printing and plotting - datacad.com · printing and plotting / 369 prints the current drawing...

Printing and Plotting 7

DataCAD’s printing function contains numerous options giving you powerful flexibility over printer selection, detail layout, sheet setup, line color, and geometry position. The Pen Table combines pen assignment, pen width, and options to print in black, grayscale, screened color, or full color, so that you get the output you want. The Print Preview options allows you to see a WYSIWYG preview of drawings before you plot them or send them out to a service bureau; it also provides an option to save the preview as an Adobe Acrobat® PDF file for distribution over the Internet. The batch plotting function saves valuable office time by allowing you to plot multiple drawings from multiple files after hours.

In this chapter:

± Assigning pens

± Doing check plots

± Saving and loading pen tables

± Rotating your drawing to plot

± Quick layout

± Multi-scale layout

± Using multiple sheets

± Print preview

± Batch plotting

Tutorial

/ Construction Drawing 368

Tutorial DataCAD has many options available for plotting or printing your drawing. This chapter will focus on printing your plan on an 8 1/2” x 11” sheet of paper.

If you are not in DataCAD, start DataCAD now. Choose the drawing you worked on in the previous tutorials.

Plotting Your Schoolhouse Drawing Before plotting the schoolhouse floor plan, make sure:

• a printer or plotter is either connected to your computer or available via a network connection

• the printer or plotter is turned on and is online or ready to receive data

• you have the corresponding Windows driver for your printer installed on your computer (see your printer’s manual for more information about installing a printer driver)

è To plot the schoolhouse:

1. Choose Print from the File pull-down menu in the Menu Bar, or choose Plotter from the Utility menu in the Menu Window. The following message is displayed: A printer has not yet been selected for this drawing. Please click OK to open the Print Setup dialog box and assign a printer to this drawing file. Since this is the first time you’ve printed this drawing, DataCAD requires you to choose a printer, paper size, and orientation before you assign pens, complete a print layout, and plot your drawing. To accept the default settings, click OK and skip to step 5; otherwise, continue with steps 2-4 below.

2. In the Printer/Plotter Settings dialog box, choose a printer from the Printer Name drop-down box.

3. Choose a paper size. The sizes available are read from your printer driver. If a size you want is not displayed in the drop-down box, your printer may not support it. Choose the closest appropriate size or use the User-Defined option if available, or use a different printer.

You can exit DataCAD and open the printer driver to see what paper sizes are supported. Many times, the default settings of the driver do not include all supported sizes – they must be activated by checking them.

4. Click OK to close the Settings dialog box. The Plotter menu is displayed in the Menu Window.

Tutorial

Printing and Plotting / 369

Prints the current drawing layout

Accesses the pen table dialogue box

Calls up a multi-scale plotting sheet

Accesses the print set up dialogue shown at right

Menu title

The Plotter menu and Setup dialog box

5. Choose Scale to set the plotting scale. The current plotting scale is displayed in the Message Window.

6. Choose 1/8” if it’s not already the current plotting scale.

7. Choose QwkLyout from the Plotter menu. A dashed box appears representing the 8 1/2” x 11” sheet. If you move the cursor over the Drawing Window, you will find a movable copy of this box. You are prompted: Locate sheet of paper using cursor, “ENTER” to end.

8. With the box centered over the drawing, click the middle mouse button. This object snaps to the center of the title block (the centered point of the rectangle) and centers the title block. You can also move the box anywhere you want and click with the left mouse button.

9. Choose Plot to send the drawing directly to the plotter or printer. The schoolhouse floor plan is plotted.

Tutorial


Printing Options There are many printing options that help you get the plotted output you want. In the next set of exercises, you will use a few of the images that were created in this book to build a plot that contains multiple drawings. Each drawing added to the plot can be set to a different scale.

Assigning Pens Use Pen Assignments in the Pen Table dialog box to set a hierarchy of line weights, which help add line definition to your drawings. For example, if your walls were a heavier line weight than your doors and windows, the door and window openings would appear clearer. This difference in line weight helps define the content of your drawing.

