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  3. Printing and Plotting
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General procedure for printing

Commands: PLOT, PRINT, QPRINT, PAGESETUP, PUBLISH

  • The Plot command plots drawings to printers and to files, through prompts at the command bar; this command is meant for scripts and routines.
  • The Print command prints drawings to plotters and files through a dialog box.
  • The Qprint command prints the drawing with the default plot configuration, without displaying the Print dialog box (short for "quick print").
  • The PageSetup command creates and edits page setups for plotting drawings in the Drawing Explorer.

A standard print procedure consists of the following steps:

The following steps are optional and only necessary if you want to use overrides on the selected page setup definition.

  • Choose a Printer or Plotter Configuration. (2)

  • Choose a Plot style table. (3)

  • Choose a Paper Size. (4)
    The image reflects the position and orientation of the drawing on the selected paper size.

  • Choose the Paper Units. (5)

  • Choose the Drawing Orientation.(6)

  • Define the Plot offset. (7)

  • Specify the Area to plot. (8)

  • Define the Plot Scale. (9)

  • Check the Plot Options. (10)

  • When printing model space, choose a Shade Plot mode. (11)
    This option is disabled when printing a paper space layout.

  • Check/uncheck the Print to file option (12)

  • Specify the Number of copies. (13)

  • Click the Preview button to see a preview of the plot output.

  • When in a layout, click the Apply button to update the layout.

  • Click the Print button to start printing.

NOTE

All print settings and options are saved in the Model and each of the Layouts .

 

To open the Print dialog

Do one of the following:

  • Choose Print... in the File menu.

  • Type print in the command bar, then press Enter.

  • Press Ctrl+P

  • Select the Model tab or a Layout tab, then right click and choose Print in the context menu.

NOTE

If you click the Print () button in the Standard toolbar, the Qprint command is launched, which will start printing the currently selected view tab using previously saved print settings.

 

To choose the paper size

Press the down arrow, then select the paper size in the Paper Size list.
The available sizes depend on the selected printer.

 

To choose the paper units

Select either Inches or Millimeters .

The paper size image indicates the size, position and orientation of the plot area on the selected paper size.

NOTE

The Scale and Plot offset setting units are changed according to the chosen Paper units.

 

To choose the paper orientation

Select either Portrait or Landscape .

  • Portrait : The drawing or layout x-axis is aligned with the shortest edge of the selected paper size.

  • Landscape : The drawing or layout x-axis is aligned with the longest edge of the selected paper size.

The paper size image changes accordingly.
When in a layout, click the Apply button to update the display.

 

To define the plot offset

Select either Center on page

Or

type the plot offset in the X: and Y: fields.

The offset is calculated from the bottom left corner of the paper.

When in a layout, click the Apply button to update the display.

 

To specify the area to plot

Option

Result

View

Prints the portion of the drawing that displays in the current viewport or a saved view.

Extents

Prints all entities in the drawing

Limits

Prints to the limits defined in the drawing

This option is only available when printing in Model space.

Layout

Prints the current layout.

This option is only available when printing in Paper space.

Window

Prints the portion of the drawing contained in a user defined window, maintaining the aspect ratio of the windowed area to the drawing.

Click the Select print area button (), then specify the two corners of the print area in the drawing.

or

Type the the X- and Y-coordinates of the corners of the print area in the X: and Y: fields.

 

To define the plot scale

NOTE

The SCALELISTEDIT command allows to edit the list of available scales in the Print dialog and the Standard Scale property of a paper space viewport.

