E 2004/9/1 Printing & Plotting PRINTING AND PLOTTING OBJECTIVES General Objective : To understand and apply the Printing and Plotting setting. Specific Objectives : At the end of the unit you will be able to : List the typical steps for printing or plotting. Invoke and use the Print / Plot Configuration dialog box. Select from available plotting devices and set the paper size. UNIT 9
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E 2004/9/1Printing & Plotting
PRINTING AND PLOTTING
OBJECTIVES
General Objective : To understand and apply the Printing and Plotting setting.
Specific Objectives : At the end of the unit you will be able to :
List the typical steps for printing or plotting.
Invoke and use the Print / Plot Configuration dialog box.
Select from available plotting devices and set the paper size.
Specify the area of the drawing to print or plot.
preview the print/plot before creating a plotted drawing.
UNIT 9
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9.0 INTRODUCTION
AutoCAD display drawing in two ways, as hard copies or soft copies.
A soft copies
is the view of drawing shown in the drawing window. AutoCAD uses pixels to convert into
the images seen on your monitor. A hard copy is the plotted or printed version on your
drawing on paper. AutoCAD produces hard copies by converting data into a raster or vector
image that is read by a printer or plotter. Hard copies are generally used for finalized
drawing or for drawing reviews. Hard copies can be scaled, unscaled, or real life
representation of your work.
9.1 Print / Plot Configuration
Plotting and printing are accomplished from within AutoCAD by invoking the Plot
command. Using the Plot or Print command invokes the Print/Plot Configuration dialog box
( figure 9.1 ). You have complete control of plotting and printing using the dialog box. In
AutoCAD, the term “plotting’ can refer to plotting on a pen plotter and/or printing with a
printer.
INPUT 9aINPUT 9a
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figure 9.1 : Print/Plot Configuration dialog box
Typical step to plotting / Printing.
Assuming the CAD system has been properly configured so the peripheral devices ( plotter
and/or printers) are functioning, the typical basic steps to printing and plotting using the
Print/Plot Configuration dialog box are listed below:
1. Use Save to ensure the drawing has been saved in its most recent form before
plotting ( just in case some problem arises while plotting).
2. Make sure the plotter or printer is turned on, has paper and pens loaded, and is ready
to accept the plot information from the computer.
3. Invoke the Print/Plot configuration dialog box.
4. Check the upper left corner of the dialog box to ensure that the intended devices
have been selected. If not, select the Devices and Default Selection tile and make the
desired choice.
5. Check the upper right corner of the dialog box to ensure the desired paper size has
been selected. If not, use the Size…. tile to do so.
6. Only when necessary, change other option such as Rotation and Origin and Pen
Assignments.
7. Determine and select which area of the drawing to plot : Display, Extend, Limits,
Window or View.
8. Enter the desired scale for the print or plot. If no standard scale is needed, toggle
Scale To Fit ( so the check mark appear in the box )
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9. Always Preview the plot to ensure the drawing will be printed or plotted as you
expect. Select either a Full or Partial preview. If the preview does not display the
plot as you intended, make the appropriate changes. Otherwise, needless time and
media could be wasted.
10. If everything is OK, selecting the OK tile causes the drawing to be sent to the plotter
and printer.
11. For additional plots or prints, you can use the Preview command to preview and plot
the drawing based on the parameters previously set in the Print/Plot Configuration
dialog box.
9.2 Using the Plot / Print Command
Methods for opening the Print / Plot Configuration dialog box include:
Toolbar :
Menu : File > Print
Command : Plot
The Print / Plot Configuration dialog box will displayed as shown in figure 9.1.
Devices and Default Selection
The Devices and Default Selection option lets you review current information on the
configuration of plotters and printers. When you select the Devices and Default Selection
button, the Devices and Default selection dialog box is displayed. This section describes the
uses of the Select a Device, and the Device specific configuration areas found in the dialog
box. You cannot add a device to the dialog box at this stage. You must reconfigured
AutoCAD to recognize another plotter. The dialog box is shown below.
