Understanding the Scale Pointer in Eez Studio
A scale pointer in Eez Studio is essentially a custom symbol or annotation that lets you display a reference scale directly on your schematic or layout canvas. It is not a built-in tool that pops out of the toolbox, which means you have to create it yourself. This is typical for Eez Studio. The program is lightweight and modular by design. You build what you need. The scale pointer serves one purpose. It gives anyone looking at your drawing a quick visual reference for distance and proportion. You might need it when sharing schematics with collaborators who work in different units. Or you might need it when exporting to PDF and posting diagrams online. Either way, the process is straightforward once you know where the tools live.
How To Draw A Scale Pointer In Eez Studio
Start by opening Eez Studio and loading the project where you want the scale pointer. Go to the library section on the left side of the interface. If you do not have a personal symbol library set up yet, right-click anywhere in the library tree and select New Library. Give it a name like Custom Symbols. Then right-click inside that library and choose New Symbol. The symbol editor will open. This is where you actually draw the pointer. Use the line tool to create a straight horizontal line. Set the line length to whatever represents one unit on your scale. A common choice is 10mm on screen equaling 1 meter in real measurements, but choose what works for your drawing. Label one end with a small rectangle and the other with text that reads the scale value. Place tick marks at regular intervals along the line. Click the text tool and type something like "1 m" near the far end. Here is a practical detail most beginners miss. Eez Studio uses grid snapping by default, and the grid spacing might not match your intended scale. If your grid is set to 5mm increments but you want 1mm ticks, go to View > Grid Settings and change the spacing. Alternatively, temporarily disable snapping while drawing the pointer, then re-enable it afterward. I ran into this exact issue when I was building a scale reference for a power distribution schematic. The grid kept snapping my fine tick marks into ugly positions. I turned off snapping, drew everything freehand, and then manually aligned the whole symbol using the arrow keys with pixel-level movement. It took about two minutes to fix.
Once the drawing is complete, close the symbol editor and save the symbol. It will now appear in your library. Drag it onto the canvas wherever you need it. You can resize it by selecting the symbol and dragging a corner handle, but be aware that resizing a scale pointer after placement will distort the proportions. It is better to draw it to the correct size from the start and just move it around as needed. If you need multiple scale pointers with different ratios, repeat the process and create separate symbols for each one. I typically keep three versions in my library: 1:100, 1:50, and 1:10. That covers almost every diagram I export. You can organize them in subfolders within your custom library to keep things tidy.
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Common Pitfalls and Practical Advice
The biggest problem people encounter is unit confusion. Eez Studio does not enforce a single unit system across all elements. The grid might be in millimeters while your symbol editor uses arbitrary units. Check your settings under File > Preferences > Units before you start drawing. Mismatched units produce scale pointers that look correct on screen but print at the wrong size. Another issue is exporting. When you export your schematic to PDF, the scale pointer may not maintain its intended proportions depending on your export settings. Always do a test export and measure the pointer against the printed page using a physical ruler. If the numbers do not match, adjust the symbol size inside Eez Studio and export again. I learned this the hard way on a project where I sent schematics to a client in Europe. They measured the printed PDF and the scale was off by roughly 15 percent. The problem was that my printer was scaling the document to fit the page rather than printing at 100 percent. I switched the export setting to "Actual Size" and the issue disappeared. There is a limitation you should be aware of. Eez Studio does not support dynamic scale pointers. The pointer is a static drawing element. If you zoom in or out on the canvas, the pointer grows or shrinks with the view. It does not automatically adjust to maintain a constant printed size. This is not a bug. It is simply how the software works. If you need true dynamic scaling, you would have to use a different tool like KiCad or a dedicated CAD program. For most schematic work though, the static approach is sufficient.
Consider creating a master symbol that you reuse across all projects instead of rebuilding the pointer each time. Copy the symbol file between projects or store it in a global library directory. This saves maybe ten minutes per project and prevents small inconsistencies from creeping into your documentation over time.
Exporting and Sharing Your Diagrams
When you are finished placing the scale pointer and cleaning up your schematic, export the file through File > Export. Choose PDF for sharing with other engineers or image formats like PNG if you need to embed the diagram in a presentation. Double-check the exported version to make sure the scale pointer is visible and legible. Sometimes small labels get clipped during export if they sit too close to the canvas edge. I usually add a small margin around the entire drawing before exporting. This prevents any elements from being cut off. In Eez Studio you can check the canvas bounds under View > Show Canvas Bounds and adjust accordingly. It is a minor step that avoids a lot of rework later. The whole process from opening a blank project to placing a working scale pointer takes roughly five to eight minutes if you already have a symbol library set up. First time users might take fifteen to twenty minutes while they get accustomed to the symbol editor. The learning curve is shallow. The main investment is building your personal library of reusable symbols over time.
If you run into trouble with the symbol editor or cannot find a specific tool, the Eez Studio community forum and GitHub repository have active discussions. Users share custom libraries regularly. You might find someone has already created a scale pointer symbol you can download and modify rather than building one from scratch. That covers the essential workflow. Draw the symbol, place it, verify the export, and reuse it across projects. Nothing more complicated than that.