è To set the pens for printing the schoolhouse drawing:

1. Choose Plotter.

2. Choose PenTable to open the Pen Table dialog box. In the Pen Assignments section, you will assign pen numbers to match the colors used in the drawing. You’ll notice that the first color in the Pen Assignments list box is highlighted.

3. Select White in the Pen Assignments box, if it’s not already highlighted. Notice that just below this list box is a small box displaying the highlighted color, followed by an equal sign and a number in a small input box. This number is the pen that will be used to plot all white lines in your drawing.

4. Type 1 in the input box. The color white is now set for pen number 1.

5. Select Red in the Pen Assignments box or press (¥) to highlight Red.

6. Type 3 in the input box. The color red is now set for pen number 3.

7. Set the remainder of the colors: for Green use pen 1, for Cyan use 3, for Magenta use 3, for Brown use 4, for Lt. Grey use 4, for Lt. Red use 2, for Lt. Green use 3, and for Yellow use 2.

8. Click OK to save the pen assignments and close the Pen Table dialog box.

9. Right-click to return to the Utility menu.

The Pen Table dialog box also includes a Pen Settings section that allows you to choose the pen width, color, and color density for each pen you assigned in the Pen Assignments portion of the dialog box. See “Pen Table Settings” later in this chapter for detailed information on using the Pen Table.

Tutorial


Using Multi-scale Plotting The GotoViews menu will help you automate the viewing process which, in turn, is used with multi-scale plotting to place differently scaled details on the same sheet. You can choose GotoView in the Utility menu, in the 3DViews menu, or from the View pull-down menu to assign an unlimited number of views. Each view can have its own set of assigned layers. For example, in this schoolhouse tutorial, there are 14 different layers. If you want to view only the Walls, Doors, and Windows layers, you can create a view using GotoView with only these three layers visible. When you choose that view, all layers except Walls, Doors and Windows will automatically be toggled off. Choose another predefined view to turn on a different set of layers. Using GotoView, you can quickly change your view and continue working.

The GotoView option is a helpful tool to use when you have a drawing that contains floor plans, elevations, sections, and 3D models. In the following steps, you will establish two views, which help complete the remainder of this schoolhouse project.

1. Choose Orthographic from the View pull-down menu for plan view.

2. Recalculate the extents of the drawing.

3. Choose GotoView from the View pull-down menu.

4. Choose Add View. You are prompted: Enter name of new view?

5. Name the view 3DPlan.

6. Toggle the Doors, Windows, Plumb, Dim, Hatch, and Notes layers on.

7. Toggle the 3DWalls, 3DWindow, 3DDoors, 3DRoof, and 3DMisc layers off.

8. Recalculate the extents of the drawing.

9. Choose GotoView from the View pull-down menu.

10. Choose Add View. You are prompted: Enter name of new view?

11. Name the view 2DPlan.

Anytime you need to switch between 3D layers and 2D layers, use the GotoView menu. In the next section, you will use the views you just set.

è To use multi-scale plotting:

1. Press (L) to go to the Layers menu.

2. Make Border the only active layer using ActvOnly from the Layer menu.

3. Recalculate the extents of the drawing by clicking on R on the Navigation Pad or by choosing WindowIn Recalc from the View pull-down menu in the Menu Bar.

Tutorial


4. Right-click to return to the Utility menu.

5. Choose Plotter.

6. Choose MltLyout.

7. Choose Layout. The drawing appears as a box attached to the cursor; the dashed box represents the 8 1/2” x 11” sheet. You are prompted: Locate detail on sheet of paper, “ENTER” to end.

8. Center the drawing in the dashed box and click to set the title block in place. You are prompted: Enter name of new detail: detail 1.

9. Type Titleblk and press (Enter).

10. Right-click twice to return to the Utility menu.

11. Choose GotoView.

12. Choose 2DPlan. Right-click once.


14. Choose Plotter from the Utility menu.

15. Choose MltLyout.


17. Center the drawing over the dashed box and click the left mouse button to set the plan in place. You are prompted: Enter name of new detail: detail 2.

