AutoCAD For Dummies, 17th Edition

Chapter 5

A Zoom with a View

IN THIS CHAPTER

Zooming and panning

Naming and restoring views

Zooming and panning in paper space layouts

Regenerating the display

One advantage that AutoCAD has over manual drafting is its ability to show you different views of a drawing.

You move the viewpoint in, or zoom in, to see a closer view of the objects in a drawing; you move the viewpoint out, or zoom out, to see a more expansive (not expensive) view. If you watch TV or movies or own a camera, you should understand zooming.

Panning doesn’t refer to looking for gold but rather, looking at a different part of a drawing without changing the magnification of the view. If you zoom in so that part of the drawing is no longer shown onscreen, you’ll pan around in the drawing without zooming in and out. Think of the monitor as a window through which you’re looking at part of the drawing. Now reach through the window and slide the drawing around until you can see a different portion of it through the window.

Panning and zooming do not change the size or position of objects within the drawing. They change only how you see them.

In fact, you not only can zoom and pan in the drawing but also, in most kinds of drawings, you must zoom and pan frequently to be able to draw and edit effectively.

Why do you need to pan and zoom often? For starters, though many architectural drawings plot out at 3 feet by ...