22 March 2015
In summary:
Prepare all line work for the model (drawing) in Model space at scale 1:1 (full size).
Set up all sheets for printing with layouts in Sheet space using appropriately scaled viewports to isolate and size the various views of the model.
Dimension and annotate the views of the model on the Sheet space layouts generally using a dimension style that gives full size dimensions.
When scaled dimensions are required (such as for modelling) set up a scaled dimension style based on the full size one using an appropriate scale factor to adjust the dimension value.
The detail:
Here is an exercise using model space and sheet space (paper space) to prepare a simple plan and a set of scaled details for printing.
Familiarity with Draftsight commands and their use is assumed.
If a mistake is made use Ctrl+Z or Undo to undo the mistake.
Start Draftsight
Close the drawing that opens. (Find, but DON'T select, the X on a red background at the top right of the sheet > Select the X on a plain background immediately below it > Select FILE and NEW > Take note of the name that is showing in the File name box so that it can be restored later if need be > Select STANDARDISO.DWT (For a metric drawing) [STANDARDANSI.DWT (For an imperial drawing)] > Select OPEN)
NOTE that the selected template will remain the default for new drawings until a different one is selected in a manner similar to that described above.
Instructions that follow are generally based on the first-named template.
Set up layers for the exercise:
Layer zero will be used as a general work layer.
In Layer manager create five new layers by clicking NEW five times. Rename these to Detail, Dimension, Other, Plan, and Viewport.
Leave Plan unchanged and change the colours of the others to: 0 = Cyan, Detail = Blue, Dimension = Green, Other = Red, and Viewport = Yellow.
All layers are currently printable layers.
Change the status of the Viewport layer to non-printing by clicking on its icon in the PRINT column until a red diagonal line lies across the icon.
Select OK.
Because the line colour defaults to Bylayer, entities on those layers will adopt the colour of the layer on which they are located unless independently specified otherwise.
Ensure that Layer 0 is now the current layer.
In Model space draw a 12000 x 8000 mm [or say 470 x 310 inch] rectangle to represent the outline of a house plan.
If necessary, zoom the display until the whole rectangle shows on the screen.
Enable running esnaps with END active.
Draw the diagonals of the rectangle. (The lines should all be showing in cyan because they are drawn on layer 0.)
SAVE the drawing to a name of your choice.
Select the rectangle.
In the Properties palette (Select the PROPERTIES tab or Right-click in a clear part of the menu bar and select PROPERTIES if it is not displaying) find Layer. This will have a value of zero.
Select the value box and use the associated drop list to change the layer to Plan.
Use Esc or Enter to end the operation.
(Note that this is only one way of working – draw on layer zero; move the lines to their respective final layers.
Alternatively, select the layer first and draw directly on it.
Using the latter method, if a line is drawn on the wrong layer it can be moved to the correct one in the same way the rectangle was moved to layer Plan from layer Zero.)
Repeat the process to change the diagonals to layer Other.
The rectangle should now be black (or white -- dependent on the background colour) and the diagonals red.
SAVE the drawing.
Check that layer 0 is still the current layer.
Offset the rectangle 100 mm [4 inches] inwards to represent the wall width of the outer walls.
Use Esc or Enter to end the operation.
Move the new rectangle to layer Detail.
SAVE the drawing.
Now prepare, as follows, the sheets that will be needed for printing.
Select the tab for Sheet 1.
The display will most likely show an A3 sheet 297 x 420 mm (297 x 420 drawing units) [ANSI 8.5 x 11 inch sheet (8.5 x 11 drawing units in size.)] by default with a broken black line showing where the margins are set and an inner cyan solid rectangle marking the extent of a viewport. The model will be showing in the viewport. The drawing origin (0,0) is at the lower left corner of the margin rectangle and its position on the sheet is controlled by the margin settings. The first time a sheet is accessed, the print configuration manager opens automatically.
