Map border not lined up with Snap after scale
Ahoy all, I've been working on a transport map and needed to increase the size of it on one side to accommodate all the station stops on that side. I managed to use non-visual scale to make the "canvas" larger only on the left side (a feat I can't seem to duplicate now, no matter where I put the "scale center", both the left and right sides are changed... not sure how I did it the first time to make it so that ONLY the left side got bigger).
However, what I didn't anticipate is that this would alter how it interacts with my snap grid. Basically, if I go to Distance measure, with snaps on the curser will no longer snap perfectly to the corner of the map background. It will snap just to the left of it or just to the right of it.
This type of math is not my strong suit at all. How can I figure out exactly what degree of scaling to apply to restore this so that the left side of the map border is once again lined up with my snap grid (which is a 5-point grid with 4 snaps, so each snap movement is 1.25)?
Furthermore, there must be a way to make only the left or right side change because the left side of the canvas got bigger but the right side didn't when I first scaled this, but now I can't do that again. When using non-visual X/Y scale, where do I want to put the scale center based on which sides I want to change by how much? And while scaling up is obvious (if I put in 1.25 it will become 25% bigger), scaling down is giving me trouble. Scaling by 0.5 will cut it in half, but beyond that... My original scale-up was by 1.05. How would I figure out what number to use to scale it back down by exactly the same amount?
Like I said, this kind of math just makes my head spin, lol. Thanks for any and all help!
Comments
Did you use Resize Drawing Area the first time around - from the File menu?
It should be a much easier way to enlarge the canvas, assuming that is what you really mean - where the map area gets bigger but the map itself stays where it is, giving more space to continue the map.
To have it scale in just a specific direction, put the scale center on the opposite corner/edge. Scaling expands from the scale center, so if it is in the center of the drawing, it will scale equally in all direction, but if the scale center is in the top left corner, it will only expand right & down.
If you scaled up by 1.05 and want it to scale it down again, you simply scale by 1 divided by 1.05 (= 0.95238095238095). Note that you can type that formula directly on the command line, when CC3+ asks for the scale, answering with 1/1.05 is perfectly legal. Note that it may actually be impossible to scale it back with 100% precision. This is due to how computers handle numbers, and if you try doing 1 divided by 1.05 on a calculator, you can see the number have an infinite number of decimals, which basically mean it can't be represented with perfect accuracy in a computer.
To scale something up so that it still ends on the snap grid, you need to calculate based on the original size. For example, to make your shape still fit that 5' grid, the resulting size must obviously be divisible by 5. So if the original is 100', scaling by 1.05 would work (since 100x1.05 is 105, which is divisible by 5), but if it is 80, 1.05 won't work (since 80x1.05 is 84, which is not divisible by 5[, nor by 1.25])
Perhaps you should be doing a Stretch instead of a Scale?
Thanks much Loopysue and Monsen!
I don't know how I missed that "Resize Drawing Area" command in the File menu all these years... but thanks for pointing it out, lol.
Does it have to be equal X/Y or something? My map started at 1110 x 1110, but Resize didn't want to go to 1150 x 1110 which I tried as an experiment; I typed that in, but it resized BOTH X and Y to 1150.
Re: scaling numbers, that's all I needed, now I can actually use this tool more precisely and not just fumble around guessing at the right number, haha. By using 1/1.05, I was able to downsize it back to where it was originally so I can come at this again with more deliberation. It may not be "exact" as you pointed out, to whatever decimal place, but it's close enough that I can't tell the difference (e.g. I can zoom way in and click "Distance" and the snap goes right to the corner as it did before).
I had this problem myself not that long ago, and it was caused by the lack of a map note.
If you open the map notes
there should be one there called "Resize".
If its not there create a new map note and call it Resize
Ok will bring up an Edit Text box, into which you need to type the command "Stretch".
Ok makes everything vanish, but if you open the map notes again you will see the Resize map note has been added.
Now try resizing your map again.
Aha, that did work.
I noticed that if I increase the size on the X by not Y axis, it increases to the right side only. So I guess the way to use this would be to move everything over however much is needed after doing the resize, if things don't line up?
In this case, since I want to precisely add specific amounts to specific sides, I think Scale might serve me better here? But, I'm glad to know this exists, it could definitely be useful in the future.
What things aren't lining up, Ciel?
EDIT: Sorry - I misunderstood what you were saying.
Yes, that is correct the origin is used as the point from which the map is to be resized, which means that if you want to add more space to the left of the map you need to hide the background, map border and screen and move everything else over to the right once the Resize has been done.
It depends which is easier to use in any one map.
EDIT2: Can I ask which template you are using, so that it can be updated at some point to include the Resize map note?
By "template", do you mean basically the map style? It's the "Abstract Maps" style from the May 2010 annual. Hopefully that's what you mean; if not, let me know!
Thank you, Ciel :)
That is exactly what I needed to know. I should have said 'Style' rather than template.