... when printing in paper space:

If you print in paper space, the final scale of the plot output is the product of the viewport scale and the plot scale.
In order to keep control over the scale of the plot output:

  • Specify the width and height of the viewports in drawing units.
  • Set the scale of each viewport to the scale you want in the plot output.
  • The plot scale reflects the relationship between paper units and drawing units. (see table below)

Paper units

Drawing units

Plot scale

Printed
Millimeters
or Inches

Drawing Units

mm

mm

1:1

1

1

mm

cm

10:1

10

1

mm

m

1000:1

1000

1

inches

inches

1:1

1

1

inches

feet

12:1

12

1

... when printing in model space:

If you print in model space, the scale of the plot output equals the plot scale, on condition your drawing units equal the paper units. Otherwise you need to multiply the plot scale with respect to the relationship between paper units and drawing units. E.g. if you want to plot at a 1/50 scale in a drawing of which 1 DU = 1 cm, the plot scale = 1/5, if 1 DU = 1 m the plot scale = 20/1 or 1/0.05

 

To set the plot options

Click to toggle the plot options On / Off.

Option

Result

Plot object lineweights

If Plot with plot styles is off, object lineweights are plotted.

Plot with plot styles

Settings of the assigned STB or CTB file are used.

Plot transparencies

Plots entities using the value of the Transparency property.

Plot paperspace last

Entities in Model space are plotted first, paperspace entities last.

Hide paperspace entities

Removes hidden lines from 3D entities in paper space.

This option is disabled when printing model space.

Plot stamp

Adds a header and / or footer.

Click the Edit plot stamp button () to define the plot stamp.

Save changes to layout

All changes made in the Print dialog are saved in the layout.

This option toggles the Save changes to layout variable

 

To set the shade plot mode

Under Shade viewport options , click the list button, then select an option:

NOTE

This option applies to model space printing only.

The Shade Plot mode of a paper space viewport is defined in the Shade Plot property of the viewport.

 

To define the plot stamp

  1. Click the Edit plot stamp button ().
    The Plot stamp dialog opens.

  2. In the Header field, do one of the following:

    • Type the header text.
    • Click the down arrow button, then choose a variable in the drop down list.
    • Type one or more variable names.
    • Leave the field empty.

  3. In the Footer field, do one of the following:

    • Type the footer text.
    • Click the down arrow button, then choose a variable in the drop down list.
    • Type one or more variable names.
    • Leave the field empty.

  4. Select a font in the Font list button.

  5. Enter a value in the Font Size field

  6. Set the unit type to Millimeters or Inches .

  7. Click the OK button to confirm.

The plot stamp settings are saved to a series of user preferences in the current user profile, which can be edited in the Settings dialog under Program Options / Plot and Publish / Plot Stamp :

Variables

Name

Description

$Name

Adds the name of the current user, as definied in the User Name field of the License Information.

$Company

Adds company name of the current user, as definied in the Company field of the License Information.

$Date

Adds the current date.

$DateTime

Adds the current date and time.

$DwgName

Adds the file name and path of the drawing.

NOTE

The header and footer text consists of three parts (left, center and right), separated by commas.

By default the header and footer text is centered.

The header and footer text can be outlined left center and/or right by separating the text with commas.
e.g. $Name,$Company,$Date places your name left, company name centered and the current date at the right.

Type a space before one of the commas to leave one of the parts empty, thus outlining the header or footer left or right.

  • $Company, , ($Company,<space>,<space>) outlines the company name left.

  • , ,$Company (<space>,<space>,$Company) outlines the comapny name right.

Tutorial: Creating Plot Stamps

Click here to watch

 

To specify the number of copies

Do one of the following:

  • Type the desired number in the Number of copies field.

  • Click the up-arrow and the down-arrow buttons to specify the number of copies.

 

To see a preview of the plot output

  1. Do one of the following:

    • Click the Preview button on the Print or Page Setup dialogs.
    • Choose Print Preview... in the File menu.
    • Type preview in the command bar, then press Enter.

  2. (option) Use the mouse scroll wheel to zoom. Double click the middle mouse button to zoom extents.

  3. To close the Print Preview window, do one of the following:

    • Click the Close button to return to the drawing window.
    • Click the Print Settings... button to open the Print dialog.
    • Click the Print button to start printing.

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