Paper space

In model space you draw 1:1 in millimetres. A sheet (called “layout” in the program) is an area in paper millimetres — A4 to A0, landscape or portrait — carrying viewports that each show a section of the model at its own scale A:B. On top of that the sheet holds the frame, the title block, texts and dimensions at paper size. A sheet always prints 1:1; the scale sits in the viewports.

This page describes how things fit together. Step by step: create a sheet, set up viewports, insert a title block. Commands: New layout, Page setup, Viewport, Frame and title block. Printing from a sheet: Printing.

Switching between model and sheet#

The tabs on the left of the status bar switch spaces: “Model”, then one tab per sheet, and finally “+” for a new sheet. The active tab is blue. When switching, the program remembers view (zoom and position) per space, clears the selection, cancels a running tool and returns to “Select”. Field by field: Sheet tabs.

left half

right half

The tabs are the one area with no palette command: neither the ribbon nor the classic bar nor the command search offers a “new layout” entry — “+” is the only way.

Creating, setting up, renaming and deleting sheets#

• Create with “+”: the new sheet is named “Layout n”, is A4 landscape with a 10 mm margin and already contains one viewport 15 mm inside the sheet edges whose scale takes in the whole model (New layout).
• Set up by right-clicking the tab: format A4–A0, orientation “Landscape”/“Portrait”, one margin for all four sides (Page setup). The margin is the print margin — the frame drawn by “Insert frame + title block” sits on it.
• Rename by double-clicking the tab (prompt “Layout name:”). The name appears in the tab, in the title block (field “Title”), in the file name of sheet exports and in the footer of the printout.
• Delete in the “Page setup” dialog with “Delete layout” — after a confirmation and without undo; an open sheet is left for model space first.

Sheets are saved with the drawing and restored when it is opened; “New drawing” removes them. When importing a drawing the status bar reports the sheets taken over (“· n sheet(s) imported”).

Viewports#

A viewport is a rectangle on the sheet you look through into the model. It has position and size in paper mm, a model point as the centre of its view, and the scale A:B (1 paper mm = B/A model mm). The scale label always sits at the bottom left of the viewport, with 🔒 when it is locked. A sheet can carry any number of viewports — at different scales, too.

Three states#

A double-click inside a viewport activates it; the program reports “Model through the window: drag pans the view, mouse wheel changes the scale — double-click outside to finish”. As long as no viewport is active, the wheel and the middle button zoom and pan the sheet.

Menu and dialog#

A right-click over a viewport shows the “Viewport” section: Edit (view + scale), Fit to contents, Viewport settings…, Move, Resize (corner grips), Lock/Unlock, Copy, Delete (Viewport menu). On the empty sheet the same menu offers “Draw new viewport” and “Insert frame + title block”.

The “Viewport” dialog (viewport settings) sets the scale as a pair of numbers, locks the viewport, switches the printed frame with its scale note, the line type patterns and the filters (“Viewport” dialog).

Layers and object types per viewport#

Each viewport can hide layers for itself alone (“Layers in this viewport”) and leave out whole object types from the model: dimensions, notes, hatches, images, text, leaders. Globally hidden layers stay hidden everywhere; constraints never appear in viewports. Both filters apply equally to screen, print and sheet DXF.

Locking, copying, deleting#

A locked viewport keeps its position, size and view: Edit, Move and Resize are missing from the menu, and a double-click reports “Viewport is locked — right-click opens its settings”. Copy creates a copy offset by 10 mm — with scale, view and filters. Delete removes the viewport together with its through-hatches and through-dimensions; Undo brings it back.

Scale#

When a viewport is created (new sheet, drawn viewport, “Fit to contents”) the program picks the next standard scale 1:B from 1, 2, 2.5, 5, 10, 20, 25, 50, 100, 200, 250, 500, 1000 that takes in the whole model; with an empty model, 1:1. In the dialog you enter A and B freely (2:1 for enlargements as well); the mouse wheel in an active viewport changes B continuously.

If the drawing carries special line types (barrier layer, ventilation grid, structural bonding), the program asks once after every scale you set: “Viewport scale 1:n: set the model reference scale for line type patterns to 1:n as well? …” — with OK the model shows the same patterns as the viewport (reference scale). Free zooming with the wheel never asks. The switch “Line type patterns as in the model” makes a single viewport follow the model instead.

Frame and title block#

“Insert frame + title block” (right-click on the sheet or the “Page setup” dialog) draws the drawing frame on the print margin and a title block modelled on ISO 7200 at the bottom right — as ordinary elements (rectangles, lines, texts) you can change with any tool. Title, scale and date are pre-filled (Frame and title block).

left half

right half

Drawing, dimensioning and hatching on the sheet#

On a sheet all tools work as they do in the model — in paper mm. Snapping reaches through the viewports to model points (not in the “Select” tool, so that viewport handling stays free). Three special cases follow from this:

• Dimensions through a viewport show the model’s world value, not the paper distance; angular dimensions stay unconverted (Dimensions in viewports).
• Hatches through a viewport look for their boundary in the model and are updated when the model changes (Hatching in a viewport).
• If a point leaves the viewport, the status bar reports “Outside the viewport — point reset”.

Undo, layers and groups per space#

Each space has its own undo path: Ctrl+Z on a sheet takes back sheet steps only, in the model only model steps. That is why layer rebuilds (Deleting a layer) also act on the open space only. Layers, line types and groups, by contrast, are shared: a layer you hide in the model disappears in the viewports of every sheet as well; frame and title block use the active layer, or the first free one if it is locked or hidden.

Printing and exporting from a sheet#

With a sheet open, Printing Print outputs the sheet 1:1 — paper, orientation, scale and margins in the print dialog are greyed out, and the note line names the sheet and its format. Viewports with “Print frame with scale” get their frame and the scale as text in the printout. Export DXF offers the choice “sheet, flattened (scale applied)” or model content; Export SVG asks the same and writes the sheet as a print SVG (Export SVG).

Keys#