Section
1
Controlling the Display in Drawings
Section Objectives
After completing this Section, you will be able to:
Use the Zoom and Pan commands to view different areas of the drawing.
Note
Standard Object Snap and Status Bar Settings
Before completing the exercises in this Section, refer to the "Settings for the Exercises" section in the Introduction.
Sa mp le C ha pt er
Au tod es k® Int ell ec tua l P ro pe rty
No t V ali d f or S ale or R es ale
Displaying Objects
Overview
When you use the software, you draw all objects at full scale. Sometimes you need to view the whole drawing, sometimes just smaller details. To assist you in viewing different areas of the drawing, there are a number of zoom and pan tools. You can easily magnify small areas of your drawing to provide a closer view, or shift the view to a different or larger part of the drawing. You can save views by name and restore them later.
In this lesson, you explore different methods of using these tools, and develop your use of the interface.
Many of the zoom and pan options operate transparently. This means that you can use the options while you are in another command.
After completing this lesson, you will be able to use zoom and pan commands to control the drawing view display, use the wheel mouse to pan and zoom in the drawing, and regenerate the drawing view.
It would be impossible to work on a typical drawing such as the following on a sheet of paper the size of common computer monitors. Using the display tools, you can magnify any portion of the drawing to fill the available space on your monitor.
Performance Tasks
After completing this lesson, you will be able to:
Identify tools that control the drawing view display.
Use the Pan Realtime command to perform real time pan operations in the drawing.
Use the Zoom Realtime command to perform real time zoom operations in the drawing.
Use different Zoom commands to control the view magnification.
Use a wheel mouse to zoom and pan in the drawing.
Sa mp le C ha pt er
Au tod es k® Int ell ec tua l P ro pe rty
No t V ali d f or S ale or R es ale
Display Tools
The 2D Navigate control panel, located on the dashboard, contains the tools most commonly used for controlling the display of the drawing window. Additional Zoom commands are located on the View menu.
Command Access
Display Tools
Menu: View > ...
Dashboard:
Note
There are additional options for the Zoom command, but they are beyond the scope of this course. See Help for additional command information.
Pan Realtime
You can reposition the center of your view on the drawing by using the Pan command. Just like panning with a video camera, panning your drawing changes only the position of your view of the drawing, not the location or magnification of objects in the drawing.
The default Pan option is Realtime, with which you can pan dynamically by moving your pointing device.
Command Access
Pan Realtime
Command Line: PAN, P
Menu: View > Pan > Realtime Dashboard:
Sa mp le C ha pt er
Au tod es k® Int ell ec tua l P ro pe rty
No t V ali d f or S ale or R es ale
When the Pan Realtime command is active, the cursor changes to a hand icon as shown above.
Click and drag the cursor to pan the drawing view.
Command Options
When you use the Pan Realtime command, right-click anywhere in the drawing to display options on the shortcut menu.
Option Description
Exit: Click to exit the Pan Realtime command.
Zoom: Click to switch to Zoom Realtime.
3D Orbit: Click to perform a 3D Orbit of the view.
Zoom Window: Click to perform a Zoom Window operation and return to the Pan Realtime command.
Zoom Original: Click to return to the view prior to starting the Pan Realtime command.
Zoom Extents: Click to zoom to the drawing extents and return to the Pan Realtime command.
Procedure: Pan in Real Time
The following steps outline how to pan dynamically in real time.
1. On the 2D Navigate panel, click Pan Realtime.
2. Click and drag the cursor in the direction you want to pan the drawing view. Release the button when you are in your desired position.
Sa mp le C ha pt er
Au tod es k® Int ell ec tua l P ro pe rty
No t V ali d f or S ale or R es ale
3. Continue to click and drag as required.
4. Press ESC or ENTER to exit the Pan Realtime command.
Guidelines for Panning
Pan Realtime has the same effect on the drawing as using the horizontal and vertical scroll bars.
When you pan the drawing, you are not moving geometry, only changing the position from which you view the drawing.
Zoom Realtime
The Zoom command increases or decreases the magnification of the objects displayed in the drawing area. When you zoom out, you see more of the overall drawing. When you zoom in, you magnify parts of your drawing to view them in greater detail.
Just like zooming in and out with a camera, using Zoom does not alter the actual size of the object. It simply changes the relative magnification of objects displayed in the drawing area.
Command Access
Zoom
Command Line: Zoom, Z; Press ENTER for Realtime option Menu: View > Zoom > Realtime
Dashboard:
Sa mp le C ha pt er
Au tod es k® Int ell ec tua l P ro pe rty
No t V ali d f or S ale or R es ale
When the Zoom Realtime command is active, the cursor changes to the icon above. Click and drag the cursor up to increase magnification or down to decrease magnification.
Command Options
When you use the Zoom Realtime command, right-click anywhere in the drawing to display options on the shortcut menu.
Option Description
Exit: Click to exit the Zoom Realtime command.
Pan: Click to switch to Pan Realtime.
3D Orbit: Click to perform a 3D Orbit of the view.
Zoom Window: Click to perform a Zoom Window operation and return to the Zoom Realtime command.
Zoom Original: Click to return to the view prior to starting the Zoom Realtime command.
Zoom Extents: Click to Zoom to the drawing extents and return to the Zoom Realtime command.
Procedure: Zoom in Real Time
The following steps outline how to zoom dynamically in real time.
