What presets are for
ZeroCount ships with a fixed list of scale presets covering the ratios you'll find on 95% of construction drawings. Pick one from the scale dropdown and the drawing is ready to measure.
If your drawing's scale isn't in the list, use Custom — see Calibrating a drawing.
Metric presets
In order from broadest view to most detailed:
| Label | What it means |
|---|---|
1 : 200 | 1 mm on page = 200 mm on site (1 cm = 2 m). Site plans, master plans. |
1 : 150 | Block plans, large floor plans. |
1 : 100 | Standard floor plan / RCP. Most common for layouts. |
1 : 75 | Less common; sometimes used for working sections. |
1 : 50 | Detailed plans, room layouts, lighting layouts. |
1 : 25 | Detail drawings — boxing, ducts, brackets. |
1 : 1 | Full size / details. Rarely seen on layouts. |
None | No scale — Linear and Area markers report raw drawing units, not metres. |
Custom at the bottom opens the Custom Scale dialog for non-standard ratios or calibration.
Most UK electrical and mechanical layouts come at 1:50 or 1:100. If you don't know which, 1:100 is the safer guess for any drawing labelled "general arrangement", "floor plan", or "RCP".
Architectural presets
The architectural list is longer because imperial scales are denser. The presets are listed roughly small to large detail:
| Label | What it means |
|---|---|
3' = 1' | 3 feet on page represents 1 foot. Detail drawings. |
1' 6" = 1' | 1 ft 6 in = 1 ft. |
1' = 1' | Full size. |
6" = 1' | Quarter scale. |
1-1/2" = 1' | 1.5 in to 1 ft — fine details. |
1" = 1' | One inch = one foot — common detail scale. |
3/4" = 1' | Three-quarters scale. |
1/2" = 1' | Half scale. |
3/8" = 1' | Common for layouts. |
1/4" = 1' | Standard floor plan scale. |
3/16" = 1' | |
1/8" = 1' | Common for larger floor plans. |
3/32" = 1' | |
1/16" = 1' | Site plans. |
1/32" = 1' | Large site plans. |
1/64" = 1' | Very large overview drawings. |
1/128" = 1' | Largest preset — overview only. |
Plus None and Custom as before.
US architectural standards:
- Floor plans: usually
1/4" = 1'or1/8" = 1'. - RCPs:
1/8" = 1'. - Site plans:
1/16" = 1'or1/32" = 1'. - Details:
1" = 1'or1-1/2" = 1'.
Picking a preset
The scale should already be labelled on the drawing — look in the title block. If it says "1:50" or "1/4" = 1' 0"", pick the matching preset.
If it's not labelled:
- Find a known dimension (a door width, a column spacing).
- Calibrate — see Calibrating a drawing.
If you've picked the wrong preset, the easiest sanity check is to draw a short Linear marker across something with a known length (e.g. a 0.9 m door). If the marker reports a wildly different value, the preset is wrong.
Project-wide scale
There's no project-level scale — each drawing has its own. If every drawing in the project comes at the same scale, you'll need to set it on each one. Habit-forming pattern: set the scale before drawing any Linear or Area markers, so you don't have to re-trigger the "recalculate?" dialog.