Learn how to create and configure a new layout in AutoCAD, inserting and attaching various files and blocks, and locking the viewport. This article walks you through the process of creating a complex sheet layout, including the insertion of a title block, drawing title, and viewport that is scaled and positioned correctly.
Key Insights
- The article details how to create a new layout in AutoCAD, starting with a standard 8.5x11 sheet and modifying it to a custom size of 22x34. This involves renaming the layout, adjusting the page setup manager, and choosing the correct drawing size and plotting pen table.
- Specific blocks are then inserted into the layout, including a title block and drawing title. Each block is inserted at specific points and scales, and attributes within the blocks are filled with appropriate values. For example, the drawing title block includes a label, name, and scale that are all populated with relevant information.
- Finally, a viewport is created within the layout. The article emphasizes the need to correctly position and scale the viewport, and importantly, to lock it to prevent unintentional zooming or panning. This ensures that the entire layout remains consistent and accurate.
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We've been making some terrific progress on our model itself, and now it's time to create a sheet. So let's all go File, New. And let's use our template.
And let's save the file on the CAD301 folder with the name VDCIA201. And I will overwrite the file. As is typical, the first thing we want to do is to bring our model file into the model space environment.
So I will go to the Insert tab, and I will go Reference Attach. I will select my CAD301 plan model file. I'm going to pop it in at 0,0, a scale factor of 1, and as an attachment, xref.
Zoom extents, zoom real time, and save the file. But let's now look at the tabs at the bottom of the page. You can see that we have our 8.5x11 and our 11x17 tab.
The sheet that we're going to be creating will be a 22x34. So I'm going to go on top of the tab, do a right button, and create a new layout. You can see it's created Layout 1 over here.
I'll click on that. And again, this is just a standard layout that's put in by AutoCAD. It's an 8.5x11 sheet with a viewport.
So I'm going to begin by selecting on the viewport and deleting it. Now what we need to do is we need to rename our layout and then configure our layout. I'm going to do a right button.
I'm going to choose Rename, and I will type in VDCI-22x34. Enter. Now I've renamed it.
I need to resize it. I'll go to the Layout tab, do a right button, and I will do Page Setup Manager. You can see it's selected the 22x34, and I'm going to choose Modify.
DWG to PDF, that's perfect because we typically send PDF drawings out to other people. I want to change my size, though, to be an ANSI D Expanded 34x22. And again, the difference between ANSI D Expanded size and a standard ANSI D, which are the American National Standards, is that ANSI D Expanded size has a smaller margin.
So I'm choosing DWG to PDF, ANSI D Expanded. Selecting the layout is fine. A scale factor of 1 is fine. I'm going to go on and choose VDCI as my standard plotting pen table.
You can see the orientation is landscape, and I will go OK. Now I'm going to close this interface and save the file. You can see that we have our layout environment.
You know that we have our model space environment. Right now, there's no way that we can configure viewports. We need to configure our viewports by bringing in the components that we're going to need.
Again, we are in our VDCI A201 drawing file, so the first thing I'm going to do is to bring in the title block. I will go Reference Attach, and I'm in the CAD301 folder. I'm going to slide down and choose my VDCI title block file.
I will say Open, and again, I look at the interface. I make sure it's an attachment placed at 0,0, a scale factor of 1. I go OK. Now again, you look at the crop marks.
You can see we have perfect alignment at all of the corners, Control S to save. So I've brought in the title block, and again, when I brought it in, I was on layer 0. The next thing I want to do is to bring in my TBTX file. Again, the title block is referenced in.
The title block contains the information that is standard across all of the sheets in the project. So the TBTX file will be inserted because it's going to be a block that contains the attributes, and the attributes hold consistently placed information that will have different variables and values depending upon the sheet. So I'm going to go to the Insert tab, Block Insert.
I will go to Browse. I'm in my CAD301 folder. I'm going to slide down and choose my VDCI TBTX 22x34.
You can see the preview. I'm going to go Open. I'm going to deselect Specify Insertion Point on Screen because, again, if you remember, when we created the TBTX file, we used the title block for positional referencing.
