How to Use the Drawing Area
Quick answer: BricsCAD’s drawing area has two distinct spaces. Model space is where you actually build your 2D or 3D drawing. Paper space is where you lay out how that drawing gets printed, arranging one or more views of your model onto virtual sheets called layouts. Switch between them using the Model tab or the Layout tabs at the bottom of the drawing area.
Model Space
This is your default working area, where you create and edit your actual 2D or 3D content, positioned using either the World Coordinate System or a user-defined one.
By default you see a single view filling the screen, but you can split this into multiple viewports, tiled views managed with the VPORTS command, to look at different parts or angles of your model at once. You can only work in one viewport at a time (click into it to make it active), but every viewport updates together as you make changes elsewhere.
Paper Space
Paper space is where you arrange how your drawing gets printed, treating each layout as a sheet of paper. A drawing can have as many layouts as you need, there’s no limit.
Within a layout, you place one or more layout viewports, essentially windows looking into your model space content. Each viewport can be positioned anywhere on the sheet, and each has its own scale and layer visibility, so the same model can appear at different zoom levels or with different layers shown across viewports on the same sheet. All viewports in a layout print together. Manage them with the MVIEW command.
Paper space is also where you add anything meant only for printing and not part of the model itself, things like keynotes, annotations, borders, and title blocks.
Why Use Paper Space at All?
Three practical reasons it’s worth the extra step:
- Multiple views in one print. A single layout can show several parts of your drawing at once, each at its own scale, instead of printing one view at a time.
- Multiple print configurations from one drawing. Different layouts can use different pen widths, printer settings, line weights, or scales, all from the same underlying model, without duplicating the drawing itself.
- Print-only content stays out of your model. Title blocks, borders, and annotations live in paper space, so they don’t clutter the actual model you’re working in.
Frequently Asked Questions
What’s the actual difference between model space and paper space? Model space is where you build the drawing. Paper space is where you lay it out for printing, arranging views of that model onto virtual sheets.
Can a drawing have more than one layout? Yes, there’s no limit to how many layouts a single drawing can have.
Do all viewports in a layout share the same scale? No. Each layout viewport has its own independent scale and layer visibility, even within the same layout.
How do I add or manage viewports? VPORTS for model space viewports, MVIEW for paper space (layout) viewports.