To use Paper Space Mode, the first order of business is to open or create the drawing you want to print. For those of you following along at home, open one of the sample drawings included with DesignCAD (the one used here is the KB20 Engine.dcd included with DesignCAD 3D MAX Plus). Double-check that everything looks the way you want it. The easiest way to use Paper Space is as a final stop before printing.

Next, choose the load paper space template command from the paper space view frame setup submenu in the file menu. The Paper Space Template dialog box appears.

For right now, let's open the A-Landscape-4View template.

Select the a-landscape-4view template and click load. The layout for the A-Landscape-4View template is loaded. It consists of a title block in the bottom‑right corner and four view frames. When this layout was created, the title block was drawn in Paper Space Mode using text and line commands, and the view frames were created using the Create View Frame command. The view frames are arranged like the default drawing windows in 3‑D Mode. There are top, front, and side views on the left side of the paper space and a large Perspective view on the right side. Once the layout was complete, it was saved to a template using the Save Current Layout As Template command.

Once you have finished looking at the Paper Space layout, select the paper space mode command from the file menu to exit Paper Space Mode.

Now it's time to create a layout/template of your own. Select the paper space configuration command from the paper space view frame setup submenu in the file menu. The Paper Space Configuration dialog box appears.

Enter KB20 for the layout name in the name box, leave the paper size at 8.5x11 and leave the orientation as Landscape. It is important to have margins in a Paper Space, because many Windows printer drivers have minimum margins beyond which you cannot print. Leave all of the margins at 0.5 and click ok.

A new layout is opened. By default, a new layout contains one view frame that covers the entire Paper Space. The title block for this layout is going to be 1 inch tall, so the height of the view frame needs to be reduced by 1 inch. One way to reduce the size of the view frame is to select it and use the Info Box to enter a new size.

Move the cursor directly over the engine in the Paper Space and click the mouse. This is the best way to make sure you are clicking in the view frame area. Only objects drawn in Paper Space Mode can be selected in Paper Space Mode, so don't worry that you may have selected part of the engine when you clicked on it; you can't.

Now select the info box command from the view menu, press Ctrl+I, or click its tool button in the Paper Space Bar. The Info Box appears.

Right now we are only interested in the View Frame Property area of the Info Box, but notice that View Settings including Layer and Light Source options and Drawing Display Size (print scale) are accessible from the Info Box as well.

Disable the preserve aspect ratio option by clicking it with the mouse. Disabling this option just means that the relationship of the vertical and horizontal dimensions of the view frame can change. Since only the Height is going to be changed, the Width of the view frame will not be affected. Change the height value to 6.5 and press Enter. The view frame size is updated. Now press Esc to exit the Info Box.

You might be wondering why the view frame completely filled the Paper Space when the view frame size was 7.5x10 inches and the paper size for the new layout was specified as 8.5x11 inches. The reason for this is that the margin area (0.5 in. on all sides) is not included in the displayed Paper Space.

At this point the view frame is still centered on the Paper Space, which only leaves a 1/2 inch space at the bottom of the Paper Space; however, there is a 1/2 inch of space at the top of the Paper Space as well. The view frame just needs to be moved so that the top edge of the view frame coincides with the top edge of the Paper Space.

With the view frame still selected, just select the move command from the selection edit submenu of the edit menu or move the cursor over the selection handle for the view frame and click the mouse. Move the view frame so that the top edge of the view frame and the top edge of the Paper Space are aligned vertically and the view frame is centered from left to right. Click the mouse to drop the view frame into place.

Now that there is a 1 inch space at the bottom of the Paper Space, use the Line command and the Text command to draw a title block in the right side of that area. Here is an example of a simple title block.

Once your title block is finished, it is time to save the new layout as a template.

In the layout menu, select the save current layout as template command. The Save Paper Space Template dialog box appears.

Enter FirstCustomTemplate for the file name and click the save button. Your KB20 layout is saved in the FirstCustomTemplate template.

The next time you want to print a drawing using this view and title block, just open the drawing and load the Paper Space Template.

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