Overview

You ve seen how to show a drawing (a model) at different scales on the same page. But what ll happen to text and dimensions when the scale changes? What ll happen when you need to show information in a detail that you don t want to see on the plan (after all, that s why we use details)?

Up until now, you ve determined text and dimension sizes using a mathematical formula based on the desired size at plot time and the drawing scale factor. An undiscovered error in your math might have wreaked havoc when you went to plot the drawing and discovered that all the text and dimension elements had to be resized.

In creating Paper Space, AutoCAD took these problems into consideration and provided some clever solutions. In Lesson 23, we ll investigate these solutions as well as some tricks to control the display both inside and outside of your viewports.

Let s begin.

23.1 Dimensioning and Paper Space

AutoCAD has two ways to create dimensions when Paper Space is involved the Olde Way and the New Way. The Olde Way takes considerably more work and will, no doubt, eventually pass the way of Beta VCRs and the two-dollar bill. Still, you ll probably find yourself editing older drawings from time to time; knowledge of how it was done in olden times will be beneficial. You ll almost certainly prefer the New Way.

Let s take a look at both.