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Figure 9.2 : Device and default Selection Dialog Box
The show and change option in the Device Specific Configuration areas lets you review or
change the printer/plotter setting. A description of these options follows:
Show - when the show button is chosen, the Show Device
Requirements dialog box is displayed with information about the current
printing devices. This dialog box is shown in the following figure:
Figure 9.3 : Show Device Requirement Dialog Box
Change - If you want to change information about the printer/plotter,
choose the change button. The dialog box that is displayed is determined by
the type of printer/plotter currently being used. For examples, if you choose
the Change button, the Change Device Requirements dialog box may be
displayed. However, another printing device may display the Print Setup
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dialog box. Each of these dialog boxes require you to enter different
information to change the printer/plotter setting.
Figure 9.4 : Print Setup Dialog Box
Pen Parameters
The Pen Parameters areas of the Print / Plot Configuration dialog box lets you change pen
parameter settings. The Pen Assignment button, and the Optimization button are located in
this area. Choosing the Pen Assignments button opens the Pen Assignments dialog box
containing the following option:
Color - displays the AutoCAD color to which you assign a width, pen.
speed, or linetype. If you have a single pen plotter, and have chosen the
option to plot different colors with different colored pen, AutoCAD pauses
when necessary during the plot and issues a prompt let you to stop and
change the pen.
Pen - pens are used with pen plotters. This option lets you assign a
color to a pen number.
Ltype - displays the linetype number assigned to the current color. To
see the available plotter linetype, check the Feature Legend button.
Speed - this option is used to assign plotting speed to pens used with
pen plotters. Each plotting speed is assigned a color.
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Width - the width option display the line width assigned to a color.
This option generally determine the line width of lines drawn with raster
printer.
Figure 9.5 : Pen Assignment Dialog Box
The optimization button located in the Pen Parameters area, displays the Optimizing Pen
Motion dialog box. This dialog box has a list of check boxes that increase optimization, by
minimizing wasted pen motion and reducing plotting time. By default, AutoCAD minimizes
pen motion when a drawing is plotted. With the exception of the No Optimization button,
the more button are checked the higher the optimization. The printer or plotter determines if
the options in dialog box are available. The Optimizing Pen Motion dialog box is displayed
in the following Figure 9.6:
Figure 9.6 : Optimizing Pen Motion Dialog Box
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Additional Parameters.
The Additional Parameters area of the Print / Plot Configuration dialog box has a list of
options used to properly setup your drawing for printing and plotting. The following list
describes each of these options:
Display - this option prints or plots everything shown in the current
view of the drawing window.
Extents - this option plots the area of the drawing that contain objects.
Before you print or plot the drawing, use the Zoom to Drawing Extent option
to make sure include all the object you have created.
Limits - this option prints or plots everything located inside the
established drawing limits.
View - this option lets you plot an existing named view. When you
select the View button the View Name dialog box is displayed. Select the
name view you want to plot, then choose OK. The Print / Plot Configuration
dialog box is redisplayed with the view check box highlighted.
Window - this option lets you specify the rectangular you want to plot,
print or save to plot files. When this button is selected, the Window Selection
dialog box is displayed. You can enter coordinates for the first Corner and
Other Corner in the dialog box, or use the Pick button to define a window in
the drawing. After you specify the plot area choose the OK button. The
Window checkbox is now checked. The Window Selection dialog box is
shown in Figure 9.7:
Figure 9.7 : Window Selection dialog box
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Text Resolution - this option sets the resolution value for printed text.
Lower values increase the plotting speed, but decrease the resolution. Higher
values decrease the plotting speed, and increase the resolution. This also sets
the resolution, in dot-per-inch, of True Type font while plotting. This value
is stored in the TEXTQLTY system variable.
Text Fill - if selected, this option displays some text as a solid or filled
objects. If the box is unchecked the latter are plotted in an outline form.
Hide-Line - this option if checked, plots model space view with hidden
line removed when a drawing is plotted.
Adjust Area Fill - this option lets you compensate for pen-width when