AutoCAD: Tips & Tricks

- [Instructor] Welcome to another one of my Tips and Tricks, in my AutoCAD Tips and Tricks Series. What we're gonna have a look at now is utilizing your Named Views in AutoCAD effectively. Now, we've got a drawing for you, you'll recognize it from my AutoCAD Essential Training Course, it's the OfficePlan.dwg file and I'm sure you'll recognize it if you've taken that course and more importantly, if you've followed along with my Tips and Tricks. It's one of my go-to drawings. It's a very simple, flat 2D office plan with the grids, the dimensions, et cetera, and it's just a nice drawing to use.

Especially for this particular Tip and Trick, where we're looking at the Named Views in AutoCAD itself. Now in newer versions of AutoCAD, I hasten to add, if you go to the View tab on the ribbon, you will notice that you've got the ability to work with Named Views here in the Named Views panel. So you can also go to the View Manager like so, I'll click on Cancel there, and you can also set up a New View and you can go here and pick on one of the existing pre-named views.

Or go to the View manager again there like so. Now that isn't available in some of the older versions of AutoCAD, just be aware of that. So I'll click on the Home tab to go back to the Home tab. If you want to get to the View Manager in older versions of AutoCAD, all you gotta do, is go to the View Control Manager here, click on the word Top, because I'm in a 2D Plan View I'm in the Top view you'll notice on the View Cube in 3D space, so when I click on that Top there, you'll notice I can go to the View Manager there and that's where I can work with the View Manager dialog box.

So just be aware of that when you're working in specific versions of AutoCAD. Now you'll notice, based on my nice pretty icons there, that I'm working with AutoCAD 2019 so I'll be using this particular View tab here, and I'll be using the Named Views panel here most of the time. But you will notice that sometimes I'll go to the Home tab and perhaps use the View Manager here as well. So let's have a look at that and see how it all works. We're in our OfficePlan.dwg file, we've got no Named Views set up in the model space at all.

Now Named Views are specifically useful in really big, complex drawings and this isn't a big complex drawing but there are specific areas that I can zoom in and zoom out of when I'm working. So for example we have a staircase on the left hand side of the building, as you can see there that could be Staircase A, and we have another staircase over here which could be Staircase B. Now I want to get to those staircases, nice and quickly, so I do is I can go to the View tab in newer versions of AutoCAD, and I can go New View, and that will automatically tell me to create a new View.

Now I don't need to worry about that View per-se, AutoCAD knows I'm in the Model tab, and I'm gonna give this View name Staircase A. So there's Staircase A like that, and the View Category, I'm going to click in there and it's going to be a Plan View and I can just type that in and set it up as a new category, it's a Still View. It's not going to be Cinematic or a Recorded Walk as it might be in a 3D model. Boundary could be the Current display, I don't want it to be, I can click here to Define window or I can click here to define the view window.

As soon as I do that, takes me into the Model tab with this funny gray surround. What I need to do is kinda do a zoom window, so what I'm gonna do here is sorta click but I can zoom in, and it makes my life a lot easier if I do. So I'm gonna click once there, drag the new view there like that with that white boundary and click. And can you see the gray area now surrounds the dark area of my new view. Notice on my command line now, it's telling me, to press Enter to accept and you can see now that I've got Staircase A, Plan View, and it's a Still View.

Now all of this information here, View Properties and Shot Properties you really don't need to worry about for Named Views in the Model space. So what you can do is you could actually just minimize that and go to less options if you wanted to and click there again and the options come back. Just make sure that you click on OK, for that particular view. So I'll click on OK, now you'll notice it's taken me into that Named View and that's because I was zoomed in there, setting up that window. What I'm gonna do is double click on the wheel and Zoom Extents like so, and what I can do now, is go to the View Control here, Custom Model Views, Staircase A and it zooms me straight in.

That's what Named Views are all about, very quick, very easy gets you to the place you want to be in that complex drawing. Let's do another new view, I'm just going to double click on the wheel to zoom Extents and I'm gonna do New View again and this will be Staircase B. So there's Staircase B, View category I click on the dropdown this time it's gonna be a Plan View 'cause I set that category up on the previous Named View. It's still View type if you'll pardon the pun and I'm going to hit Define window, and I'm gonna go down here to Staircase B again, zoom in, pick a point, drag it around the staircase, click again and you'll see the gray area go round the boundaries of the view.

Press enter to accept the view, everything is all good, I don't need to worry about View Properties or Shot Properties, click on OK. Double click on the wheel to Zoom Extents like so, and I can go here, click here Custom Model Views, there's Staircase B. Now bear in mind I can also, if I'm in newer versions of AutoCAD go to the Named Views panel here. I can go to the View Manager and there's my Views there so I can go there, set that as the current view, click on Apply, click on OK, I'm back at Staircase A.

Or I can use the dropdown, and go to Staircase B, if I want to and you'll see it flies across the drawing and zooms me in to Staircase B, and that's how quick and easy it is to use those Named Views effectively in your model space in AutoCAD.