into
After you create a layout, you can delete, copy, rename, and otherwise manipulate it by right-clicking its tab. Figure 3-11 shows the right-click menu options.
Figure 3-11: The rightclick menu for a layout tab.
The From Template option refers to layout templates. After you create layouts in a template (DWT) or drawing (DWG) file, you use the From Template option to import these layouts into the current drawing. For details, see the LAYOUT command’s Template option in the Command Reference section of online help.
Many drawings require only one paper space layout. If you always plot the same view of the model and always plot to the same device and on the same size paper, a single paper space layout should suffice. If you want to plot your model in different ways (for example, at different scales, with different layers visible, with different areas visible, or with different plotted line characteristics), you may want to create additional paper space layouts.
Some different ways of plotting the same model can be handled in a single paper space layout with different page setups. See Chapter 12 for more details.
If you want to add another viewport to an existing layout, you need to become familiar with the MVIEW command and the ZOOM command’s mysterious XP option. See the MVIEW and ZOOM commands in the Command Reference section of AutoCAD online help. After you have the concepts down, using the Viewports dialog box (choose View>Viewports>New Viewports) and Viewports toolbar can help you create and manage viewports more efficiently.
After you create a paper space layout, you suddenly have two views of the same drawing geometry: the view on your original Model tab and the new layout tab view (perhaps decorated with a handsome title block and other accoutrements of plotting nobility). It’s important to realize that both views are of the
When you make a paper space layout current by clicking its tab, you can move the cursor between paper space (that is, drawing and zooming on the sheet of paper) and model space (drawing and zooming on the model, inside the viewport) in several ways, including:
? Clicking the PAPER/MODEL button on the status bar
? In the drawing area, double-clicking over a viewport to move the cursor into model space in that viewport, or double-clicking outside all viewports (for example, in the gray area outside the sheet) to move the cursor into paper space
? Entering MSpace or PSpace at the command prompt
When the cursor is in model space, anything you draw or edit changes the model (and thus appears on the Model tab and on all paper space layout tabs, assuming that the given paper space layout displays that part of the underlying model). When the cursor is in paper space, anything you draw appears only on that one paper space layout tab. It’s as though you were drawing on an acetate sheet over the top of that sheet of plotter paper — the model beneath remains unaffected.
This distinction can be disorienting at first — even if you haven’t had a few too many drinks. To avoid confusion, stick with the following approach (at least until you’re more familiar with paper space):
? If you want to edit the model, switch to the Model tab first. (Don’t try to edit the model in a paper space viewport.)
? If you want to edit a particular plot layout without affecting the model, switch to that layout’s tab and make sure that the cursor is in paper space.
Cooking Up Terrific Templates
You can create a template from any DWG file by using the Save As dialog box. Follow these steps to save your drawing as a template:
1. Choose File>Save As from the menu bar.
The Save Drawing As dialog box appears, as shown in Figure 3-12.
Figure 3-12: Saving a drawing as a template.
2. From the Save As Type pull-down menu, choose AutoCAD Drawing Template (*.dwt).
3. Navigate to the folder where you want to store the drawing.
AutoCAD 2005’s default folder for template drawings is called Template and is buried deep in the bowels of your Windows user profile. Save your templates there if you want them to appear in the AutoCAD’s Select Template list. You can save your templates in another folder, but if you want to use them later, you’ll have to navigate to that folder each time to use them. See the Technical Stuff paragraph after this procedure for additional suggestions.
4. Enter a name for the drawing template in the File Name text box.
5. Click the Save button to save your drawing template.
The drawing is saved as a template. A dialog box for the template description and units appears.
6. Enter the template’s measurement units (English or Metric).
Enter the key info now; you can’t do it later unless you save the template to a different name. Don’t bother filling in the Description field. AutoCAD doesn’t display it later in the Select Template dialog box.
7. Click OK to save the file.
8. To save your drawing as a regular drawing, choose File>Save As from the menu bar.
The Save Drawing As dialog box appears again.
9. From the Save As Type pull-down menu, choose AutoCAD 2004 Drawing (*.dwg).
AutoCAD 2005 uses the same DWG file format as AutoCAD 2004, so the file type is listed that way.
10. Navigate to the folder where you want to store the drawing.
Use a different folder from the one with your template drawings.
11. Enter the name of the drawing in the File Name text box.
12. Click the Save button to save your drawing.
The file is saved. Now, when you save it in the future, the regular file, not the template file, gets updated.
AutoCAD 2005 includes a new command called QNEW (“Quick NEW”), which, when properly configured, can bypass the Select Template dialog box and create a new drawing from your favorite template. The first button on the Standard toolbar — the one with the plain white sheet of paper — runs the new QNEW command instead of the old NEW command.
To put the Quick into QNEW, though, you have to tell AutoCAD which default template to use: Choose Tools>Options>Files>Drawing Template Settings>Default Template File for QNEW. AutoCAD 2005’s default setting for Default Template File for QNEW is None, which causes QNEW to act just like NEW (that is, QNEW opens the Select Template dialog box).
AutoCAD 2005, unlike AutoCAD 2002 and earlier versions, stores template
