Overview

• Putting a title block in a layout

• Setting up viewports in a layout

• Aligning viewports

• Controlling visibility in viewports

• Setting up a text style for a layout

• Adding text in a layout

In the previous chapter, I introduced external references, which are useful and powerful tools. Although the commands for Xrefs are a little tricky, the overall concept is fairly straightforward in effect, you are viewing another drawing from within the current drawing. In contrast, the concept of the Layout display mode is a little difficult to understand, but the commands are fairly simple. External references help you combine several drawings into a composite; layouts allow you to set up and print several views of the same file. The layout is a view of your drawing as it will sit on a sheet of paper when printed.

Each layout has a designated printer and paper size for the print. You adjust the positioning of the drawing and the scale of the print. The part that is difficult to understand is the way two scales are juxtaposed in the same file: the scale of the drawing on the printed paper (usually a standard scale used by architects, such as " = 1'-0") and the scale of the layout, which is almost always 1:1, or the actual size. Other professions, such as mechanical or civil engineering, set up their drawings the same way. They may use a different set of standard scales for the drawing on the printed paper, but the layout...