18. Type Plan and press (Enter).


20. Make FrntElev the only active layer. The elevation that was created earlier is now on the screen.


22. Choose Scale to change the scale factor.

23. Choose 1/16”.



Tutorial


26. Move the drawing into the upper-right quarter of the dashed box. Click to set the elevation in place. You are prompted: Enter name of new detail: detail 3.

27. Type FrntElev and press (Enter).


29. Make Hide1 the only active layer.


31. Choose Scale to change the scale factor.

32. Choose 1:20.


34. Choose Layout. The drawing appears as a box attached to the cursor and the dashed box that appears representing the 8 1/2” x 11” sheet. You are prompted: Locate detail on sheet of paper, “ENTER” to end.

35. Move the drawing into the lower-right quarter of the dashed box. Click to set the perspective in place.

36. Add a new detail named Perspect.

37. Return to the Plotter main menu.

38. Choose Plot to send the drawing directly to the plotter.

You can press (PgUp) and (PgDn) to change the scale of any detail on-the-fly before you place it on the sheet.

This completes the Printing and Plotting Tutorial. To continue with the tutorial exercises, turn to the “Tutorial” section at the beginning of the “Automated Modeling” chapter.

Printing and Plotting


Printing and Plotting The Plotter menu has a wide variety of plotting options that let you do everything from choosing the paper size and pen width for your plot to setting the scale size of your drawing and plotting multiple details of your drawing on one sheet of paper.

The first time you plot a new drawing, you need to set several parameters, including the printer or plotter to be used, the paper size and orientation, and the layout orientation. These settings become part of the drawing when you save the file. DataCAD remembers these settings the next time you plot the drawing. They can be changed through the Setup option in the Plotter menu.

In addition to connecting your printer or plotter to your computer, you must have the corresponding Windows driver for your printer installed on your computer in order to print from DataCAD. See your printer’s manual for more information about installing a printer driver.

è To print your drawing:

1. If you toggled ShowTxt, ShowDim, ShowHtch, or ShowWgt off in the Utility/Display menu, toggle them back on to print text, dimensions, hatching, and line weights. You may also want to verify other Display settings, as your drawing will print as it’s displayed.

2. Choose Print from the File pull-down menu in the Menu Bar, or choose Plotter from the Utility menu in the Menu Window.

3. If this is the first time you’ve printed this drawing, a message will be displayed, notifying you that a printer has not yet been selected for the drawing. Click OK to open the Printer/Plotter Settings dialog box and assign a printer to this drawing file.

4. In a new drawing, the Windows default printer is selected for use; in a drawing that’s been printed before, the printer or plotter you last used for the drawing will be selected. You can use this printer or choose another printer from the list box.

5. Choose a paper size from the Size list box. The Effective Plotting Area (soft clipping limits) is displayed directly below Paper Size and is the printable area for the paper size you’ve selected, as defined by the printer manufacturer’s driver. Any part of your drawing extending outside this area will not be printed.



Limits of 24”x36” sheet

Effective plotting area, as reported by Windows driver inprint set-up for the selected printer (23.6”x34.66”)

Limits of drawing must be within effective plotting area

Non-printing region

Note the differences between the outermost edges of the drawing, the effective plotting area, and the edge of the sheet.

The paper sizes available in the Paper Size list box in the Settings dialog box are read from your printer driver. If a size you want is not displayed in the drop-down box, your printer either does not support it or it is not selected. Choose the closest appropriate size or select User-defined if available, or use a different printer.

Some printer drivers – LaserJets and older plotters – do not support user-defined paper sizes, even though that option remains listed in the Paper Size drop-down box. When you enter Width and Length values in the User Defined Paper Size section of the Printer/Plotter Settings dialog box, the Effective Plotting Area reported in the Paper section will change based on the width and length you entered. If it doesn’t change, your printer does not support user-defined paper sizes; choose another paper size from the Size drop-down box.

