CREATELAYOUT

CREATELAYOUT creates new layouts from model space. You first draw or place a rectangle in the model that marks the area you want on the sheet, and the command adds a layout whose viewport shows exactly that area, at the chosen scale. The rectangles stay in the drawing: if you move one, a single click updates the matching layout. Useful for a drawing set with many plan sheets of the same site.

Starting

Type CREATELAYOUT on the command line, or use the button in the ribbon:

• SCAD Draw / View tab, Viewports / Plot panel (CREATELAYOUT)

The command opens the Layout Manager window. It stays open while you keep working in BricsCAD. If you start CREATELAYOUT again while the window is open, the list is refreshed and the window is brought to the front.

How it works

1. Under Source, choose what the new layout is based on:
   • Current drawing: an existing layout from this drawing is copied. Pick it under Source layout.
   • Template file: a layout from a template file (.dwg or .dwt) is brought in. Choose the file with Browse…, then pick the layout under Template layout.
2. Under Rectangle, choose how the rectangle is determined:
   • By scale: pick a scale under Scale (1:10, 1:20, 1:50, 1:100, 1:200, 1:500 or Custom). With Custom you enter the denominator after 1:. The rectangle gets the size that the viewport of the source layout covers at that scale.
   • Draw size: you decide how large the rectangle is. The scale follows from the size you draw.
3. Click Add Layout. The window is minimised for a moment and the command line asks:
   • With By scale the rectangle follows your cursor: Click to place layout rectangle:. Click where the rectangle should go.
   • With Draw size: Specify first corner for layout rectangle: followed by Specify opposite corner:. The proportions of the rectangle are locked to those of the viewport in the source layout.
4. A rectangle appears in model space and a new layout with a viewport showing that area. The layout is named automatically: the name of the source layout without spaces, the scale denominator and a sequence number, for example A3-100-1. The drawing then returns to the Model tab.

The rectangle lies in your current UCS and the viewport looks in the direction of that UCS.

Managing layouts

The Managed rectangles list shows all rectangles with name, width, height and status:

Status	Meaning
Synced	The layout still shows exactly the area of the rectangle.
Moved	The rectangle has been moved; the layout still shows the old area.
No Layout	The layout no longer exists.

• Sync All: adjusts the main viewport of every layout to the current rectangle (position, size and direction) and locks the viewport again. You get a message telling how many layouts were updated, or that everything was already in sync.
• Delete Selected: deletes the selected rectangle. If the layout still exists, the window asks whether the layout should go too (Yes = rectangle and layout, No = rectangle only).
• Double-click a row: jumps to that layout.

Overview layout

Under Overview you choose a paper size (A4 Portrait, A4 Landscape, A3, A2, A1 or A0) and click Create Overview Layout. This creates a layout named Overview showing all managed rectangles, each labelled with its layout name.

Settings

The window remembers your choices: source (current drawing or template), template file, source layout, rectangle mode, scale, custom scale denominator, the overview paper size, and the size and position of the window itself. By default the window starts on Current drawing, By scale, 1:100 (custom denominator 75) and paper size A1.