I'm trying to create a system schematic (audio) but want to present it in a stylised format. I'm therefore trying to show something like a pictorial diagram with speakers, but with the rack and amplifiers in the centre. However, I keep really coming unstuck with scaling as I can't find any racks in pictorial view and when I try to scale from a rack view, the rack seems to snap to the wrong place relative to the amplifiers. Also, the amplifiers will not snap to sit directly on top of each other. Where am I going wrong with this?

It sounds like you want to combine a fully populated rack with some Pictorial symbols to create a 'hybrid' layout.

If this assumption is correct I think the best thing to do would be to complete the rack in the Rack Layout environment, then perhaps save the whole rack as a new symbol (drag it into the Library List under My Libraries), then drag it into the Pictorial Schematic document and scale it there.  Or you could copy it from Rack Layout and paste into the Pictorial Schematic, then Group it prior to scaling.

Note that to scale the rack you will need to check Options | Scale Symbols, and then you should either use Arrange | Scale to set a scale factor, or drag a corner handle with the Shift key held down on your keyboard - this maintains the proportions of objects when you scale dynamically by dragging.

I hoep this is helpful - please let me know if I have misunderstood what you want to achieve.

Kind regards,
Rob Robinson
Stardraw.com

Hi Rob,



Thanks for the reply. Yes, you understood me correctly, and I had come to the same conclusion but was trying to see if there was a simpler way (so that I could configure racks on the fly rather than having to save each pre-configured one as a unique symbol).



One further question - if I "shrink" the rack as you suggested, is there a standard multiplication factor I can use to convert between pictorial and rack symbols?



Regards,

Steve.

Hi Steve,

To scale a rack symbol down to the correct size in pictorials use a scale of 10.36% - this converts 19" to 50mm which is the scaled width of a rackmount product in the Pictorial Schematic environment.

Kind regards,
Rob Robinson
Stardraw.com

Hi Rob,



I did what you suggested, but 50mm is just under 2", which at a scale of 1:20 (as in the pictorial view) corresponds to a width of just under 40". In other words, I think we're out by a factor of 2 using the scale you suggested.



Thoughts / comments?



Steve.

Oops - answered my own question from the help file - it's an aesthetic decision.