Datasheet
22 Chapter 1: Getting Familiar with AutoCAD
ACCURATE PANNING
Realtime Pan is a great tool for quickly getting around in a drawing, but sometimes you need
to pan in an exact distance and direction. A version of the Pan command lets you “nudge”
your view to an accurate distance.
Type -pan↵ and you’ll see the following prompt:
Specify base point or displacement:
This is the prompt you’ll see for the Move or Copy command, though in this case you’re
not affecting the objects in your drawing. When you select a point at this prompt, you’ll see
a rubber-banding line in conjunction with the next prompt:
Specify second point:
The rubber-banding line indicates the direction and distance of your pan. As with any
other command that displays a rubber-banding line, you can select points to indicate
distance and direction, or you can enter coordinates. This enables you to specify exact dis-
tances and directions to pan your view.
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 some tabs.
The Model tab 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 tab 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.
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