6. Choose a Normal or Rotated paper orientation at your printer or plotter.



7. You can also do a check plot from this dialog box, which allows you to, for instance, do a quick test print to your laser printer before sending the file to your plotter. Please note that the Check Plot section has its own printer, paper size and orientation settings, which are separate from the rest of the dialog box. If you’d like to do a check plot, select either the Fit to option to fit the drawing to a page or the Use this factor option to scale your drawing for the check plot. Pen widths, as set in the Pen Table, are also scaled. Choose a printer and the Paper Orientation at Device as well.

When you select Check Plot options, the rest of the Settings dialog box is grayed out; this indicates that when you print the drawing, the Check Plot settings will be used instead of those in the rest of the Printer/Plotter Settings dialog box.

8. Click OK to close the Settings dialog box. The Plotter menu is displayed in the Menu Window.

9. Choose Scale from the Plotter menu to set the plotting scale for the drawing. Choose NoChange to retain the current settings.

10. Choose PenTable from the Plotter menu and set the pen/color assignments and pen widths as well as whether to print all lines as black or in full color, screened color, or grayscale. See “Pen Table Settings” below for more information on Pen Table options.

11. Choose QwkLyout or MltLyout to place the drawing for plotting. See “Laying Out Your Drawing” later in this chapter for information on using QwkLyout and MltLyout.

You may need to rescale the drawing or detail if it extends beyond the paper layout boundary or if it is much smaller than the layout boundary. See “Laying Out Your Drawing” for more information about how to rescale your drawing or detail.

12. You can use the Print Preview feature to preview your plot on screen before you actually send it to the plotter. Toggle Preview on in the Plotter menu and then choose Plot. To preview a partial plot, toggle Preview on in the Partial menu before selecting the entities to be plotted. You cannot preview a plot before using the ToFile option in the Plotter menu. (See Print Preview later in this chapter for details on Preview options.)

13. Plot the drawing or detail using one of the following:

• Choose Plot to plot the drawing.

• Choose ToFile to store the drawing as a plot (.PLT) file. Enter a filename in the Save Plotter Output dialog box and click OK. The plot (.PLT) file is saved by default in the PLT folder.



• Choose Partial to plot only a certain entity, group, area, fence, or selection set of the drawing. Using the selection menu in the Partial menu, select the entities you want to plot. Toggle LyrSrch on to select entities on all visible layers. Toggle LyrSrch off to select entities only on the active layer.

To interrupt a plot in progress, press (End).

Pen Table Settings The Pen Table dialog box is divided into two parts, Pen Assignments and Pen Settings. In the Pen Assignments section, you can assign plotter pens (by pen number) to each color in your drawing. Choose PenTable from the Plotter menu to open the Pen Table dialog box.

The Pen Settings section lists pens 1 through 15 with corresponding pen widths in millimeters, the percentage of color density, and whether to print lines in color or all in black. The Percent Density setting lets you plot using screened colors; "100%" prints full color, while entering a lesser value prints a screened color. To change the Width or Percent Density for a pen, click in the text input box and type a new value. Choose OK to save your changes; choose Cancel to retain the previous settings.

Percent Density is supported only on devices that accept RGB color definitions. For example, a LaserJet IV can print shades of gray using screened black. However, a LaserJet III will ignore these values and print them as solid black lines.

The Map to Color option for each pen allows you to print lines in color, gray scale or black -- or all of these at once in a single print! By default, the Map to Color checkbox is not selected, and entities are printed as they're seen on screen. To print lines in a different color from what appears on screen, check Map to Color. Each time you check a Map to Color box, the Color dialog box is displayed, allowing you to choose the color to plot. When you click OK, the Color dialog box closes and the color you chose is displayed behind the Map to Color checkbox.

To print all lines in black, regardless of what color they are on screen, check All Black at the bottom of the Pen Settings section. The Percent Density and Map to Color options are used only for color and grayscale printing and are available only when AllBlack is toggled off.



