issues finding it.

Im running windows 11, the Pro Trial pack (will be buying as soon as I get paid)

I want to have my grid adjustable -- basically the meta grid (lines) should be 1 foot apart at most any scale (im doing building floor plans etc) at tiny scales, maybe 1" apart and at big scales maybe 10 feet apart
I would like the dots/ticks/whatever to scale within that

Right now its showing up as 10 dots per square -- which works great for metric, but is nearly impossible for us english users -- (I dont convert to metric well for distances)

Im sure this is a common question, can someone help me get it right?

Thanks
Tim

Hi,

First this:
Preferences for the current drawing are displayed or adapted under menu Edit .. Drawing Preferences.
These settings are stored with the document.

The same can be set for all new drawings created by QCAD from hereon under menu Edit .. Application Preferences.
Once created as new then refer to the Drawing Preferences of the document.


Your request may be a problem for: '1 foot apart at most any scale'. (Model_Space has no scale factor, you probably mean the zoom state.)
Rather geared to minimal and automatically scaled on zooming IN/OUT or fixed.

It is common to draw in Model_Space at scale 1:1 in the chosen drawing unit.
How this is presented on paper or PDF depends on a paper scale in a final stage.
The benefits of drawing in 1:1 is that you don't have to convert real world sizes to drawing sizes, forth and back.

Also remind that in CAD the values are typically unit-less.
The drawing unit is only important when converting between drawing units, manually or automatically on import/insert.
Or when scaling to paper with well defined sizes.
A metric dimension entity is without any unit and can be in mm - m - km depending the drawing unit.
Same for decimal imperial dimensions.

taholmes160 wrote: ↑

Fri Jul 04, 2025 10:10 pm

Right now its showing up as 10 dots per square

Suspecting that your Label Format for Linear Dimensions is set to 'Decimal' or 'Engineering'.
This has an influence on the Ruler format and thus on the Grid.

With inches as drawing units set the Dimension Label Format to 'Architectural': Feet - inches + fractional inches.

Besides the lower right corner of the drawing panel the current Grid < Meta Grid spacing are displayed.
A zero means that it can't be rendered because the individual spacing is too small, typically less than 10 pixels.

Under menu Application Preferences .. Graphics View .. Grid we can opt for dynamically scaling these depending the zoom state or not.
A global preference, not a drawing preference that is stored in a document.

Turn off dynamically scaling the Meta Grid.
This may work for a while until the Meta Grid spacing turns zero in some zoom state.

In the Drawing Preferences adapt the Meta Grid spacing in XY to 12".
12 is not in the list but you can set any value. (Auto complete may propose 128)
For other usage remind that these Grid/Meta Grid spacing values are the minimal values, 'auto' will define the minimum on the fly.

The above will force your Meta Grid lines to 1 feet apart and fixed in any zoom state.
Or not displayed when too dense or zoomed in too far.
A configurable Meta Grid of: 1" - 1' - 10' is not really an option at this point. (2023 Reply p41493)
Nor are auto scaled custom Grid spacing steps because of the unattended bug reported in this forum topic.

Regards,
CVH