Understanding Model and Layout Viewports in AutoCAD

When we are working in this course, we will start to use viewports. We will use model viewports and layout viewports, or paper space viewports, as they're sometimes called.

Let's take a quick look at model viewports and then our layout viewports. If you go to the view tab, you can see that there are model viewports here, and right next to that, named views. Now, for this example, I'm going to show some named views, and we will create named views later in this course.

First though, let's look at the model viewports. In order to understand a model viewport, we have to understand what viewports are. Viewports are simply a window through which we can see model space.

You might not have known it, but we have been working in a single viewport this entire time. This viewport is our single model viewport, and it allows us to move the screen, select objects, including this external reference, and draw, organize, create, edit. Everything is done in a viewport.

It just so happens that the default setting is one single viewport. Now, if I was to hit this drop down and change our model viewport to two vertical, you could see that it creates two individual windows that show me my model space. I can view different things through these windows, but they are, in fact, the same model space.

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You can see that by selecting the xref in this view, it will also select the viewport in this view. Now, this might be helpful depending on what you are modeling, especially if it is multiple objects far apart from each other, or it could be a 3D object that you want to see from multiple sides. Additionally, we could use named views to see different parts of our model.

I'll click into this viewport and choose Bedroom 1. Now, we'll cover named views later in this course, but you can see that I have named a couple of views, Bedroom 1 and Bedroom 2, and these will zoom in and show each bedroom as I click the model. Now, this does not lock my viewport. I can still navigate within, but the named view allows me to very distinctly see my viewport.

I can also use the standard zoom and pan tools, including zoom extents, and let's introduce a new one, which is zoom window. If I hit z, enter on the keyboard, it will start the zoom tool, and then if I go w, enter, it will activate the window option. This allows me to click and create a small rectangle to zoom in on a very specific area.

I'll make the rectangle here, and that zoom window locks my viewport into that view. I'll zoom extents. You can also use zoom window with object snaps, and in order to see that, let's look at our paper space viewports or layout viewports.

I'm going to switch over to the VDCI 8.5 × 11 sheet view, which is my paper space, and you can see that I've already included our title block. You will notice that a new contextual tab appears, layout, and my model viewports are grayed out. That's because I am in paper space.

In order to draw a paper space layout, I need to click on the layout tab, and up here under layout viewports, you can see that I can create viewports in a number of ways. On this drop down, you can see that there is a rectangular viewport. I'll choose that, and now I can draw using my running object snaps a viewport that fits over my no plot outline on my title block.

Now I can see into my model space. This is the essence of a viewport. It's a window where we can see model space.

However, currently, I cannot select on my xref. This is because it's as if a piece of glass was laid over my viewport, and I cannot go through the window. In order to go through the window to start to interact with model space, I need to double click within my rectangle.

So I'll double click, and you'll notice a couple things happen. First, a bounding box, a thick line, appears around my rectangular viewport, and more importantly, my crosshairs have now been contained to this viewport. If I come over and double click over here, I will leave my viewport, essentially locking the view to my model, and my crosshairs go back to full screen.

Double click inside, and I am back inside my viewport. Double click outside, and I leave the viewport. When I double click in, I now have the same functionality as I have in my model space viewport.

I can zoom extents. I can move and pan. This is not moving the geometry, but instead moving the camera.

Now, in order to understand scale in AutoCAD, we have to understand how AutoCAD uses scale and viewports. Remember, we're now looking at a piece of paper. This is real world scale at paper space, and inside the viewport, we used the printer to scale our drawing last time, but now we want to use the viewport to scale our model space down.

We can do this a couple of ways. One way is to come down here, and you'll see this scale of the selected viewport option. If I click this drop down, which actually pops up, you will see a list of standard scales.

I can choose one quarter inch equals a foot, which I know to be the scale of this drawing, and you can see that it zooms into the appropriate scale. Now, this is great because now I can pan and line up my view, and it will print all of my drawing geometry. However, if I were to print this sheet, my roof plan sheet, and my other additional floor plan views, and stack them all on top of each other, the floor plans might not line up perfectly, and this might be picky, but you will notice it when you're working in AutoCAD.

Another way to set our viewport scale is to use a no plot, which we have done in this case. Now watch what happens when I go Z enter for zoom, W enter for window, and I go shift right click end point of my no plot here, to the shift right click end point of my no plot here. You'll notice that because my no plot matched my title block, and I zoomed window to the exact end point to end point locations, AutoCAD has recognized that my scale is in fact one quarter of an inch equals a foot, and my no plot is perfectly lined up with my rectangle, my window, and my title block.

Now I can double click out, and we can see that it is perfectly aligned, but be careful. If I double click back in, I could accidentally pan or zoom. Let me reset by going Z enter, W enter, shift right click end point, shift right click end point.

You'll notice it snaps back into place. I can see quarter inch equals a foot, and to the left there is a padlock. Selected viewports are not locked.

If I click it, it'll turn blue and lock the viewport. Now the viewport cannot be zoomed or panned, and it allows me to lock in that view. I do not want to change the view, so I always want to lock once I know that the view is correct.

Now I can double click outside, and finally hide my viewport and hide my no plot layers, but we'll talk best practice in other videos. For now, just understand that a viewport is simply a window through which we can see and interact with model space. I'm excited to start drafting.

I'll see you in the next video.