Todays post is, surprise, all about viewports. I get more questions about these than just about anything else. They are the one feature that really helped graduate AutoCAD into a new era. Originally having multiple viewports in modelspace and then again when they introduced paperspace.
The first thing we’re going to talk about is proper layer assignment. It is ALWAYS a good idea to have a dedicated viewport layer. This allows you and anyone else who sees this drawing an instant understanding of where they are and how to manipulate them.
The second thing that I recommend is to set your viewport layer not to plot. You can assign this property from the Layer Dialog box. Just scroll to the right and look for the printer icon. When you click on it you will see it now has a red slash. Some of you may say, why not just freeze the layer? Well, I used to do that too. Then one day I froze the viewport layer when I had a polygonal viewport and things didn’t work out as expected. Trust me on this.
Thirdly, I ALWAYS lock my viewports. This keeps me and others from inadvertently changing the scale. You do this from the properties side bar, or do as I usually do and make a button. The button making tutorial can be found here. Simply exchange the code in the tutorial for this: ^C^C-vports;lock;on;\;
This last tip is about layers. Did you know you can have different layers activated in different viewports? Simply activate the viewport by double-clicking inside it and use either the Layer dialog/dropdown menu, or the Layer Freeze Express Tool. In the layer dialog look for the Current VP column. In the drop down menu the Current VP icon is between Layer Freeze and Lock Layer.
Speaking of Express Tools, there are some very useful commands there such as Align Space and Synchronize Viewports.
Have a Great Weekend!
¡Tenga un gran fin de semana!
大きい週末を持ちなさい!
Haben Sie ein groÃes Wochenende!
Ayez un grand week-end!