To print lines in your drawing in a specific color and width, first assign a pen number (1-15) to the on-screen line color in the Pen Assignment table on the left

Next, set the desired width, density and printed color for that pen number in the Pen Settings table on the right

Other Pen Table options:

Checking the Map to Color box promptsyou to select a printed color for the pen.The color selected will be displayed in the color swatch

If the Map to Color box is not checked, the pen number will print in the on-screencolor

Checking the All Black option overrides the above color settings and prints allpens in black

In the table above, lines drawn in Lt Blue are assigned to pennumber 7. Pen number 7 is set to plot at 6mm width, 100% densityin a grey color.

It’s important to note that lines can be printed in a different color than their on-screen color.

è To assign pens:

1. Click on the color you’d like to assign in the Pen Assignments list, or use your arrow keys on your keyboard to scroll through the list and highlight a color.

2. Notice that just below this list box is a small box displaying the highlighted color, followed by an equal sign and a number in a small input box. This number is the pen that will be used to plot all lines drawn in the highlighted color in your drawing. Type the number of the pen you’d like to assign to that color.



3. Continue highlighting colors in the Pen Assignments list and assigning pens, as necessary.

4. Click OK to save the pen assignments and close the Pen Table dialog box.

Map to Color only affects printing; it does not change entity colors.

Some black and white printers will automatically produce grayscale print when Map to Color and AllBlack are left unchecked.

Pen Table Examples • If you set the Width for Pen 1 to .25 and the Percent Density to 20% and leave

Map to Color unchecked, all lines printed with Pen 1 will be printed .25 mm wide in 20% of their full color (20% color screen). Full color is a color at 100% density.

• To print in gray scale, check the Map to Color option for any pen you'd like to print as gray scale. The Windows Color dialog box appears. Since black is chosen by default, click OK to accept black as the color mapped to that pen. Then set Percent Density: to print a half-toned black color, change Percent Density to 50%.

• To print lines in a different color than they appear on screen, click on the Map to Color checkbox. Choose a color from the Windows Color dialog box; black is chosen by default. Click OK. All lines using that pen will be printed in the chosen color, regardless of their color on the screen. NOTE: Map to Color only affects printing; it does not change entity colors.

You can produce heavy text on a print by drawing all text in a specific color and mapping that color to a thicker pen in the PenTable dialog box.



Saving and Loading Pen Settings You can save your Pen Table settings in a .PEN file as well as load saved settings into the Pen Table. This allows you to create multiple Pen Table configurations for a variety of uses; changing pen settings then becomes as simple as loading a new Pen Table. The name of the Pen Table used for a drawing is stored in the drawing file; the default Pen Table filename is DCADWIN.PEN, located in the \SUP folder in your main DataCAD folder.

è To save Pen Table settings:

1. Click Save As from the Pen Table dialog box.

2. Type a filename and click Save.

è To load Pen Table settings:

1. Click Load from the Pen Table dialog box.

2. Select a pen (.PEN) file from the Load Pen File dialog box and click Open.

Additional Plotter Menu Options

è To set the amount of space between pen passes in multi-weight lines:

1. Choose PenWidth from the Plotter menu. A list of values is displayed.

2. Choose or type a value (in 1/100”) and press (Enter).

è To rotate the plot to any angle on the sheet:

1. Choose Rotate from the Plotter menu.

2. Select the center of rotation (usually the drawing center). A list of values appears.

3. Choose or type the angle of rotation and press (Enter).

4. DataCAD accesses the QwkLyout menu to place the rotated plot. Only the geometry to be plotted is rotated; the original drawing is not rotated.

When you toggle Rotate off to cancel the rotating function, DataCAD accesses the QwkLyout menu to place the unrotated plot.

If you last used the MltLyout option rather than the QwkLyout option, you will only be prompted for an angle of rotation; DataCAD automatically uses the center of your drawing for the center of rotation. You will then be returned to the Plotter menu to choose QwkLyout or MltLyout.



The 3DViews option at the bottom of the Plotter menu lets you quickly access the 3D viewing portion of DataCAD. You can quickly set up a three-dimensional view for plotting because it places you directly in the 3DViews menu. See the “3D Viewing” chapter for further information on generating 3D views.

Laying Out Your Drawing You have two options to lay out your drawing. Quick layout (QwkLyout) quickly plots your drawing at a single scale. The multi-scale plotting (MltLyout) feature, however, lets you place multiple details, at different scales, on one sheet of plotting paper.