1. On the 2D Navigate panel, click Zoom Realtime.
2. Click and drag the cursor up to increase magnification.
3. Cick and drag the cursor down to decrease magnification.
Sa mp le C ha pt er
Au tod es k® Int ell ec tua l P ro pe rty
No t V ali d f or S ale or R es ale
4. Continue zooming as required.
5. Press ESC or ENTER to exit the command.
Zoom Commands
In addition to the Zoom Realtime command, the following Zoom commands are available.
Command Access
Following are some of the most frequent commands that you'll use when viewing different areas of the drawing.
Note: Not all Zoom commands are discussed.
Zoom Commands
Command Line: See the text below each icon in the table for the command alias.
Menu: View
Dashboard:
Zoom Window ZOOM, Z; Click 2 points to define the window
To use the Zoom Window
command, use any method listed above to start the command, then click in the drawing to specify the first corner of the window (1), then
Sa mp le C ha pt er
Au tod es k® Int ell ec tua l P ro pe rty
No t V ali d f or S ale or R es ale
Zoom Commands
Zoom Extents ZOOM, Z; > E then press ENTER
Use the Zoom Extents command to zoom to the extents of the drawing, that is, the area of the drawing in which objects are placed. When you zoom to the drawing extents, you magnify the drawing view so that all geometry in the current space (model space or paper space) is visible.
Zoom Previous ZOOM, Z; > P then press Enter
Use the Zoom Previous command to return to the previous view.
Wheel Mouse Features
The wheel mouse is a variant of the standard pointing device that is modified with a small wheel between the left and right buttons. You can rotate this wheel in small increments. You can use the wheel to zoom and pan in your drawing without using any commands. When zooming in, the location near your cursor is the focal point of the zoom and thus remains on the screen.
The ZOOMFACTOR system variable controls the incremental change, whether forward or backward. The higher the number of the variable, the greater the zoom. The ZOOMWHEEL system variable controls the direction the mouse wheel is scrolled in to increase or decrease the magnification of the drawing.
How to Use the Wheel Mouse
Do this... To...
Roll the wheel forward Zoom In
Roll the wheel backward Zoom Out
Double-click the wheel button Zoom Extents
Hold down the wheel button and drag the mouse Pan Press and hold the SHIFT key and the wheel button and drag the
mouse
Constrained Orbit
Press and hold the CTRL key and the wheel button and drag the mouse
Pan (Joystick)
Tip
In some situations, when using the mouse wheel to pan or zoom, the actions have no effect on the drawing. For example, you might only be able to zoom out to a certain point. When this occurs, you must regenerate the drawing by clicking Regen on the View menu.
Sa mp le C ha pt er
Au tod es k® Int ell ec tua l P ro pe rty
No t V ali d f or S ale or R es ale
Wheel Button Modes
You can set the wheel button to function in two different modes. The value of the MBUTTONPAN system variable controls whether panning is supported.
If MBUTTONPAN is set to 1, the PAN command is activated when you use the wheel.
If MBUTTONPAN is set to 0, the Object Snap menu is displayed when you use the wheel.
Regen
Use the Regen or Regenall commands to regenerate all geometry in the drawing. When you regenerate the drawing, the screen coordinates for all objects in the drawing are recomputed and the drawing database is reindexed for optimal display performance.
Command Access
Regen
Command Line: REGEN, REGENALL Menu: View > Regen, Regenall
Note
Automatic Drawing Regeneration
By default, when you create a new drawing, the REGENMODE system variable is set to 1. This allows the drawing to automatically regenerate whenever you perform an action that requires regeneration.
Guidelines When Regenerating Large Drawings
Because regeneration recalculates the screen coordinates for all objects in the drawing, it usually takes longer to regenerate large drawings than smaller ones.
If you experience performance decreases on larger drawings, consider setting
REGENMODE = 0 to prevent automatic regeneration. You can manually regenerate the drawing when you need to.
Sa mp le C ha pt er
Au tod es k® Int ell ec tua l P ro pe rty
No t V ali d f or S ale or R es ale
Exercise: Zoom and Pan in the Drawing
In this exercise, you open an existing drawing and use the Zoom and Pan tools to view different areas.
The completed exercise
1. Open C_Displaying-Objects.dwg.
2. On the 2D Navigate panel, move the cursor over the Zoom tools section to see the tooltips for the available commands.
3. Pan the drawing:
Right-click anywhere in the drawing area. Click Pan.
Click and hold the mouse button and drag to change your view of the drawing.
4. While still panning the drawing, press and hold SHIFT.
Note: This temporarily changes the movement of the view from real time to orthogonal mode.
5. Right-click anywhere in the drawing. Click Exit to end the Pan command.
Note: You can also press ESC to end the
6. On the 2D Navigate panel, click Extents and notice how the view changes.
Note: If you have a 3-button mouse with a scroll wheel, you can double-click the wheel button for the Zoom Extents command.
7. Zoom in real time:
On the 2D Navigate panel, click Realtime.
Click and hold your mouse button and move the cursor up.
Still holding the mouse button, move the cursor down.
Notice that as you move the cursor up, the drawing zooms in and as you move the cursor down, it zooms out.
Note: You can also activate the Zoom Realtime command by rotating the wheel on a wheel mouse. Rotating the wheel away from you zooms in, and rotating toward you zooms out.
8. Zoom to a window:
On the 2D Navigate panel, click Window.
Click two points around the center section of the drawing as shown by the arrows in the following image.
Sa mp le C ha pt er
Au tod es k® Int ell ec tua l P ro pe rty
No t V ali d f or S ale or R es ale
9. Pan to the lower-left corner of the drawing.
10. On the 2D Navigate panel, click Previous View. This returns you to the last view of the drawing that you zoomed or panned to.
Note: Only the last 10 view changes are saved.
11. Close all files without saving.
