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Autocad Drawing "Space"

Model Space And Paper Space
Viewports

There are two modes of drawing in AutoCAD, also called "SPACE." The normal mode and the
default is called "Model Space." This is the space you will use almost all of the time. It is the
normal 3 dimensional world in which all of your buildings are drawn, both in 2-dimensions (plans,
elevations, sections) and in 3-dimensions (perspectives or axonometrics). In this space, objects are
always drawn in real world units, full size.
The other mode of drawing or space is called "Paper Space." This space permits only a
2-dimensional world, and can be visualized as a flat sheet of paper. Paper Space is a
2-dimensional drawing mode in which you can group various "views" of a 3-dimensional drawing in
"holes" of the paper called "viewports" for plotting. It is useful for plotting several views of an object
at different scales, or for putting orthogonal drawing titles on a perspective or axonometric drawing.
There is no other method in AutoCAD of combining drawings of different scales on the same sheet
of paper, without changing the actual size of the objects or plotting each detail separately. When in
Paper Space, the word "PAPER" appears in STATUS BAR at the bottom of the AutoCAD desktop,
and a 30-60 degree triangle with the letter "W" within it appears at the lower left corner of the
drawing.
A "Viewport" is a rectangular area or hole in the paper through which you view your "Model."
There is no limit to the number of viewports you may have in any drawing. Viewports can be
copied, moved, erased, and stretched to give you just the right appearance. Only one viewport can
be active in Model Space at a time. To make a viewport active, switch to model space and click
within the viewport you want to make active with the pick button of the mouse. Watch Out! You
could have several viewports laying on top of one another, without you even being aware of it. If
you have a viewport within another viewport, you can switch from viewport to viewport either by
clicking in each viewport or by holding down the <Ctrl> key and typing the letter R. As you
continue to type <Ctrl> R, you will toggle from viewport to viewport, making them each active one
at a time, in the order they were created.
Each viewport may have a different view of the model within it. For instance, when you have drawn
a 3-dimensional drawing of a building, you can have its plan shown in one viewport, its front
elevation in another one, its side elevation in another one and a perspective view of it in another
one. When the 3d model is later revised, all viewport appearances are updated automatically to
reflect the changed model. Thus, you can draw the building only once, but view it in many forms
and from many directions.
By definition, viewports are entities in Paper Space, so that is the space in which they are created
or modified. When you use the MV command to create a viewport, make sure that the current layer
is the one that you want your viewport entities to be in. Normally you do not want the actual

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rectangle which surrounds the viewport to plot or print. To prevent this, you could place your
viewports on a layer that could be frozen just before plotting, such as the layer "A-ANNO-VPRT."
Alternatively, some drafters create viewports on the "DEFPOINTS" layer. The "DEFPOINTS" layer
is a special layer which AutoCAD automatically creates for its own use to place dimension definition
points (which are points at the ends of extension lines from which the dimension is measured). The
unique thing about that layer is that it can be visible on the screen (unless it is frozen), but it never
will show up on a plot or print.
Each viewport is able to display the model at different zoom scale factors (i.e. larger or smaller), is
able to show the model from different points of view (horizontal, vertical, or obliquely, and is able to
freeze or thaw layers individually within each viewport separately. In other words, you may freeze
the A-NOTE layer in one viewport, but have it thawed in another. You cannot change the color or
linetype characteristics of a layer from one viewport to another, however (more's the pity!).
To go to paper space, click on a tab at the bottom of the drawing which is not the "Model" tab.
These are layouts and when you open a new drawing there is at least one layout tab. The layouts
can contain viewports. You can think of a layout as a sheet which will be plotted that has holes cut
into it (called "viewports") through which you can see your model drawing in various scales and
directions.

What Should Be Drawn in Paper Space?

The following is a list of entities which are typically drawn in Paper Space. All other entities should
be drawn in Model Space:
1. Viewports (on either A-ANNO-VPRT layer, or DEFPOINTS layer)
2. Sheet border and title (on A-ANNO-BORD layer)
3. Individual drawing titles, scales and North Arrows (on A-ANNO-NOTE layer)
4. Revision "clouds" and revision numbers in triangular symbol (on A-ANNO-REVS layer)

Scale
Autocad does not use a scale -- you always draw everything FULL SIZE. You have an
unlimited size drawing board in AutoCAD which can grow with the physical size of the
building. You normally would determine the scale at the time you plot the drawing out.
However, in order for certain items like text and dimensioning to have a good size relationship
to the lines of the drawing, you will need to have a final scale in the back of your mind before
you start a drawing.

Scale in Paper Space

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Normally, you will draw a so-called "model" of your building in standard AutoCAD "Model
Space," which is the world of three dimensions. In order to plot various views of this three
dimensional "model" on the same sheet of paper and to some scale, you will normally create
several "viewports" in AutoCAD "Paper Space" which is a two-dimensional composing area,
as described in the previous pages. In Paper Space you can mix various scales, plans with
elevations and perspectives, without changing the actual model. Paper Space is simply a
way of consolidating several views on the same plot. The model itself is drawn always at full
size, but when inserted into the plotted sheet in a viewport, each viewport is "scaled" to its
proper plot scale factor.
The great advantage of paper space drawings is that they can be plotted at 1 to 1 (that is, no
scale reduction). However, if you want the drawings you do of the "model" to be plotted to a
scale, you have to assign a scale to each viewport. Scale is one of the properties of a
viewport. Click on the viewport rectangle and set its scale through the properties palette. Or,
you may double click inside the viewport and set the scale by typing Z <RET> 1/48xp <RET>
(that is the example for 1/4" = 1'-0" scale)
The table below lists proper viewport scale factors for plotting models in paper space to a
scale.
Be very careful to include the "xp" at the end of the zoom factor.