If you change any printing settings, be sure to return to QwkLyout or MltLyout to check the layout of your drawing.

è To quickly lay out a drawing for plotting at a single scale:

1. Select QwkLyout from the Plotter menu. A dashed grid representing the plotting area of the selected paper size appears when you move your mouse.

2. Move the layout cursor to place the paper over the drawing. Place the area of the paper where you want the drawing to plot to over the drawing. If the drawing is larger or much smaller than the rectangular layout area, redefine the plotting scale before continuing.

3. Click to place the drawing on the paper area. You return to the Plotter menu.

4. Choose Plot to plot your drawing.

You can also rotate your drawing before laying it out and printing it. Choose Rotate from the Plotter menu. Choose the center and angle of rotation when prompted in the Message Window. Follow the steps above for doing a quick layout.

Multi-Scale Plotting The multi-scale plotting (MltLyout) option in the Plotter menu has several options. Layout allows you to place multiple details of the open drawing file on the same sheet of plotter paper. Layout also allows you to choose the location of the details on the plotting paper. Before laying out your drawing, you’ll need to define your detail by toggling layers on or off (depending on what drawing elements you want to be included in the detail), change your view, or set up go-to-views.



Multi-scale plotting can be used in conjunction with go-to-views to lay out multiple floors of a building on one sheet. In the 3DViews/GotoView menu, toggle on the layers for the first floor and save the view, toggle on the layers for the second floor and save the view, and so on. Then, from the Plotter/MltLyout menu, choose GotoView and then choose a go-to-view from the list in the Menu Window. Using this method, you can quickly lay out details on a sheet.

The Sheet option in the MltLyout menu lets you choose the sheet on which to lay out your drawing. Any detail or drawing you lay out on a sheet is saved as part of the drawing file. A layout exists on a sheet if the sheet’s name appears green; if no layout is defined on a sheet, its name remains red. The sheet name currently displayed in the Drawing Window appears in blue.

DataCAD provides and stores 256 sheets named Sheet1 through Sheet256. You cannot reorder the sheets, but you can rename them. Choose Rename from the Sheet menu, choose the sheet to rename, and enter a new name.

è To activate a sheet:

1. Choose Sheet from the MltLyout menu. A list of DataCAD sheets appears with one additional option:

Clear Clears the contents of a sheet. Choose Clear and then choose the sheet name to clear. Choose Yes to clear the contents of the selected sheet; choose No to select a different sheet to clear.

2. Choose the sheet on which you want to lay out the current drawing.

3. Choose Exit to return to the MltLyout menu.

4. Choose Layout and continue to lay out the drawing.

Sheet also appears on the main Plotter menu so that you can choose different sheets during the plotting process.

è To rename sheets:

1. Choose Sheet from the MltLyout menu.

2. Choose Rename.

3. Choose the sheet to rename from the list in the Menu Window.

4. Type a new name for the sheet and press (Enter).



The LyoutSet option in the MltLyout menu lets you arrange the layout of the plot paper sheet. You can set the number of X and Y divisions of the layout paper sheet as well as toggle Extents on, so that an extents box appears around the details already placed on the sheet instead of the entities themselves. This reduces refresh time when you open a sheet with several details already on it. When Extents is off, the entities remain on the screen during layout design.

è To set the divisions of a sheet:

1. Choose LyoutDiv from the LyoutSet menu. A list of values appears.

2. Choose or type a paper division for the number of X divisions and press (Enter).

3. Choose or type a paper division for the number of Y divisions and press (Enter).

è To locate the drawing or detail on the sheet for plotting:

1. Select Layout from the MltLyout menu. The layout of the plotting area of the selected paper size appears on screen as a grid. A rectangular layout cursor, defining the area of the drawing or detail to plot, appears when you move the cursor. The size of the layout cursor varies according to the scale you set.

2. Position the layout cursor where you want to plot the drawing or detail on the paper.

Press (PageUp) or (PageDown) to dynamically scale the detail before placing it on the sheet.

