Datasheet
28 Chapter 1: Getting Familiar with AutoCAD
Understanding the Layout View
Aside from the command prompt, you’ve probably noticed that AutoCAD behaves like
most other Windows programs. But in one of its features AutoCAD is a little different
from other Windows graphics programs. Specifically, at the bottom of the AutoCAD
window, you’ll see an icon that looks like a triangle over a grid. If you hover over the icon,
you’ll see that it is labeled Layout1.
Another icon to the left of Layout1 is called Model.
The Model icon is currently active, telling you that you are in what is called model
space. If you have followed the exercises in this chapter, you’ve been working in model
space all along. Model space is the display you’ll use to do most of your drawing. It’s like
your main workspace.
Clicking the Layout1 icon opens a view that is like a page preview with the added
advantage of enabling you to draw within the preview. This preview is called a paper
space layout. Besides previewing your drawing, Layout1 also gives you control over the
printed scale. You can have multiple paper space layouts for different printed versions
of your drawing. For example, you can have one layout for an 8½ by 11–inch sheet and
another layout for an 11 by 17–inch sheet. Or, if you use multiple printers, you can have a
layout set up for each printer.
The terms paper space and layout are often used interchangeably, which can cause a lot of
confusion to new users. One way to think of these two terms is to say that “paper space is
where you lay out your drawing.” It’s called paper space because it is where your drawing is
translated into the paper shape, size, and layout of your drawing before you actually commit
the drawing to paper.
Another way to look at paper space layouts is to think of them as a drawing mock-up
area. Using a paper space layout, you can set up multiple views of the drawing you cre-
ate in model space. You can also add a title to your drawing and include borders or other
graphic design features.
Since paper space layouts are labeled with the “layout” prefix, as in Layout1, I’ll just use the
term layout in this book.
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