Zoom Factors For Paper Space Scaling

Architect's Scales

Viewport Zoom Factor (in Model Space)

1/16"=1'-0"

1/192xp

3/32"=1'-0"

1/128xp

1/8"=1'-0"

1/96xp

3/16"=1'-0"

1/64xp

1/4"=1'-0"

1/48xp

3/8"=1'-0"

1/32xp

1/2"=1'-0"

1/24xp

3/4"=1'-0"

1/16xp

1"=1'-0"

1/12xp

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1 1/2"=1'-0"

1/8xp

3"=1'-0"

1/4xp

Half Size

1/2XP

Full Size

1xp

Engineer's Scales

Viewport Zoom Factor (in Model Space)

1"=1000'-0"

1/12000xp

1"=500'-0"

1/6000xp

1"=100'-0"

1/1200xp

1"=50'-0"

1/600xp

1"=30'-0"

1/360xp

1"=20'-0"

1/240xp

1"=10'-0"

1/120xp

Metric Scales

Viewport Zoom Factor (in Model Space)

1:10

1/10xp

1:20

1/20xp

1:50

1/50xp

1:100

1/100xp

1:500

1/500xp

Size of text and dimensions in Model Space

Most architectural plans and elevations for houses and small buildings are traditionally drawn
at 1/4" = 1'-0" scale. Other buildings use 1/8" = 1'-0" scale. Details are drawn at 1 1/2" = 1'-0"
or 3" = 1'-0" scale. Each of these drawing scales will need to have a corresponding text size
and dimensioning scale (the "DIMSCALE") set. In other words, if you want the final text size
on a plotted drawing to appear to be 1/4" in height, and you plot the drawing at 1/4" = 1'-0"
scale, you will have to draw the actual text at a 12" height in AutoCAD. This is a difficult idea
to get used to, but is a natural result of drawing everything at full size.

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Size Multipliers for Text and Dimensions

Scale of Plotted Drawing

Text and Dimension Size Multiplier

1/16"=1'-0"

192

3/32"=1'-0"

128

1/8"=1'-0"

96

3/16"=1'-0"

64

1/4"=1'-0"

48

3/8"=1'-0"

32

1/2"=1'-0"

24

3/4"=1'-0"

16

1"=1'-0"

12

1 1/2"=1'-0"

3"=1'-0"

Half Size

Full Size

Engineer's Scales

Text and Dimension Size Multiplier

1"=1000'-0"

12000

1"=500'-0"

6000

1"=100'-0"

1200

1"=50'-0"

600

1"=30'-0"

360

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1"=20'-0"

240

1"=10'-0"

120

Metric Scales

Text and Dimension Size Multiplier

1:10

10

1:20

20

1:50

50

1:100

100

INTEGRATION OF SCALES ONTO ONE SHEET

IN MODEL SPACE
(Note: The following will not be necessary if drawings are
always plotted in Paper Space)
If you do not intend to make use of Paper Space to plot several views of a model, but instead
have several independent two-dimensional drawings which need to be combined on the
same sheet of drawings, you may choose to change the relative sizes of some of the details
so that they appear to be drawn at a larger or smaller scale. Although this process is not
recommended for many reasons, you may find occasion to use this technique.
If you want to include a detail or other drawing on a model space plotted sheet along with
other drawings which will be plotted at another scale, you should work on the detail
separately first in its full size mode and then insert the finished detail onto the sheet you want
it to appear, scaling while inserting. The scale conversion factors are as follows:

Drawing plot scale

Detail scale desired

Conversion Factor
(insert detail at
this scale)

1"= 20'-0"

1/8" = 1'-0"

2.5

1/4" = 1'-0"

1/2" = 1'-0"

10

3/4" = 1'-0"

15

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1/8" = 1'-0"

1/4" = 1'-0"

3/4" = 1'-0"

1"= 1'-0"

20

1 1/2" = 1'-0"

30

3" = 1'-0"

60

Half size

120

Full size

240

1/4" = 1'-0"

1/2" = 1'-0"

3/4" = 1'-0"

1"= 1'-0"

1 1/2" = 1'-0"

12

3" = 1'-0"

24

Half size

48

Full size

96

1/4" = 1'-0"

0.5

1/2" = 1'-0"

3/4" = 1'-0"

1"= 1'-0"

1 1/2" = 1'-0"

3" = 1'-0"

12

Half size

24

Full size

48

1/4" = 1'-0"

0.1666

1/2" = 1'-0"

0.3333

3/4" = 1'-0"

0.6666

1"= 1'-0"

1.3333

1 1/2" = 1'-0"

3" = 1'-0"

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Half size

Full size

16

The formula for calculating the model space scale conversion factor is Main Drawing Plot
Scale Factor divided by the Detail Desired Plot Scale Factor.
Add notes and dimensions after the detail has been inserted into the sheet on which it will
appear. To get dimensions to produce the correct sizes on the scaled detail, set the variable
DIMLFAC equal to the reciprocal of the conversion factor (that is, 1 divided by the
Conversion Factor) prior to doing any dimensioning of the scaled detail. For instance to
dimension a detail whose desired scale is 1/2" = 1'-0" inserted into a sheet plotted at 1/8" =
1'-0", set the DIMLFAC at 1/4). To set this variable, at a Command: prompt, type
dimlfac<RET> [1/conversion factor] <RET>
Do not forget to change the DIMLFAC back to 1 when you are through dimensioning the
detail. Also, remember that since the detail has been scaled, you can no longer directly
measure the size of that detail using the DIST command, since it is no longer full size, but
some multiple of full size. If you want to calculate the distance, use the DIST command and
divide it by the conversion factor.

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