Setting Up No-Plot Detail Views in CAD301 Plan Model for Accurate Scaling and Sheet Placement

Placing and Scaling No-Plot Views for Key Interior Areas in the CAD301 Plan Model

Immerse yourself in the process of organizing and detailing CAD301 plan models. Learn how to place no-plot views, adjust scale factors, and effectively manage your drawing window.

Key Insights

  • Detail views in the CAD301 plan model, such as the kitchen, fireplace, and bathrooms, are first represented by placing a no-plot view. These no-plot views allow for visualization of what will be represented in the drawing window.
  • Placement of no-plot views around the floor plan requires anticipating plot scales for each view. This involves adjusting scale factors and potentially shifting views as the project evolves.
  • Under the best practices of programs like VDCI, all no-plot views should be placed on layer zero. This helps ensure smooth layer management and overall structural organization.

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Let's begin to talk about our detail views on our CAD301 plan model. So I'm going to close 301-A201.

We don't need this sheet file right now. We're going to go back to working in our plan model. So the only file I have open is the CAD301 plan model.

If you take a look at your handout, you'll see that we have detail views around the kitchen, fireplace, this bathroom, and the Jack and Jill bathroom. You will see on the handout that this is represented by a dashed line, but in model space, this is actually represented first by placing a no-plot view. Eventually, these views will fit inside our A202 sheet, and so we need to place no-plot views.

They're not essential in all drawings, but in this course and under the VDCI best practices, we place no-plot views so that we can see what will be represented in the drawing window. So I'm in the current drawing blocks insert dialog box. I'm going to browse, and I'm going to find no-plot view dash quarter.

These are the no-plot view sizes that will go onto the A202 sheet. There's a quarter, one in each quarter of the sheet. So I'm going to bring it into the drawing by hitting open, and you'll see our uniform scale right now is set to one, so this is quite small.

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This represents the piece of paper as if it was on the floor of the garage. So I'm going to click one to place, and then I'm going to select it and delete, and then I'll scroll down and see my no-plot view quarter here. The challenge that we need to do now is to place these no-plot views surrounding our views on the floor plan with some guest anticipated plot scales.

We have to assume the number as we place it on the view. Now, if we placed this at 48 for our anticipated plot scale, it would be half the size of this, or rather a quarter, half the height and half the width. Now, if we just visualize that for a second, it would be quite a large drawing.

So 48 is clearly too large of a view scale. Let's start up in the fireplace. In this case, I know the anticipated plot scale.

We want this drawing to be one inch equals a foot. This is a scale factor of 12. So I'm going to come over to my blocks dialog box, change the scale factor to 12, select no-plot view quarter, and now I'm going to place it somewhere on this view.

Don't worry about the annotations you've drawn for the quarter inch view. We will be drawing new annotations for this view. So in this case, I'm going to place it at the midpoint on the back of the fireplace.

We might move these views and shift them around as we continue to work through the project. For instance, we definitely need to have this corner of the building included, but we don't necessarily need this wall. So these can be shifted around as we go.

For now, let's finish placing the rest of our views. In the Jack and Jill bathroom, I'm also going to guess a scale factor of 12. I'll click the no-plot view quarter and I'll place it right here.

This doesn't have to be perfect. We're not snapping to any geometry. I just want to make sure I see the toilet, the door, and both sinks.

Now for this bathroom, I think we can get the whole bathroom in and it looks like we can. Again, line this up as best as you can. I'm going to go right to here and click.

And there we go. And I'm going to place one over the kitchen and laundry room. Let's see.

Now clearly this one is too small. I did not get the kitchen information or this front hallway, which also has a keynote. I'm going to delete that view out.

I'm going to change this anticipated plot scale to 24 and I'll try to place another quarter no-plot. This is much better. Make sure that you're grabbing all of this closet and all of the kitchen.

So I'm going to place mine right around here. And again, we can always shift these later on. I'm going to zoom extents and control S to save.

Before we go any further, let's make sure that all of these are on layer zero. I'm going to select all four of these no-plots, type in properties, enter, and I'll change the current layer to layer zero. All right.

Excellent. Let's hit escape, escape, escape, and control S to save. In the next video, we will begin to build the A202 sheet file so that we can have a discussion about drawing titles and the impact of using scale.

I'll see you there.

photo of David Sellers

David Sellers

David has a Bachelor of Architecture Degree from Penn State University and a MBA from Point Loma Nazarene University. He has been teaching Autodesk programs for over 10 years and enjoys working and teaching in the architectural industry. In addition to working with the Autodesk suite, he has significant experience in 3D modeling, the Adobe Creative Suite, Bluebeam Revu, and SketchUp. David enjoys spending his free time with his wife, biking, hanging out with his kids, and listening to audiobooks by the fire.

  • Licensed Architect
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  • Autodesk Certified Professional: AutoCAD, Revit, Fusion 360
  • Adobe Visual Design Specialist
  • SketchUp Certified 3D Warehouse Content Developer
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