Canvases

Creating dedicated spaces in your model.

Canvases can be found in the Canvas section of the Layer panel, behind the + button of the panel.

What is a canvas?

A canvas is a space in a model where things can be drawn. A model can contain multiple canvases. A canvas carries its on own settings (its units, its own active layer, its line scale and display settings) and its on entities (in the layer panel).

Canvases come in two different types: model canvases, and paper canvases.

• A model canvas is usually where you will draw real scale, 1–1 things, like buildings. In a model canvas, the units are in meters or in feet, while the line scale is usually set at 1/40.

• A paper canvas is usually where you will create your sheet layout, at the paper scale. In a model canvas, the units are in centimeters or in inches, while the line scale is usually set at 1/1, so that the thickness of the things is the one you get when exporting your document set.

Using canvases

Both model and paper canvases can be created from the + of the layer panel. A canvas can be made active by simply clicking on it in the layer panel.

Using canvas with views

Canvases become especially useful when used with views; a drawing, made in a model canvas, can be turned into a professional-grade layout by creating a few views of it on a paper canvas.

More on this topic in our view documentation.

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