Once the drawing and annotations are complete in our Autocad 2D Model space, we are ready to generate images for print purposes in Paper space. We show you the easiest and most efficient drawing and publishing techniques in our Autocad 2D training courses.
Note the bottom of the Autocad workspace – we have tabs marked Model, Layout 1 and Layout 2. Whilst all of our drawing is done in Model space, we create our paper layouts in the Layout tabs, also known as Paper space. In the Mac version these are stacked as a pop-up list in the bottom centre of the screen. By default you have two layouts but you can create as many as you want, for example an A4 sheet, an A3 sheet, an A2 sheet, etc.
These are virtual drawing sheets which represent a preview of how the drawing will look when we print. The layout represents the actual printed sheet of paper. Here we create and position Viewports. We would also add dimensions, a title block and possibly items like a legend. Whatever is created in model space will be revealed inside the viewport window, and it’s this window that we scale to 1:50 or 1:100, etc.
Right-click on a Layout tab to select the Page Setup Manager. In the Mac version we go to File > Page Set Up Manager. This opens a dialog box where we press Modify to change the paper size and choose our printer. The printer (or plotter) may be connected to our computer or network, or you may wish to create a PDF document from here using the printer option of DWG to PDF. In the Mac it’s File > Print > Save as PDF.
As we can see, the workflow from model to paper space is easy and seamless. More information on all features of the program can be found at the AutoDesk website. And see many examples of our clients’ work on our Facebook page.
Other related Autocad 2d Blog Posts:

• Autocad 2d basics
• Autocad 2d introduction
• Autocad 2d drawing
• Autocad 2d workspace
• Autocad 2d isometric