You might be surprised to learn that, in BricsCAD®, you can split the Model Space drawing view into two or more viewports. This allows you to see the same drawing in several different ways, for example, zoomed-in, from a different angle, with a different View style and even, with different visible layers.

How to split the view in your workspace

The create a split view in BricsCAD:

  1. Use the VPORTS  command or locate the Viewports button under the View tab of the Ribbon.
  2. Choose Create 2 viewports, Create 3 viewports or Create 4 viewports.
  3. Choose Horizontal, Vertical, Above, Below, Left or Right.
    Note: options vary based on the number of viewports selected in step 2.

The active viewport is surrounded by a heavy line. To change the active viewport, simply click the viewport you wish to make the active viewport or use the Ctrl+R shortcut to cycle between viewports.

Split Views with Viewports - Tuesday Tips- multi view

Change the view angle

Each viewport can have a different view angle. Control your view angles as you would a single viewport. Use the mouse or the LookFrom widget to change the view in the current viewport.

Want to split the workspace into more than 4 viewports?

No problem! You can split a viewport into yet more viewports.

  1. Select the viewport to split.
  2. Use the VPORTS  command.
  3. Select Create 2 viewports, Create 3 viewports or Create 4 viewports.

Split Views with Viewports - Tuesday Tips- join split

You can also merge viewports.

  1. Enter the VPORTS  command.
  2. Enter Join(J).
  3. Click to select the viewport you want to merge with the active viewport.

Change the visual style

You can change each viewport to a different visual style. You can even set different options in each viewport; Grid view, Layer view, etc.

Split Views with Viewports - Tuesday Tips- view style

Switch between viewport mid-command

You can move from one viewport to another mid-command. Simply click the other viewport (to set it as the active viewport) then continue the command. You can switch as many times as you need to.Split Views with Viewports - Tuesday Tips- switch

Save a viewport layout

To save a viewport:

  1. Enter the VPORTS command.
  2. Enter Save(S).
  3. Choose a name for your viewport.

To load a saved viewport:

  1. Enter the VPORTS command.
  2. Enter Restore(R).
  3. Type the name of the viewport to restore to.

Note: the viewport layout is only saved for the current drawing.

Revert to a single viewport

If you've had enough of split views you can quickly revert to a single view:

  1. Enter the VPORTS command
  2. Enter Single(SI) -- and you're back to one, single view of your model.Split Views with Viewports - Tuesday Tips- single

Alternatively, choose the Toggle option to temporarily, make the active viewport the only view.

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