4K monitor and larger icons in Drawing Explorer

John TeSelle
John TeSelle
in 2D Drafting

I recently changed to a 4K monitor, which is working well. I changed toolbar icons to Large and so the typical toolbars look fine. In the Drawing Explorer dialog box, however, the icons are tiny and I can't find a way to make them larger. Is there any way?

Comments

  • Joe Dunfee
    Joe Dunfee

    I don't have an answer for you. But I have been eyeing those 4k displays, and longing to get one. However, I keep seeing postings like yours, and that makes me hold off, thinking that they will only get cheaper with time, so holding off for better software support is not a bad thing.

    What sort of computer hardware do you have driving it? What is the model and size of the monitor?

    Please keep us updated with not only software issues, but also more general talk about how it may be helping your work.

    Thanks,
    -Joe

  • Owen Wengerd
    Owen Wengerd

    Hi John, if you are using V18.09, try this:

    1. Open Windows Explorer and browse to the BricsCAD application folder (e.g. "%ProgramFiles%\Bricsys\BricsCAD V18 en_US")
    2. Right-click on bricscad.exe, select Properties; open the Compatibility tab
    3. Check 'Override high DPI scaling behavior' and choose 'System'
  • John TeSelle
    John TeSelle

    The monitor I got is this one:
    https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1368321-REG/lg_27ud60_b_27ud60b_27_4k_uhd.html
    Not very expensive, and looks nice. No adjustability on the base, though. For me that doesn't matter as I have a custom wood base I built to hold the monitor low to the desk and tilt it up some.

    System specs:
    Intel Core i7 950 @ 3.40GHz
    12MB RAM
    GeForce GTX 1050 video card
    Windows 10

    The base system I purchased back in 2011 and have since upgraded the video card to handle the 4K monitor.

    Windows 10 has helped some with display resolution issues (I had Windows 7 before). There are a couple of applications that have extra small icons, mostly in dialog boxes. Usually the main icons in the application can be scaled fine by specifying "use large icons" or something. Really I have gotten used to it now and it is not really an issue.

    I would recommend the 4K monitor. A bit of adjustment is necessary and once in a while there is a tiny icon to deal with, but the increased amount of information that can be viewed is a help. On something like Bricscad it means you can read text or see detailed linework in a more zoomed-out view and can see more of an entire drawing. So less zooming in and out is required which should save time.

  • Richard Sands
    Richard Sands

    John that video card is advertised as a gaming card.
    I understood (not from any experience or expertise) those type of cards are not suited to Cad work.
    How do you find it?

    I know it's often an area for blame when one experiences issues with survey related cad issues.

    I've a 4k monitor for casual use on my HP Spectre X360 i7, and was a bit put off by those tiny icons until this post.
    I'll give it a try. Thanks for weighing in here.
    Mine isn't a high end one, Samsung, not sure of model.

  • John TeSelle
    John TeSelle

    No issues at all for me with this video card. I use it for Bricscad and for SketchUp also. Not really sure what the difference is between gaming and CAD cards -- probably some performance difference at the extremes for either type of application, but the gaming cards are generally less expensive I think and I don't do any extreme CAD (whatever that would be). Don't do any gaming either for that matter!

  • Michael Mayer
    Michael Mayer

    Beside a few CAD or 3D Apps (Autodesk, Catia and such ?),
    most Apps do not use any features of the advanced driver options that
    are part of the higher price points. Hardware is the same.
    So many Software Companies recommend that standard gaming GPUs
    are perfectly suitable and sufficient for their CAD and OpenGL usage.

    The Pro Cards aren't useless in any case, as they are often the only option
    if you want or need more VRAM. And you could hope that Pro drivers focus
    more on stability vs the last FPS.

  • John TeSelle
    John TeSelle

    Just in case anyone from Bricsys is reading this -- one application that handles this stuff well is CorelDraw. I just upgraded to the latest version of that software and they have a slider that allows you to increase the size of UI elements in the application as needed. Good for hi-res monitors 4K and above and more adjustable than just choosing "large icons" for the toolbars.

  • Tom Foster
    Tom Foster

    Brilliant!

This discussion has been closed.