Paperspace sheet coordinates

I'm working in Acad2002.
In a new layout view how do you assure that the selected sheet format will be positioned with its lower left corner at 0,0. Likewise how do you change this on an existing layout. Obviously there is no corner to grip, yet when I make a new layout the approximate coordinates always differ from 0,0. i want it to be 0,0 so that I can predictably drop in my titleblocks.

 

tbuck,

Try using PageSetup if you are not already doing so.

Also, turn on the Display margins and Display paper in Options > Display >
Layout Elements.

Open PageSetup > Layout Settings tab > Plot area and select Layout.

Set up the Plotter driver, the paper size and Landscape or Portrait, ctb or
stb file, set scale to 1:1, and click OK.

In the active layout, in paperspace, you should see a viewport and a dash
line for the margin as defined by your specific plotter driver previously
selected in Page Setup.

If you draw a line from 0,0 you will see that the lower left corner of the
margin is at 0,0. This seems to hold true for me with a variety of
different plotter drivers, although the margin itself will increase or
decrease as a function of those drivers.

What you need to determine is how that lower left corner relates to the
background sheet of paper showing. You can find this out by going to
PageSetup and Properties for the Plotter. In the Device and Documents
Settings tab, under User-defined Paper Sizes & Calibration, select Modify
Standard Paper Sizes, and then go to the Modify button on the middle right
of the dialog box. This will give you the size of all four margins..top, L
& R, and Bottom. You are not here to change them, but only to look and see
what they are with your plotter setup. You can change them later if you
must.

Now you know how the lower left corner of your paper relates to the lower
left corner of the margin.

You can use this to establish where the base point of your titleblock
drawing is located prior to inserting it into this paperspace.

This depends on the size of your titleblock, and your desired plotted margin
between the left and bottom edge of your titleblock boundary, and the lower
left corner of your actual plotted sheet of paper.

If you already knew all of this, I apologize for the detail, but there may
be others reading this who are not fully aware of how to do this. Your
question is quite valid, and important to most CAD operators who have to
plot.

Let me know how this works for you.

Jack Talsky

be positioned with its lower left corner at 0,0. Likewise how do you change
this on an existing layout. Obviously there is no corner to grip, yet when
I make a new layout the approximate coordinates always differ from 0,0. i
want it to be 0,0 so that I can predictably drop in my titleblocks.

 

tbuck,

In my previous reply I neglected to mention that once you know the margin
and you are dead set to move your paper edge to 0,0, you can do this by
going back into PageSetup and moving the x and y settings for your paper.
You now know the margin for your driver, so you can use that information to
revise the x and y dimension to get the lower left corner of the paper
itself to be on 0,0.

When you do this maybe your existing titleblock will plop right in where you
want it.

Jack Talsky

be positioned with its lower left corner at 0,0. Likewise how do you change
this on an existing layout. Obviously there is no corner to grip, yet when
I make a new layout the approximate coordinates always differ from 0,0. i
want it to be 0,0 so that I can predictably drop in my titleblocks.

 

Here's what I do. I draw my title blocks with a rectangle that represents the border of the sheet, say 24x36. When I insert the title block in a layout, I place it at 0,0. Then I go to page setup and instead of plotting the "layout", I plot the paperspace layout sheet to "extents" and place a check in the "Center Plot" box. That way I don't have to worry about finding the exact offsets needed for a title block and the title block falls exactly where I want. When I plot, since the border lines fall within the margin where they won't be plotted, the plot comes out just right.

Will this technique help your situation??

Dave LaComb

 

That is another good way. I was using this method too, but found that
using the Layout instead of Extents worked better for me. Also, with
Extents there is a danger now and then of having some dot way out where you
don't know it exists unless you do a preview or do a zoom extents first.

Not only is there more than one way to skin a cat in AutoCAD, but sometimes
there are a lot of cats too.

Jack Talsky

the border of the sheet, say 24x36. When I insert the title block in a
layout, I place it at 0,0. Then I go to page setup and instead of plotting
the "layout", I plot the paperspace layout sheet to "extents" and place a
check in the "Center Plot" box. That way I don't have to worry about
finding the exact offsets needed for a title block and the title block falls
exactly where I want. When I plot, since the border lines fall within the
margin where they won't be plotted, the plot comes out just right.