3. Press (Enter) or click to place the drawing or detail on the paper area. You are prompted to name the detail.

4. Type a name for the detail, up to eight characters long, and press (Enter). The detail is added to the menu. You are ready to plot.

è To modify detail placement:

1. Select the detail to move from the list of details at the top of the MltLyout menu. The selected detail leaves its previous location and dynamically moves with the layout cursor.

Press (PageUp) or (PageDown) to dynamically scale the detail before placing it on the sheet.

2. Select the new location for the detail.



Use Details in the MltLyout menu to work directly with your drawing details and manage the relationship between your current view in the Drawing Window and any one of the details.

è To update layer settings in a selected detail based on your current view in the Drawing Window:

1. Choose Update from the Details menu.

2. Choose the detail to update from the Menu Window.

è To delete a detail from the layout and from the list of details in the MltLyout menu:

1. Choose Delete from the Details menu.

2. Choose the name of the detail to delete from the top of the Details menu.

è To change your current view in the Drawing Window to match one of your details:

1. Choose MakeCurr from the Details menu.

2. Choose the detail to make your current view from the list in the Menu Window.

You cannot use rotated details with the MakeCurr option. Make sure that the detail you choose in step 2 above is not rotated.

è To dynamically toggle layers on and off in a detail:

1. Choose LyrTogl from the Details menu.

2. Choose the detail to change.

3. Choose the layers to toggle on or off.

4. Right-click to exit the LyrTogl menu.

ShowAll displays all previously created details in the paper layout when you choose Layout.



Print Preview You can preview your plot before sending it to your plotter. From the Previewer window, you can plot your drawing, copy it to the Windows clipboard, or save it as an Adobe Acrobat PDF file or a Windows metafile (.WMF).

è To preview a plot:


2. Lay out your drawing using the QwkLyout or MltLyout options in the Plotter menu, as described in "Laying Out Your Drawing" earlier in this chapter.

3. Toggle Preview on in the Plotter menu.

4. Choose Plot from the Plotter menu. The Plot Previewer window is displayed.

Options in the Plot Previewer window

5. From the Plot Previewer window, you can do the following:

• Click on Zoom In, Zoom Out, and Full Page to view the preview at different levels of detail. You can also simply click on the preview to zoom in or press (Ctrl) or (Shift) and click to zoom out.

• Click Copy to copy an image of the preview to the Windows clipboard. You can then paste it into another Windows application document.

• Click Save As to save the image as an Acrobat PDF file or a Windows metafile. In the Save As dialog box, choose either Adobe Acrobat File (.PDF) or Windows Metafile (.WMF) from the Save as Type list box, type a name for the file, and click Save.

• Click Plot to plot the drawing as it is previewed in the Plot Previewer window.

• Click Cancel to close the Plot Previewer window and return to your drawing.



Batch Plotting DataCAD's batch plotting feature lets you plot any number of details, multi-layout sheets, or go-to-views from any number of drawings at once. Batch plotting your drawings can save your office time spent waiting for each drawing to finish printing before you can print others or continue working. You can set up a batch plot for multiple drawings and plot them all overnight, thereby freeing up valuable time during regular office hours.

It is not possible to batch plot in a background mode, so you must wait until the batch plotting process is complete before continuing your work in DataCAD.

è To batch plot details, multi-layout sheets, or go-to-views from within a drawing:


2. Set up details, multi-layout sheets, and go-to-views and change other Plotter menu options as necessary. See "Pen Table Settings", "Additional Plotter Menu Options", and Laying Out Your Drawing" earlier in this chapter for details.

Keep in mind that all go-to-views that are batch plotted will use the same quick layout that you set up using the QwkLyout option in the Plotter menu. We recommend using multi-layout sheets for greatest control over your plotting results.

