You can control the size of the plot on the paper, the orientation of the plot, and its placement.
Usually, you draw objects at their actual size. That is, you decide how to interpret the size of a unit (an inch, a millimeter, a meter) and draw on a 1:1 scale. For example, if your unit of measurement is millimeters, then every unit in your drawing represents a millimeter. When you plot the drawing, you either specify a precise scale or fit the image to the paper.
Most final drawings are plotted at a precise scale. The method used to set the plot scale depends on whether you plot from model space or from paper space:
In model space, you can establish the scale in the Print / Plot Configuration dialog box. This scale represents a ratio of plotted units to the world-size units you used to draw the model. For more information, see Calculating the Scale Factor.
In paper space, you work with two scales: The first affects the overall layout of the drawing, which usually is scaled 1:1, based on the paper size. The second is the scale of the model itself, which is displayed in floating viewports. The scale in each of these viewports represents a ratio of the paper size to the size of the model in the viewport. (You scale each viewport using the XP option of ZOOM.) For more information, see Scaling Views and Linetypes (PSPACE).
When you plot, you can choose the unit type, inches or millimeters, under Paper Size and Orientation. For example, if MM is selected, entering 1 under Plotted MM and 10 under Drawing Units produces a plotted drawing in which each plotted millimeter represents 10 actual millimeters.
The illustrations show a light bulb plotted at three different scales.
When you review drafts, a precise scale is not always important. You can use the Scaled to Fit option to plot the view at the largest possible size that fits the paper. AutoCAD LT fits the height or width of the drawing to the corresponding height or width of the paper.
When you plot a perspective view from model space, the view is scaled to fit the paper, even when you enter a scale.
When you choose the Scaled to Fit option, the text boxes change to reflect the ratio of plotted units to drawing units. AutoCAD LT updates this scale whenever you change the unit type, paper size, plotter, plot origin, orientation, or size of the plotted area in the Print / Plot Configuration dialog box.
You can rotate the image to adjust its orientation, and you can change the plot origin to reposition the image.
The home position, or lower-left corner of the plotted area, is determined by your plotter. If necessary, you can change the drawing's plot origin (normally set to 0,0) to adjust the position of the plotted drawing relative to the plotter's home position. For example, the home position for pen plotters is usually well within the edges of the paper. You can access the plot origin settings by choosing Rotation and Origin in the Print / Plot Configuration dialog box.
Positive offset values shift the rotated image up or to the right; negative values shift the rotated image down or to the left. For example, to plot the lower-left corner of the drawing nearer to the lower-left corner of the paper, you might set X Origin to 1.0 and Y Origin to 0.5.
For raster printers, the home position often is as close as 0.25 units from each edge of the paper; however, many printers do not print that close to the edge. To avoid cropping off part of the drawing when you print, you can specify a new plot origin. For example, if the lower-left part of the drawing is being cropped off when it's plotted, try setting X Origin and Y Origin to 0.5 to establish a plot margin 0.50 units in and up from the plotter's home position.
If you change the plot rotation, the home position remains in the lower-left corner of the rotated plot area.
The effect of the rotation and origin settings varies with the plotter you use. For information about the home position or clipping regions for your output device, see the documentation for your printer or plotter.
To use the plot rotation method available in AutoCAD LT Release 2 or earlier, set the PLOTROTMODE system variable to 0. This method rotates the home position (from which the origin offsets are calculated) as you rotate the plot. When the variable is set to 1 (default), the home position stays in the lower-left corner when the plot is rotated.