LAYOUT MAKER
LAYOUT MAKER
Trial valid until Feb, 01st 2026:
Auto create Viewports in Layout(s)
Auto zoom, scale, rotate inside Viewports
Auto insert Title blocks together with Viewports
Combine multi viewports in one sheet (like plan + profile viewports)
Export printing layouts to multi separated drawings
Fast processing speed, even for huge drawings
7-language interface
Support Imperial unit
Each "Frame" corresponds to a Viewport.
One Frame or some Frames from different Frame group makes a Frame set.
Each Frame set corresponds to a paper sheet
App can create one sheet per Layout or multi sheets per Layout.
Two unit systems
App assumes that Model drawing object is always drawn with scale 1:1.
For example:
1000m-long alignment at site is presented by a 1000m-long polyline object in Model space (Model unit is meter)
80"-high wall at site is presented by a 80"-high line object in Model space (Model unit is inch)
App supports 2 unit system:
Metric system: Model unit should be meter, centimeter, millimeter. Paper unit is mm.
Imperial system: Model unit should be inch, feet, yard. Paper unit is inch.
Remark:
Imperial unit system is available only if users choose English as interface language
Two ways for determining print area size in Model space
Assume that you have known:
Target paper size (ISO A3, ISO A4, ANSI B, ANSI A..)
Target drawing scale (1/200, 1/1000, 1" = 20 ', 1"= 100'...)
this App will calculate the rectangle print area size in Model space for you by 2 ways:
Print area width and height are calculated from physical paper size and margins, or
Print area width and height are calculated from a viewport selected in a template drawing.
Remark:
When determining print area size from Template layout, users can match one Frame group with a Viewport. Different Frame group will have different size and scale defined from its paired Viewport.
By this way, users can also combine multi viewport in one sheet.
Three ways to draw print area blocks in Model space
When Print area size in Model space are know, a rectangle block is automatically defined.
Each print area, called a Frame, is presented by a block instance with Frame number and Frame Group number.
Frames are inserted into Model space by 3 ways:
Manually insert each Frame at desired positions. App will help user auto-numbering Frames
Manually copy an existing Frame and paste to new positions. App will help user auto-numbering Frames
Auto insert and number Frames along a selected Civil 3D alignment or a Polyline. Frames overlap is allowed. Users can also insert Frames from station A to station B
Three ways to create result layouts
App provides three command to create result layouts:
One frame or one set of Frames produce a new Layout with viewport(s) in current drawing
All frames or All set of Frames produce only one Layout with viewport(s) in current drawing
One frame produces a new Layout with 1 viewport in a new drawing. Model objects are partially copied to new drawing.
Remark:
Mode 3 do NOT support Frame set. Only one Viewport is created per each Layout
Bonus tools
App provides 2 useful commands: Copy base similar and Move base similar:
Copy base similar: Copy source object(s) with base point read from base object then paste them to multi places. Destination points are read from objects similar to base object.
Move base similar: Move similar source objects while keeping relation vector with similar base objects unchaged. Relation vector a calculated from selected source-base object pair
Understanding what you want
Before starting App, it's better to spend a small amount of time to answer:
Target Paper size: which paper size will your document be printed on?
Paper drawing scale: which scale best fit your needs?
(Optional) Prepare a Title block
A Title block can be drawn at any scale, by any unit.
However, it should contains an outer boundary (by lines, polylines...) that exactly describe physical paper edges
(Optional) Prepare a Template layout
A typical template layout includes:
One viewport: Viewport scale should be suitable with target drawing scale. For example:
Model unit = meter, Paper unit = millimeter, Target drawing scale = 1/200 then
Viewport custom scale = 1/200 : (1mm /1m) = 5
One Title block: Title block should be manually scaled so that it's boundary fit paper edge
Plot settings: Printer, paper, Plot area, Plot style... should be set
(optional) Other Text, Leader, Legend block...
If you need to combine 2 or more viewports in a sheet, all viewports must be pre-arranged in one Layout template. Each Viewport may have a different custom scale.
Run the App:
Define print area in Model space
a. Define print area size (Frame size) by one of two ways:
by Paper size and Margins or
by a Template layout
b. (Optional) Match each Frame Group number with a Viewport in Template layout
c. (Optional) Choose an active Frame Group number. Size and scale of the Viewport corresponding to that number will be used to calculate print area size in Model space
d. (Optional) Modify Frame overlap value if you want 2 nearby drawing to overlap each other. This value only takes effect if Frames are automatically inserted along an alignment
e. Manually insert Frames into Model space: you need to pick an insertion point, choose a rotation angle for each Frame. Frames' order number is automatically increased.
f. (Optional) Provide start station and end station values to auto insert frame from start to end station of and alignment.
g. (Optional) Change Active Group number and repeat from a. to f. New Frames of new Group(s) will be created.
Create Layout(s) and Viewport(s)
1 Frame 🡆 1 Layout: Create multi Layouts from Frames. Each Frame (or Frame set in case using multi-viewport-per-1-layout template) corresponds to a Layout. Viewport(s) in Layout will be automatically zoomed and rotated to fit corresponding Frame.
All Frames 🡆 1 Layout: All Viewports created from Frames of active group are put into one Layout. If using multi-viewport-per-1-layout template then All Viewports created from paired Frame groups are put into one Layout.
1 Frame 🡆 1 Drawing: Create drawings from Model Frames. Each drawing contains 1 Layout + 1 Viewport. Model objects are partially copied to new drawing.
Newly created layout may also contains:
Title block instance
Any non-Viewport objects exist in Template layout