Layouts, viewports and scaling. Help please!

[CREATUREOFRABBIT]

Hi everyone,

So, I am a newbie to forums and indeed AutoCAD! I have taken over a job from someone recently and feel I need to make sure I understand a few things before I continue!

I have been producing drawings of bespoke gardens and furniture. When I worked for a previous company, we would simply issue the drawings as created in model space. With a small title block inserted into it.

In my new role, I need to "insert" a viewport frame into my model space and scale it up to whatever scale I need I.E. 1:200, 1:100, 1:50. Then I open design centre, navigate to the appropriate layouts, and chose from some pre designed sheets I.E. A0, A1, A2 etc

Then, in paperspace, I double click in the viewport and zoom, window. Pick the window that surrounds my drawing and it fills the viewport that Im looking at in paper space. Then I lock the viewport so that It cant be inadvertently changed.

 

As I dont have a plotter, how can I check that my scales are correct? Im confussed by scaling and tend to get myself in a bit of a twist over the subject. 

I understand that we are drawing in 1:1 in model space... thats about it!

Is model space in metres and paper space in millimetres?

What is Custom, Annotation, and Standard scale? Can anyone explain this to me simply?!

 

If I provided a couple of layouts with the viewport in, would somebody mind checking them for me?

I just need to know whether what I'm doing is correct, in terms of I state on the title block what the scale is but I'm not sure that this is correct given what the custom scale/standard scale says.

 

Thank you very much.

[BIGAL]

Ok 1st thing put your title block in the layout not model, make it 1:1 your metric so that would be in mm ie A3 is 420x297.

 

In your case go to a layour or if you type layout new will do just that. Then insert your correct size title block.

 

Using Mview make a window inside your title block, double click to go inside, zoom e, zoom to what looks right scale around your objects etc.

 

Ok a couple of ways God bless metric. You can type numberXP eg 4xp for  meter  objects 4xp is 1:250  this is 1000/4 very simple to work out.

 

Now a better way make sure you have the "Viewports" toolbar on, when you go into the mspace a number will appear in the box this is the mview scale so if it said like 4.0234 you can enter 4.0 and it makes the scale exact = 1:250. You can check using the pull down scales in this toolbar. -toolbar viewports show.

 

 

Edited July 28, 2020 by BIGAL

[Dadgad]

Welcome to CADTutor CREATUREOFRABBIT  

 

Hallelujah, @BIGAL has already jumped in to help you out!  

You are in good hands, he'll get you back on the tracks and moving in the right direction, with a good head of steam, and I can get back to my paying work!  

There is a very good old post by @ReMark which addresses the numerous issues involed in the use of paperspace viewports.

I'll try to dig  up a link for you, and come back and post it if I find it.

 

I just spent WAY too long lookin for that thread, but failed.

Hopefully @ReMark will see this and be able to supply that link.

I tried looking in the Tips & Tricks forum too, where I feel it should be pinned near the top, as for those

just starting to deal with viewports it is very helpful.  

 

Edited July 29, 2020 by Dadgad

[ReMark]

Dadgad:  Is this what you were attempting to find?

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The following information is about Layout Viewports also known as "floating" viewports which are different than Model Viewports also known as "tiled" viewports.

 

Viewports are windows created in a paper space layout that allow the user to see the objects that were created back in model space.

 

Viewports can be created using the MVIEW command.

 

Viewports can be resized with their grips.

 

Viewports can be moved, copied, rotated (see VPROTATEASSOC below), aligned and even deleted.

 

Viewports are assigned a scale not the objects back in model space. Objects in model space should be drawn at FULL size.

 

Each viewport can be assigned its own scale. Therefore it is possible to have six viewports and each can have a different scale.

 

Double click inside a viewport to access model space. Double click outside a viewport to return to paper space. (Thanks Dadgad)

 

It's a good idea to put viewports on their own layer and set the layer to "no print" in the Layer Properties Manager.

 

Once you have your viewport set up the way you want it is a good idea to have the display locked. This can be done in a couple of different ways. One way is to do it via the Properties palette. The other way is to highlight the viewport frame then right click and change "Display locked" from "No" to "Yes". Doing this will prevent accidentally changing the viewport scale when moving between paper space and model space.

 

Question: How does one pan in a locked viewport? Answer: You can grip edit the viewport effectively panning without unlocking it. (Thanks RobDraw)

 

It is possible to freeze layers in individual viewports via the Layer Properties Manager and the VP Freeze column.

 

Cycle between viewports by pressing Ctrl+R repeatedly until you reach the viewport you want.

 

Viewports do not necessarily have to be rectangular; they can be odd shaped (polygonal) or even circular. Do this via the MVIEW command. Use either the Object or Polygonal option.

 

The number of active viewports in a paperspace layout is controlled by the system variable MAXACTVP (maximum active viewports). The default setting is 16. The maximum value is 64.

 

Viewports are ideally suited to displaying multiple views of 3D objects.

 

Viewports can have their own visual style independent of not only each other but of model space too.

 

Viewport controls were introduced in AutoCAD 2012 and appear in the upper left-hand corner of a viewport. This feature makes it easy to change the view or the visual style of an individual viewport. (Thanks Dadgad)

Viewport Controls can be enabled/disabled via the system variable VPCONTROL at the command line.

 

Viewport scale can be assigned/changed via the Viewports Toolbar, Properties palette, Quick Properties or by way of the scale list that appears in lower right-hand corner of one's screen on the Taskbar after clicking on the viewport frame. This link contains images of these options.

 

http://www.cadtutor.net/forum/showth...ight=viewports

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From AutoCAD Help:

VPROTATEASSOC

Controls whether the view within a viewport is rotated with the viewport when the viewport is rotated.

0 When a viewport is rotated, the view inside is not rotated.
1 When a viewport is rotated, the view inside is rotated to match the rotation of the viewport.

Note: After rotating a viewport, VPROTATEASSOC is set to 0 for a new viewport created in the same layout. 

[Dadgad]

@ReMark Thanks for doing that.  This is the one I was looking for and I was searching for "Tiled Viewports" because I remembered that was what you called them.

This will certainly provide a real good starting point for dealing with and using paperspace viewports wisely.  

Edited July 29, 2020 by Dadgad
correction this IS the one I was after

[ReMark]

I can only assume that for some reason the thread just did not make the cut.  I found the above via a Google search.

[Dadgad]

That's a good tip, thanks,  ReMark, I was searching on the forum, which I never do, for a while, never occured to me to use Google!        

 

Which I use ALL THE TIME!   

[CREATUREOFRABBIT]

Guys, I really appreciate all your help. I'm actually on holiday now and thought I'd quickly pop in to let you know. When I get back, I'll be using your guides and hopefully get somewhere! Be in touch soon. Thanks again

[ReMark]

You're entirely welcomed.