Command/setupscale

Summary

The command \setupscale is used to define the general behaviour of \scale.

Settings

\setupscale[...,...][...=...,...]
[...,...]	name
scale	number
xscale	number
yscale	number
width	dimension
height	dimension
depth	yes no
lines	number
factor	fit broad max min auto default
hfactor	fit broad max min auto default
wfactor	fit broad max min auto default
maxwidth	dimension
maxheight	dimension
s	number
sx	number
sy	number
equalwidth	dimension
equalheight	dimension
grid	yes fit height depth halfline

Option Explanation

scale

scaling, affected by "factor"
number	this is expressed in permille units, so 1000 = natural size

xscale

number

this is expressed in permille units, so 1000 = natural size

yscale

number

this is expressed in permille units, so 1000 = natural size

lines

height in lines

factor

the factor settings take the enclosing environment into account, in some way
fit	scale proportionally, fill the area defined with width and height as possible, don’t exceed it but leave space
broad	like "fit", but result is downscaled by 4x bodyfontsize
max	scale proportionally, fill the area defined with width and height as possible, can exceed it
min	like default, meant for images with a similar aspect ratio as the surrounding box; can exceed the size defined with width and height, combine with `\clip`
auto	like "fit"
default	width and height are observed, content may get distorted

hfactor

height factor

wfactor

width factor

maxwidth

maximum width

maxheight

maximum height

s

scale as a simple multiplier, so 1 = natural size

sx

horizontal scale as a simple multiplier, so 1 = natural size

sy

vertical scale as a simple multiplier, so 1 = natural size

Description

Examples

factor=min

With factor=min and clipping to the max size you achieve proportional filling the max area.

% Wolfgang Schuster 2026-02-07

\startbuffer[Example]
\setupexternalfigures[location=default]

\setuppapersize[A4][A4,oversized]
\setuplayout[location=middle]

\showframe

\starttext

\startpagemakeup
\centerbox{\scale[factor=min]{\externalfigure[mill]}}%
\stoppagemakeup

\startpagemakeup
\clip[width=1pw,height=1ph]{\centerbox{\scale[factor=min]{\externalfigure[mill]}}}%
\stoppagemakeup

\stoptext
\stopbuffer

\startTEXpage
\startcombination[2*1]
{\typesetbuffer[Example][page=1,height=7cm,frame=on]}{without clipping}
{\typesetbuffer[Example][page=2,height=7cm,frame=on]}{with clipping}
\stopcombination
\stopTEXpage

Notes

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