Create a print configuration to use the inbuilt PDF printer with an A4 sheet - 210 x 297 mm (210 x 297 drawing units in size) [Ansi A sheet for imperial] :
In Print configuration manager select +NEW... > Select BASED ON DEFAULT > Name it A4-LS [AnsiA-LS] and select SAVE > Select PDF for the Printer/plotter Name from the drop-list > Select PROPERTIES... > Select the first occurrence of ISO_A4 [Second occurrence of AnsiA] > Make sure that MARGINS are all set to 0.00 (moves the origin to the lower left corner of the sheet) > Select OK > In GEOMETRY ORIENTATION select LANDSCAPE > Select SAVE.
Reopen the print configuration manager.
Select A4-LS [AnsiA-LS]> Select ACTIVATE > Select CLOSE.
(NOTE: The configuration is saved, but unfortunately, at the time of writing, Draftsight does not retain the setting on the sheets from one drawing session to the next. This means that the configuration may need to be reset on each sheet the next time the drawing is opened.)
The viewport needs re-sizing to fit the sheet.
Select the viewport to light its grips.
Select its upper right grip (blue marker) and drag it across the sheet to form reasonable working clearances on the top and right edges. (These settings only need to be set by eye and can be adjusted at any time.)
Select the lower left grip and drag it to adjust the working clearances on the bottom and left edges.
Use Esc or Enter to end the operation.
The sheet is now set up with a viewport looking into model space. The model will no longer be well-positioned but this will be corrected shortly.
SAVE the drawing.
Select the tab for Sheet 2.
Use Print configuration manager to activate A4-LS [AnziA-LS] on this sheet too but adjust the viewport to cover slightly less than one quarter of the lower left of the sheet with reasonable working clearances on the bottom and left of the sheet. Most of the view of the model will be lost.
Select the viewport boundary and copy it into each of the other three quadrants of the sheet to provide four equal viewports on this sheet.
Alternatively,
Delete the original viewport.
Use the VIEWPORT command to draw a new viewport to cover slightly less than one quarter of the sheet in the lower left quadrant. NOTE that this viewport shows the whole model.
Copy this viewport into each of the other quadrants.
SAVE the drawing.
Move ALL viewports on to the Viewport layer.
Now recover the view of the model in those viewports where it is missing ( Double-click inside the viewport (the boundary will thicken to show that work will now be on the model in that viewport) > Zoom Fit (to show the whole model) > Zoom .8 (to reduce the crowding of the model within the viewport (Optional)).
Double click outside the viewport to return to Sheet space.
SAVE the drawing.
Set the viewport scaling.
Sheet 1:
Select the viewport boundary – Don't activate the viewport.
In the PROPERTIES PALETTE find STANDARD SCALE and change its value using the associated drop-list. A scale of 1:50 or 1:100 would suit the case here.
When a suitable scale does not exist, select CUSTOM SCALE and enter the desired scale in the value box against CUSTOM SCALE. Custom scales may be entered either in the form 1/scale-factor (i.e. 1:4 = 1/4 = 1÷ 4 = 0.25) or as the decimal equivalent of the scale ratio (e.g. 0.25) and the decimal equivalent will appear in the box. (Imperial scales need to be converted to a ratio e.g. ¼" =1ft is a ratio of 1:48 – there are 48, ¼ inches in 1 ft).
Once the scale is set change the value for DISPLAY LOCKED to YES. This prevents the scale of the viewport being accidently changed during subsequent zooming operations.
Sheet 2:
Activate each viewport in turn and zoom the model within the viewport to show a different corner in each viewport so that it substantially fills the viewport.
Return to Sheet space after the last is done.
Select each viewport boundary (DO NOT activate the viewports).
Check the viewport scale and set all to the same convenient scale. In this case a scale of 1:2 [0.3333 (4"=1')] looks good.
Lock the display on them all once the scale is set.
Use ESC to terminate the operation.
Align the views to improve the appearance:
Here work is done in Sheet space.
De-activate running esnaps.
Select the viewport boundary for the view that will be used as the fixed reference and, if necessary, drag it so that its content is in a better position.
Call that #1 and mentally number the rest in a circular order from there.
Select the viewport boundary for #2 and initiate a move operation.
