Based on the way in which your model was drawn in Drawing Wireframe, when you create a Layout for print (or use one of the pre-defined ones), your model may not appear within the Drawing Item placeholder that you defined. This is often the case when the model was imported from a DWG/DXF file.
This happens because the center of a Drawing is always aligned with the Document Origin in the Wireframe’s drawing space, and cannot be changed (as at the time of writing). If the model that you drew or imported was not centered on the origin, but rather several feet away (or hundreds or even thousands of feet, in some cases), it stands to reason that it will not appear within the Drawing placeholder (or perhaps not appear fully) when the Drawing placeholder is inserted into a Layout.
in this tip you will learn how to manipulate the Drawing placeholder to make the model appear correctly within it.
The first step is to open or import the sample CAD file used in this tip. Note that the units defined in this file are Inches. When you open the file, nothing is visible in Drawing Wireframe because the model was drawn over 350 feet above and to the right of the origin. Follow these steps to “find” the model:
1. Zoom out as much as possible until the model becomes visible.
2. Hover your mouse cursor over the model.
3. Zoom in on the model.
To manage the model better in the Drawing Wireframe, it is recommended that you assign/create a User Origin in your file. For more information on setting the User Origin, see Setting the User Origin. Note that for the purpose of this tip, the User Origin was set to the lower-left corner of the venue.
Setting the User Origin
To set the User Origin of a file:
1. Working in Wireframe view, click Tools > Set User Origin.
2. click, enable end point snap and click, or type in the coordinates for the new User Origin. (If you click to set the User Origin, you can use Snaps to ensure accuracy.)
Result: if enabled, the ruler changes to indicate that it is now measuring based on the new User Origin you just created. For more information about the Ruler, consult Vivien Help).
Manipulating the Drawing Placeholder to Display the Model
Begin by switching to the Layouts tab. Here you can choose to use one of the predefined Layouts (which appear in the Shortcut Bar at the left), or create a new Layout by right-clicking in the Shortcut Bar and selecting New Layout. For the purpose of this tip, we will create a new Layout called MyLayout.
Once you created the new Layout, go to the insert menu, select Drawing and click-and-drag to create the placeholder for the Drawing Item. When finished, you will notice that the nothing appears within the placeholder–this, again, indicates that the model was drawn too far away to fit within the space allotted to the Drawing Item placeholder. To display the model within the Drawing Item, complete the following steps:
1. Right-click on the Drawing Item you just created and and select Open Contents.
Result: The DrawingObject window appears.
2. Maximize this window by clicking the  
icon in its upper-left corner.
Result: The DrawingObject window maximizes to fill the screen. At this point, it’s normal to see nothing but a white square surrounded by a diamond-hatch pattern. (See About the White Square for more information.)
3. Zoom out by pressing the Page Down key on your keyboard until the model appears. (If using the sample file provided for this tip, the model will appear at the right edge of the window after you press Page Down four times.)
4. Position your cursor within the white square, and then click and drag towards the model (the white square will follow) until the white square surrounds the model at the right.
5. Release the mouse button.
Note: See About the White Square for more information about the white square and what to do if the model is not fully contained within it.
6. now that the model is positioned correctly within the Drawing item, press esc on your keyboard to minimize the DrawingObject window, and then close it by clicking the
button in its upper-right corner.
Result: The Layout should now look similar to the following screenshot.
About the White Square
The white square represents the area covered by the Drawing Item placeholder in the Layout. If you increase or decrease the size of the Drawing Item, the size of the white square and the “amount” of the model that can be contained within it, will increase or decrease accordingly.
If, after zooming in on the content window and positioning the white square around the model, the model is not contained within the white square, it will appear as such on the layout.
If this is not the desired result, you can do one of two things:
• change the scale at which the model appears within the Drawing item, or
• increase the size of the Drawing item
To change the scale at which the model appears within the Drawing item, right-click in the DrawingObject window and choose a different scaling option: Fit, Fixed, or Variable. Consult the Vivien Users’ Guide for more information on these options.
To increase the size of the Drawing item, simply close the DrawingObject window, select the Drawing item, and then click and drag the grips that surround it.