How To Convert The Unit From Cm To Mm In AutoCad?

When designing a CAD drawing, it is usually easier to work with a unit you are familiar with. For some, this is the inch, foot, yard or mile. For others, it might be the mm (millimeter), cm (centimeter) or m (meter). Regardless of your choice of unit systems, AutoCad has the ability to change between these depending on the project needs. In this tutorial, you will learn how to convert cm to mm in AutoCad by changing the units.

In AutoCAD, by default, it is set to millimeter (mm). The length of the line drawn in the current drawing using the command line is displayed in both mm and cm. You can easily convert any measurement from one unit to another by converting all measurements to a common unit such as mm. In this short tutorial, let us see how to convert from one unit to other in AutoCad

While the Americans kept using the imperial system, the rest of the world shifted mainly to the metric system, including Britain, where the Imperial System originated.

AutoCad's maker is Autodesk Inc., an American company, so it's not a surprise that the default unit is inches. Still, the software is flexible, so anyone with basic knowledge of AutoCad can set their desired unit of measurement.

Assuming that the existing drawings are in imperial (inches) and need to be converted to millimeters, below are ways to accomplish that.

This article will cover the two basic methods of changing the unit of measures in AutoCad. Although the original question is how to convert from Centimeters (Cm) to Millimeter (Mm), these methods will focus on converting from imperial to metric units.

Converting Units from Imperial to Metric

There are two ways to do so, both of which will be detailed below.

Using -DWGUNITS in the Command Prompt

Open a sample drawing in imperial, then in the command input, write -DWGUNITS (Do not forget the hyphen or minus sign). As you hit enter, the drawing units will be displayed with their corresponding assigned numbers.

In this particular case, choose number 3 for Millimeter. On the following prompts, input the values below:

• Linear display format <2>
• Linear display precision <4>

Moreover, other Prompts can be skipped by pressing enter. However, be sure to answer on the following lines, like so:

•  For the option "Scale objects from other drawings upon insert," choose.
• For the "Match INSUNITS to drawing units" option, select.
• For the "Scale objects in current drawing to reflect the change in units" prompt, also choose.
• For the "Include objects in Paper Space" option, select.

Once you complete these steps, your drawing unit is now in millimeters. To verify, check the distance between any given two points in the sample drawing. It should be showing millimeters instead of inches.

Use the SCALE command.

This is an effortless and straightforward way of switching from imperial to the metric system. If you draw a project using inches, you can convert it to millimeters using the SCALE command.

• At the command line, write SCALE and hit enter.
• At the Select objects prompt, write All, then hit enter.
• The base point should be 0,0
• Then you'll be prompted to provide the SCALE FACTOR of millimeters which is 25.4

You can use the same method for other units and enter the corresponding scale factors provided below:

Millimeters (Mm) to Inches (In.) = 0.0393701

Inches (In.) to Centimeters = 2.54

Centimeters to Inches = 0.393701

Feet (Ft.) to Millimeters (Mm) = 304.8

Millimeters (Mm) to Feet (Ft.) = 0.00328084

Feet (Ft.) to Centimeters (Cm) = 30.48

Centimeters(Cm) to Feet (Ft.) = 0.0328084

Things to remember

• The origin and drawing location will remain the same, and so is the scaling relative to the World Coordinate System (WCS).
• For this method, just make sure to adjust the dimension text and the arrowhead's height as needed. Also, the layout viewports may require resizing or may need to be moved.

The drawing unit in your AutoCad should be millimeters right now, which is the most accurate among the unit measures mentioned in this article.

Summary: Convert the unit from cm to mm in AutoCad

• Open the AutoCad file for which you want to convert units.
• Select the "Model" tab if you are using a single document interface (SDI) version of AutoCAD, or select the "Layout" tab in an MDI version of AutoCAD.
• Type "units" into the command line and press "Enter."
• Click the "Length" unit type and then click the drop-down menu to view available units.
• Select "Millimeters" as the length unit.
• Type "OK" and press "Enter."

Conclusion

To convert your unit of measurement from cm to mm, you first need to convert the default units from imperial to metric. After this, it would be easy enough to convert it from cm to mm once everything is in metric. Hopefully, you were able to do so by following the steps mentioned above.