Select, using esnap over-ride NEAREST, a point on a line of the model in #2 that has its other end showing in #1.
Select, using esnap over-ride PERPENDICULAR, a point on that same line in #1 and the views will be aligned.
Repeat a similar process between #3 and #2.
Repeat a similar process between #4 and #3.
Repeat a similar process between #4 and #1.
Now the lines of the model should line up nicely but the viewport boundaries will most likely not.
(Optional) Select any boundary that needs adjusting and drag the relevant grips to achieve a more pleasing result. Make sure that only one set of grips is active at a time or unwanted results are likely.
In the event that the aligned views now need repositioning on the sheet select all viewport boundaries, initiate a MOVE operation, and drag them into position as a group.
Use of layers to control entity visibility.
At this stage entities on all layers are visible.
The visibility of a layer can be controlled globally using the layer drop-list at the top left of the drawing space and selecting a dot (Green when visible; grey when not). However this, while useful when the global result is needed, affects all views in the drawing.
Often the need arises to control visibility so that an entity is visible in one view but not in another.
This can be achieved via the LAYER MANAGER (Icon to the left of the drop-list box).
When the Model space tab is selected the layer manager shows a column headed NEW VIEWPORT on the right.
When a Sheet space tab is selected, and either of Sheet space or a viewport on that sheet is in use, the layer manager shows that column headed ACTIVE VIEWPORT. When in Sheet space Layer manager controls layers relevant to entities drawn in sheet space and when in a viewport it controls layers relevant to entities drawn in Model space.
On Sheet2 activate the viewport for the lower left detail. Check for the thickened layer boundary!
Open Layer manager and in the Active viewport column turn off Layer Detail.
Select OK.
NOTE that blue entities from layer Detail are no longer visible in that viewport but remain visible everywhere else.
Use the same technique to hide the red diagonal line in the upper left detail and, only on sheet1, the viewport boundary that is showing on the sheet.
Editing the model through a viewport.
The viewport is a "window" to the model. When in a viewport entities in the model that are visible in that viewport may be edited and/or new entities added to the model.
On Sheet2 Activate the top right viewport.
Hide the red diagonal line.
Select the blue line. Because it is actually a single entity polyline it will show as selected in the other views where it is still visible.
Explode the polyline.
Action the Extend command.
Select the black polyline as the extension boundary and terminate the selection process with Enter..
Select each of the blue line segments. They will be extended to the black line.
Press Enter to terminate the selection process and the extend command.
Activate running esnaps with End and Intersection active.
Draw the diagonals of the resulting square and place them on layer Detail.
Return to Sheet space.
Examine ALL the other views to observe the effect on them.
Dimensioning
Select the ISO-25 [Ansi1 for imperial] dimension style, Activate it if necessary, and select OK.
Ensure running esnaps are active for End.
Without activating the lower right viewport Dimension the Sheet space view for the vertical distance between the vertices of the outer and inner right angles.
Move the dimension to the Dimension layer.
Scaling for modelling, etc.
Generally dimensioning is concerned with the full size dimensions but a modeller may be more interested in the scaled down dimensions needed for modelling.
For this purpose the simple solution is to now set up a dimension style that produces the scaled dimensions whenever it is used.
Use Format (on main menu) > Dimension Style... > +New > Change the Name to HalfScale (or other of you choice) > OK > Activate (to lock this style in as the active style) > Linear dimension > Scale factor: > Set to 0.5 (to set the scaling factor for dimension values) Precision > Adjust to suit (One decimal place for this example)> Apply > OK.
Dimension one of the other detail views putting the dimension on the Dimension layer.
Note the scaling of the value – compare it with the other value.
Now select that other dimension.
In the Properties palette find Dim style in the Misc panel. Change the current value to the name of the new dimension style and press Enter.
Printing:
Sheets are now ready for printing at scale 1:1 without any further scaling except in the case where the drawing itself is to provide a scaled pattern.
In that case, a COPY of the full size drawing can have the whole drawing scaled up or down by an appropriate factor before setting up the Sheet space layouts and the full size dimension style can be used to read its actual dimensions.