3. Choose BatchPlt from the Plotter menu. The DataCAD Batch Plotting Setup dialog box is displayed.



The Batch Plotting dialog box

4. The list box in the Batch Plotting Setup dialog box lists the drawing's quick layout, go-to-views, and multi-layout sheets. To choose the views and layouts to plot, click in the checkbox beside the view or layout. A white box indicates that view will not be plotted; a black box indicates that view will be plotted. If the checkbox beside the Go-To-Views or Multi-Layout Sheets folders is half white and half black, some of the views or sheets will be printed but not all of them. Click the Clear All button to uncheck all boxes.

5. Enter the number of copies to be plotted.

6. Click on the Plot to File checkbox to plot your drawings to a file instead of directly to your plotter. These plot files will be saved to the PLT\ folder in your DataCAD folder, with the following filenames:

Go-to-views: “go-to-view” viewname.PLT

Quick layout: drawing name – “quick layout”.PLT

Multi-layout sheets: drawing name – “sheet” sheetname.PLT

7. Click on the Append Results to Log File checkbox to copy details of the plotting process and results to a file called BATCHPLOT.LOG in the PLT folder of your DataCAD folder.



Each DataCAD station that batch plots will have a BATCHPLOT.LOG file; however, if you set each DataCAD station to a shared network folder for plot files (.PLT) and .LOG files, then all plot results will be appended in a single .LOG file.

8. Click on the Skip Screen Redraws checkbox to speed up the plotting process. Checking this option simply skips displaying each drawing or view as it is opened; in essence, you won't see each view or layout displayed as it is plotted.

9. Click Plot to begin plotting; click OK to save these plot settings for plotting later (see instructions below for more information); click Cancel to cancel the batch plot settings and close the dialog box.

è To batch plot details, multi-layout sheets, or go-to-views from more than one drawing:

1. For each drawing you’d like to include in the batch plot, complete steps 1 – 8 in the instructions on the previous page. Click OK in step 9 to simply save the plot settings.

2. Choose Close All from the File pull-down menu to close all drawings.

3. Choose Batch Plot from the File pull-down menu. The DataCAD Batch Plotting Setup dialog box is displayed.

The Batch Plotting dialog box; notice the differences from the dialog box displayed when batch plotting from within a single drawing



4. Click Add to open the Select Drawings To Be Batch Plotted dialog box.

5. Select drawings and click Open. The dialog box closes and the drawing names and paths are displayed in the list box in the DataCAD Batch Plotting Setup dialog box. To remove a drawing from the list, select it and click Remove. Click Clear All to remove all drawings listed.

After you add drawings to the Batch Plotting Setup list box, you can save the group of drawings as a Project Set File (.SET); simply click Save As, type a name for the .SET file, and click Save. In subsequent batch plotting sessions, you can load a .SET file to quickly plot sets of drawings that are commonly plotted together, without having to add them to the Batch Plotting Setup list box each time.

6. Enter the number of copies to be plotted. This setting overrides the number of copies setting in each individual drawing.

7. Click on the Plot to File checkbox to plot your drawings to a file instead of to directly to your plotter. These plot files will be saved to the PLT\ folder in your DataCAD folder, with the filename: drawing name – “sheet” sheetname.PLT. This setting overrides the Plot to File setting in each individual drawing.

8. Click on the Append Results to Log File checkbox to copy details of the plotting process and results to a file called BATCHPLOT.LOG in the PLT folder of your DataCAD folder.

Each DataCAD station that batch plots will have a BATCHPLOT.LOG file; however, if you set each DataCAD station to a shared network folder for plot files (.PLT) and .LOG files, then all plot results will be appended in a single .LOG file.

9. Click on the Skip Screen Redraws checkbox to speed up the plotting process. Checking this option simply skips displaying each drawing or view as it is opened; in essence, you won't see each view or layout displayed as it is plotted.

10. Click on the Ignore Autosave and ‘File in Use’ Conditions checkbox; this setting lets DataCAD ignore autosave and in use messages that would interrupt batch plotting.

11. Click Plot to begin plotting; click OK to save these plotting settings for plotting later; click Cancel to cancel the batch plot settings and close the dialog box.

Printer selection and batch plot settings are stored in each drawing, so you can batch plot to several different printers.

printing and plotting - datacad.com · printing and plotting / 369 prints the current drawing...

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