ZOOM

ZOOM changes how much of the drawing you see. Zooming in makes things look bigger so you can work on details; zooming out shows more of the drawing. It only changes the view: nothing in the drawing moves or changes size.

How it works

Most of the time you zoom with the mouse wheel, without any command. Roll the wheel forward to zoom in and back to zoom out. The point under the cursor stays where it is, so point at what you want to look at. Hold the wheel down, or the middle button, and drag to move the view.

For an exact view, type Z and press Enter, then choose an option. ZOOM ends as soon as the view has changed.

Command line

Command: Z
Specify corner of window, enter a scale factor (nX or nXP), or [All/Center/Dynamic/Extents/Previous/Scale/Window/Object] <real time>: E
Zoom extents.

To zoom into an area, click one corner of it at the first prompt, then the other:

Command line

Command: Z
Specify corner of window, enter a scale factor (nX or nXP), or [All/Center/Dynamic/Extents/Previous/Scale/Window/Object] <real time>: (click one corner)
Specify opposite corner: (click the other corner)

Options

Option	What it does
A point	Clicking, or typing a point such as 10,10, starts a window at once. Musa CAD asks Specify opposite corner: and fills the screen with that rectangle.
nX	A factor against the view you have now. 2x makes everything look twice as big, 0.5x half as big. Musa CAD says, for example, Zoom 2.0000x. nXP does the same.
n	A number without X is a factor against the drawing LIMITS. 1 fits the limits to the screen, 2 shows them twice as big.
All (A)	Fits everything in the drawing on screen. It does the same as Extents.
Center (C)	Asks Specify center point:, then Enter magnification or height. Type a height in drawing units to show that much from top to bottom, or a factor such as 2x. The brackets show the height you see now; Enter keeps it and just centres the view on the point.
Dynamic (D)	Not available. Musa CAD says Dynamic zoom is not available; specify a window. and asks for a window instead.
Extents (E)	Fits everything in the drawing on screen, with a margin of a tenth of its size on each side. Musa CAD says Zoom extents.
Previous (P)	Goes back to the view before the last ZOOM or -PAN. It remembers ten views. With none left, it says No previous view saved.
Scale (S)	Asks Enter a scale factor (nX or nXP): and takes nX or n as above.
Window (W)	Asks Specify first corner: and Specify opposite corner:, then fills the screen with that rectangle.
Object (O)	Not available yet. Musa CAD says Zoom Object is not available yet; specify a window. and asks for a window instead.
Enter	At the first prompt, ends the command. Use the mouse wheel to zoom freely.

Other ways to zoom

• The View tab of the ribbon has a Zoom button with Zoom Extents, Zoom All, Zoom In, Zoom Out and Zoom Scale in its menu.
• NAVBAR shows a bar at the right edge of the drawing with Zoom Extents, Zoom Window, Zoom Previous, Zoom In and Zoom Out.
• With the drawing split into tiles by VPORTS, the wheel zooms the tile under the cursor.

Good to know

• Each notch of the wheel zooms by a factor of 1.2.
• Previous only goes back through views set by ZOOM and -PAN. Zooming with the wheel and dragging the view are not remembered.
• A typed factor must be more than 0. Anything ZOOM cannot read is answered with Requires a point, a scale factor (nX or nXP), or an option keyword.
• In a layout, after MSPACE takes you into a viewport, ZOOM sets that viewport’s view and so its scale.
• Zooming is not an edit, so U does not undo it. Use Previous.

Compared with AutoCAD

ZOOM has AutoCAD’s prompt and options, but Dynamic and Object fall back to a window, and All fits the drawing’s extents just as Extents does. Pressing Enter for <real time> ends the command, because the mouse wheel already zooms in real time.

Next

• Move the view without zooming with PAN.
• Save a view by name and come back to it with VIEW.
• Get to know the drawing area, the ribbon and the status bar in A tour of the interface.