🎓 Lesson 2-17: Layouts and Viewports (Advanced)

Control layer visibility, scaling, and annotations in multiple viewports

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📚 What You’ll Learn

By the end of this lesson, you’ll be able to:

• Create multiple viewports within a layout
• Control layer visibility per viewport
• Set and lock viewport scales
• Add annotations that display correctly in all viewports
• Improve plotting accuracy with clean, controlled layouts

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🧰 Tools You’ll Use

Tool / Command	Description
VPORTS	Creates and manages multiple viewports in a layout
MS / PS	Toggles between Model Space and Paper Space
PROPERTIES	Modifies viewport settings (scale, layers, locking)
LAYERS	Control individual layer visibility in viewports
ANNOTATIVE	Enables annotations that auto-rescale across viewports
Viewport Lock 🔒	Locks scale to prevent accidental zooms

❗ Why It Matters

When creating a Layout for plotting, you often need:

• Multiple scaled views of your model (e.g., detail and plan views)
• Different layer visibility per viewport (e.g., notes visible in one view only)
• Clean, professional annotation scaling without duplicating objects

Mastering viewports gives you:

• Full control over presentation
• Reduced clutter and errors
• Efficient documentation for multiple audiences (engineers, contractors, clients)

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📐 Advanced Viewport Controls

Viewports let you look into Model Space from Paper Space, but with more control.

How to Create Multiple Viewports:

1. Go to a Layout tab
2. Type VPORTS and press Enter
3. Choose a configuration (e.g., 2 vertical, 3 equal) or draw your own
4. Click inside each viewport to activate and adjust view

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🔍 Viewport Layer Visibility

You can freeze layers in individual viewports without affecting others.

How To:

1. Click inside a viewport (Model Space active)
2. Open the Layer Properties Manager
3. Freeze or thaw layers under the VP Freeze column
4. Return to Paper Space by typing PS or double-clicking outside the viewport

📝 Tip: Use this to show hatch patterns or annotations in only one view, keeping others clean.

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🔒 Locking Viewport Scale

Once you’ve zoomed to the desired scale (e.g., 1:100), lock the viewport.

How To:

1. Select the viewport boundary in Paper Space
2. In the Properties palette, set:
   • Display Locked: Yes
   • Standard Scale: Select from dropdown (e.g., 1:50, 1:20)

🎯 Why Lock It?
Prevents accidental zooming and ensures accurate printing.

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📝 Working with Annotative Annotations

Annotative objects automatically scale based on the viewport they’re viewed in.

Use this for:

• Text
• Dimensions
• Leaders
• Blocks

To Enable:

1. Make the object annotative (toggle in Properties or use Annotative Styles)
2. Set the annotation scale for each viewport
3. The object will show only in viewports with a matching scale

🎨 Tip: Turn on the Annotation Visibility button (ANNOTATIVEDWG) to preview all scales.

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🧪 Best Practices

Technique	Why It Helps
Use separate layers for annotations	Control visibility and clutter in viewports
Lock scales early	Avoid mismatched viewports before plotting
Name layout tabs clearly	Makes navigation easier in multi-sheet sets
Use title blocks with fields	Automate drawing info updates across layouts

✅ Practice Exercise

Objective: Create a layout with two viewports—one plan view and one detail view—with unique layer visibility and annotation scaling.

Instructions:

1. Open your model drawing
2. Go to a Layout tab and type VPORTS
3. Create two horizontal viewports
4. Zoom one to full plan view (1:100), the other to detail (1:20)
5. Lock both viewports
6. Freeze notes layer in the detail view only
7. Add annotative dimensions in both—verify they display correctly

Bonus: Add a third viewport with a completely different layer setup for a client presentation.

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📌 Quick Review

Feature	Benefit
VPORTS	View model from multiple angles/scales
Layer VP Freeze	Customize visibility per viewport
Viewport Lock	Prevent scale changes before printing
Annotative Annotations	Ensure consistent size across different views
Properties Panel	Fine-tune viewport settings and scales