Creating Standard Viewports

VectorWorks Architect and Landmark take advantage of the viewport functionality introduced in version 11. Viewports are created on sheet layers, and display a specific portion of a drawing with a combination of visible, grayed, and/or hidden design layers and classes. Viewports can be cropped, rotated, and annotated, and the sheet layer print settings saved. Several viewports can be included on one sheet layer. The Create Standard Viewports command creates standards-compliant viewports and their associated sheet layers, with the layer and class visibilities of a standard drawing. See Presenting Drawings with Sheet Layer Viewports

If desired, views corresponding to the viewports can also be created. This allows easy navigation through the different drawing views (with set layer and class visibilities) during the design process.

Viewports are created in five categories. The available viewport types are:

Site Plan Drawings

Project Plan Drawings

Floor Plan Drawings

Auxiliary Plan Drawings

Notation Drawings

The Model Setup command must be run prior to using this command.

Select the Create Standard Viewports command again to make changes to the project settings at any time. The column on the right shows the current viewports when the command is run again.

Setting Standard Viewport Preferences

The default viewport scale and drawing border settings can be set prior to adding standard viewports to a project.

To set viewport preferences:

1.	Select File > Document Settings > Create Standard Viewports.

The Create Standard Viewports dialog box opens.

2.	Click Preferences.

The Create Viewport Preferences dialog box opens. The preferences apply as viewports are added to the list for inclusion in the drawing.

3.

Set the default scale for each type of viewport and select a drawing border and, if desired, title block to add automatically to each sheet layer. The scale settings affect only the viewport scale, not the layer scale of any model layers. See Creating Drawing Borders for more information on drawing borders.

4.	Click OK to return to the Create Standard Viewports dialog box.

Creating Viewports

To create standard viewports:

1.	Select File > Document Settings > Create Standard Viewports.

The Create Standard Viewports dialog box opens. Select a drawing category from the Type of Drawing list. The available drawing types display in the Drawing Types list on the left, with a short description beneath. Select the viewport to be created in the Drawing Types list and then click Add to move it to the Viewports to Be Created list on the right.

For auxiliary view viewports (sections and elevations), types with a -Man suffix (such as Sections-Man) typically indicate that the elements of the section or elevation are to be drawn manually on, for instance, Mod-Section or Mod-Elevation layers, which are created along with the viewports. The visibility of all other layers is set to Invisible for these viewports. Types with a -VP suffix (such as Sections-VP) are for creating a view or a section viewport of the model from existing Mod- layers. No new layers are created and the visibility of all existing Mod- layers is set to Visible for these viewports.

 

Parameter	Description
Type of Drawing	Lists the categories of viewport types
Drawing Types	Lists the available viewport types in the selected Type of Drawing category
Description of Drawing Type	Provides a description of the Type of Drawing category
Viewports to be Created	Lists the viewports that will be created, along with the specified scale, drawing border and sheet layer parameters
Add	Adds the selected viewport types from the Drawing Types list to the Viewports to be Created list, including them in the drawing setup
Remove	Removes the selected viewport from the Viewports to be Created list
Remove All	Removes all viewports from the Viewports to be Created list
Preferences	Specifies the scale and drawing border parameter preferences when adding viewports to the Viewports to be Created list
Drawing Options
Create All Levels	For Floor Plan drawings, creates the selected viewport for each level of the floor plan; deselect to specify an individual Level instead
Level	For Floor Plan, Auxiliary or Notation drawings, specify the individual level for creating the viewport
Use Drawing Border	Places the drawing border specified in Create Viewport Preferences on the sheet layer when the viewport is added to the drawing
Viewport Options	Select a viewport from the Drawing Types list to set its parameters before adding it to the Viewports to be Created list. Alternatively, select a viewport in the Viewports to be Created list to set or change its options.
On Sheet Layer	Select a sheet layer where the viewport will be placed. A default sheet layer name is provided, but a different sheet layer can be selected. Alternatively, a new sheet layer name can be created, by selecting New Sheet Layer and providing the sheet layer name.
Viewport parameters	Sets the viewport scale, view, projection, perspective, and rendering as described in Creating a Sheet Layer Viewport from a Design Layer
Create Corresponding View for Each Viewport	For each viewport in the Viewports to be Created list, creates a corresponding view with the same name. It is useful during the design process to navigate among the different project views, where the proper layer and class visibilities have already been set.

2.	Once the list of viewports is ready, click OK. Any sheet layers specified that do not already exist in the drawing are created along with the listed viewports (and views if the Create Corresponding View option was selected).

In a new drawing, the viewports display with a red X, indicating that they are currently empty. As the drawing is developed on the design layers, the viewports will display the contents appropriately. Depending on the rendering mode specified, some viewports may require updating with the Update Selected Viewports command.