So since we brought the title block in at 0,0, we will also bring the TBTX file in at 0,0. So I'm going to say pop it in at 0,0, a scale factor of 1. I will go OK, and now I will go on and enter the values, and it was drawn by you, and you can either type you or your own name. It was checked by the boss.
The scale will be as noted because we're going to end up showing the scale down here on the drawing title bar, and the sheet number will be A2.1. So even though we're calling the file A201, typically we show A2.1, and I will go OK. So you can see I now have that information down here. The next thing I'd like to do is to bring in our drawing title, which, again, is a block.
So I will go to Block Insert. I'm going to go to Browse. I will slide my bar down, and I will choose VDCI Drawing Title 1. Now, again, I'm going to bring this in with a base point other than 0,0, because if you remember, we had the bottom-left corner of the VDCI drawing title at the bottom-left corner, so we can populate that information in multiple locations along the left side of the title block.
So VDCI Drawing Title 1, specify on screen. I'm going to go OK. It's asking me where I'd like to place it.
I will say place it at the end of the bottom-left corner, and, again, because I selected base insertion point on screen, I need to now look at the prompt to complete the values. The drawing label will be drawing label number 1. The drawing name will be Floor Plan. And the scale, 1 quarter inch equals 1 foot dash 0 inches.
Now, please look up here, because this is the standard way of annotating scales, where we show the fractional, 1 quarter inch space equals space 1 foot dash 0 inches. And I will go OK. And everything's locked in, and I will say Control S to save.
We're now getting ready to create the viewport opening. So I'm going to first go up to the Home tab, and I will let my current layer be the A-NO-PLOT layer, and I want to create a viewport. So, for some reason, the current version of AutoCAD is not including viewport creation under the View ribbon whenever you do not have an existing viewport.
We're going to have to go up to View, and we will go down to viewports, and instead we will create one viewport. This is the way we have to do it. So View, Viewports, One Viewport.
I read the prompt. It says Fit, and I will show it where I would like it to fit. I would like it to fit from the end of the top left of the drawing title to the end of the top right of the potential viewport area.
Now, if you look inside, you can see that we have our viewport. You can see that what the program has done is it's created the viewport, it's taken the image that was in model space, and it's done a zoom extents. But if you look in this area, you will see that there's a space between the viewport and the zoom extents.
Now, what I'd like to also do is to double click to go into model space. If you look down here, you can see that the scale factor is not a quarter inch equals a foot because when the program does a zoom extents, it actually zooms extents and then zooms out by 4%, so a zoom extents is not a true zoom extents. It's zoom extents and then zooms out by 4%.
So again, you can see that I'm in the viewport. You can see that the viewport border is highlighted. If I roll my wheel towards me, you can see that I'm able to zoom.
So what I'd now like to do is actually go on and do a zoom window around the no-plot view. I will now go to the View tab. I will go to the zoom.
They're calling it the navigate extents area. I'm going to slide down and choose window. And my corner will be the end of the outer side of the no-plot to the end of the bottom right.
So I've gotten my scale. If you look down here, you can see that it says a quarter inch. But I think we all know that if I were to roll my wheel, that in fact I've now messed up my scale.
So I'm going to go U, Enter for undo. So what I want to do is to lock the viewport. And we have a couple of ways we can do it.
We can either go back into paper space and use selection cycling, select the viewport and lock the viewport. Or just to the left of where it says scale is a little lock icon where I can lock the viewport. So you can see now that I've locked the viewport.
And I can go back to paper space and zoom extents again. We've now created our A2.1 sheet file. We're going to come back a little bit later on and start putting our keynotes in over here.
But what I'd like to do next is for us to start working on some multi-scale drawings, where we will end up creating a new sheet that will have an enlarged plan of the kitchen and laundry area, an enlarged plan of the guest bathroom, an enlarged plan of the Jack and Jill bathroom, and also an enlarged plan of the fireplace area. So practice this.
I hope you're having a good time. And I will talk to you soon.