Paper Space and Layouts

Paper Space and Layouts

A layout is a sheet. It has a paper size, an orientation, its own geometry drawn in paper inches, and viewports — windows onto model space at a chosen scale.

A paper layout. Note what changed: the ribbon has collapsed to the contextual Layout section (Rect VP, Poly VP — greyed out — Plot, Batch), the status bar reads PAPER, and Layout1 is the active tab beside Model.

Spaces

Switching

Managing layouts

Right-click a layout tab:

Page Setup Manager

The per-layout sheet and plot settings.

Current layout: and Current page setup: are shown at the top.

Page setups

A named collection of settings. New…, Modify…, Set Current, and Import… (which reports "Import page setups from another drawing — coming in a later update.").

Creating one asks for a New page setup name and a Start with: template — <None>, <Previous plot>, <Default output device>, or an existing setup.

Display when creating a new layout controls whether this dialog opens automatically for new layouts; the same option is in Settings → Display → Show Page Setup Manager for new layouts.

Printer / plotter

Plotter:  PDF (vector) — built in        Where:  File
Device name:   GoSurvey PDF (DWG To PDF)

There is one output device: the built-in vector PDF writer. GoSurvey does not print to a Windows printer.

Plotter selection / PDF options arrive with PDF plotting (a later update).

Paper size

Drawing orientation — Portrait or Landscape. The presets are portrait sizes; orientation is applied per layout.

The dialog reports the result: Plot size: 17.00 x 11.00 inches (ANSI B (11" x 17")).

Plot area, scale, and offset

Plot styles / options apply once PDF plotting lands (a later update). Some of these controls are recorded but not yet acted on by the PDF writer.

Viewports

A viewport is a rectangular window on the sheet showing model space at a fixed scale.

Creating one

Ribbon (Layout): Rect VP Command: MVIEW, RECTVIEWPORT, RECTVP

Two clicks define the rectangle.

Poly VP — polygonal viewports — is on the ribbon but disabled: "Polygonal viewport — coming in a later increment."

The Viewports window

Right-click a layout tab ▸ Viewports…, or the Viewports button.

If you are in model space it says Switch to a paper layout to manage its viewports.

Per viewport:

+ Add viewport and Delete viewport manage the list.

Editing the model through a viewport

Double-click inside a viewport to enter floating model space. The status bar shows FLOAT, and the normal model ribbon returns so the draw and modify tools are available. Click FLOAT or press Esc to leave.

VPLOCK

The status-bar VPLOCK button decides what pan and zoom do while a viewport is being edited in place:

Turn VPLOCK on once a viewport is framed and scaled the way you want it. It is the difference between nudging the sheet and silently rescaling a finished view.

Per-viewport layers

A layer can be frozen or recoloured in one viewport only:

• Layer Manager → VP Freeze and VP Color columns act on the current viewport.
• VPFREEZE / VPF and VPTHAW / VPT freeze and thaw the picked entities' layers in the current viewport.

See Layers.

Drawing on the sheet

In paper space, draw and modify commands act on paper geometry measured in paper inches. This is where a border, a titleblock, and sheet notes belong.

• The clipboard moves objects between model and paper space at 1:1 raw coordinates — copy in model space, switch to the layout, and Paste. See Modify Tools.
• Selecting, grips, hover highlighting, and the Properties panel all work on paper objects.
• DELETE in paper space requires a selection first — DELETE — select paper object(s) or viewport(s) first.
• ROTATE likewise — ROTATE — select paper object(s) first.
• ORBIT refuses — a sheet is 2D.

Plotting a layout

Layout ribbon → Plot (single layout) or Batch (several into one PDF). See Plotting.

Common problems

Related

Plotting · Layers · Views and Navigation · Modify Tools · Annotation