Chapter 16: The Plot Thickens 343

There! — 16 steps, as promised. On the other hand, we never promised that this plot would be usable. For example, if you tried to plot a large, complex D-size or E-size architectural drawing on an A-size sheet of paper, it won’t be very readable without a microscope. The bottom line, however, is that you produced a plot! Read the rest of this chapter for all the details about the numerous other plotting options available in AutoCAD. If you had trouble with this quick plot, you may want to jump ahead in this chapter to the troubleshooting­ section, “The Plot Sickens,” later in this chapter.

Get with the system

One of the complications you face in your attempts to create a hard copy is that AutoCAD has two distinct ways of communicating with your plotters and printers. Operating systems, and the programs that run on them, use a

special piece of software called a printer driver to format data for printing and then send it to the printer or plotter. When you configure Windows to recognize a new printer connected to your computer or your network, you’re actually installing the printer’s driver. AutoCAD, like other Windows programs, works with the printers you’ve configured in Windows. AutoCAD calls these system printers because they’re part of the Windows operating system.

But AutoCAD, unlike other Windows programs, can’t leave well enough alone. Some output devices, especially some larger plotters, aren’t controlled very efficiently by the Windows system printer drivers. For that reason, AutoCAD comes with specialized nonsystem drivers (that is, drivers that are not installed as part of the Windows system) for plotters from companies such as Hewlett-Packard, Xerox, KIP, and Océ. These drivers ignore the tidy rules for communicating with Windows printers in order to get things done a bit more quickly and flexibly.

Most of the time, using already-configured Windows system printers is easiest, and they work well with many devices, especially devices such as laser and inkjet printers that print on smaller paper. However, if you have a largeformat plotter, you may be able to get faster plotting, better plot quality, or more plot features by installing a nonsystem driver. To find out more, choose Installation & Deployment Driver and Peripheral Guide Use Plotters and Printers on the AutoCAD online help system’s home page.

Configure it out

For now, you should simply make sure that AutoCAD recognizes the devices that you want to use for plotting. The following steps show you how:

1.Launch AutoCAD and open an existing drawing or start a new, blank drawing.

www.it-ebooks.info

344 Part III: If Drawings Could Talk

2.Choose Options on the Application Menu — or type OP and press

Enter — to open the Options dialog box; then click the Plot and Publish tab.

3.Click the drop-down arrow to view the list just below the Use as Default Output Device option, as shown in Figure 16-4.

The list includes two kinds of device configurations, designated by two tiny, difficult-to-distinguish icons to the left of the device names:

•Windows: A little printer icon with a sheet of white paper coming out the top indicates a Windows system printer configuration.

•Nonsystem: A little plotter-with-legs icon with a piece of paper coming out the front indicates a nonsystem (that is, AutoCADspecific) configuration.

The nonsystem configuration names always end in .pc3 because they’re stored in special AutoCAD Plotter Configuration version 3 files. So, if you can’t distinguish the difference between the icons, look for the .pc3 at the end of the name.

System printers				List of devices

Non-system printers

Figure 16-4: System and nonsystem printer configurations.

www.it-ebooks.info

Chapter 16: The Plot Thickens 345

4.Verify that the list includes the printers and plotters that you want to have available in AutoCAD.

If they’re not in the list, how you add one depends on your operating system:

•Windows XP: Choose Start Printers and Faxes and then click the Add a Printer link under Printer Tasks on the left side of the window.

•Windows Vista: Choose Start Control Panel Hardware and Sound Printers Add a Printer and then click Add a Local Printer.

•Windows 7: Choose Start Devices and Printers Add a Printer and then click Add a Local Printer.

If your printer isn’t in the default Windows list, cancel the wizard and hunt down a driver disc that came with your printer. Better yet, download the current driver from the printer manufacturer’s website.

5.Choose the output device that you want to make the default for new drawings.

6.Click OK to close the dialog box and retain any changes that you made in the previous step.

You use the AutoCAD Plotter Manager’s Add-a-Plotter Wizard to create nonsystem driver configurations. (Choose Plotter Manager on the Plot panel of the Ribbon’s Output tab to display an Explorer window containing a shortcut to the wizard.) This wizard is similar to the Windows Add Printer Wizard; if you can handle adding an ordinary printer in Windows, you can probably handle adding a nonsystem plotter configuration to AutoCAD. When you complete the wizard steps, AutoCAD saves the information in a PC3 (Plotter Configuration version 3) file. If you add an HP Designjet printer or certain Océ wide-format printers, you will be advised by the Add-a-Plotter Wizard to exit and instead install the device as a Windows system printer (for more information, choose Installation & Deployment Driver and Peripheral Guide Use Plotters and Printers Set Up Plotters and Printers from the online help system’s home page). Many people find that the standard drivers work fine, but as we mention later in this chapter, custom drivers may include additional paper sizes as well as other handy settings.

Preview one, two

One of the keys to efficient plotting is liberal use of AutoCAD’s preview feature. (To maintain political balance, we recommend conservative use of some other AutoCAD options elsewhere in the book.)

www.it-ebooks.info

346 Part III: If Drawings Could Talk

The postage stamp–sized partial preview in the middle of the Plot dialog box is a quick reality check to make sure that your plot fits on the paper and is turned in the right direction. If the plot area at the current scale is too large for the paper, AutoCAD displays thick red warning lines along the side(s) of the sheet where the drawing will be truncated.

Click the Preview button to see a full preview in a separate window. You see exactly how your drawing lays out on the paper as well as how the various lineweights, colors, and other object plot properties will appear. You can zoom and pan around the preview by using the right-click menu.

Any zooming or panning that you do won’t affect what area of the drawing gets plotted. Zooming and panning is just a way to get a better look at different areas of the plot preview.

Instead of fit, scale it

In most real plotting situations, you want to plot to a specific scale rather than let AutoCAD choose some oddball scale that just happens to maximize the drawing on the paper. And if you’re going to plot the Model tab of a drawing to scale, you need to know its drawing scale factor. Chapter 4 describes setup concepts, and Chapter 13 provides some tips for determining the scale factor of a drawing that someone else created.

If your drawing was created at a standard scale, such as 1:50 or 1/4" = 1'–0", you simply choose the scale from the handy Scale drop-down list in the Plot dialog box. If your scale isn’t in the list, type the ratio between plotted distance and AutoCAD drawing distance into the two text boxes below the Scale drop-down list, as shown in Figure 16-5. Usually the easiest way to express the ratio is to type 1 in the upper box and the drawing scale factor in the lower box. (See Chapter 4 for more information.)

Your CAD manager may have edited the Scale drop-down list to add uncommon scales or remove scales that your company never uses. If you’re designing espresso machines in Milano, for example, you’ll probably never need to plot your drawings at 1/128" = 1'–0".

Creating half-size plots for some purposes is common in some industries. To plot model space half-size, double the drawing scale factor. For example, a 1/8" = 1'–0" drawing has a drawing scale factor of 96, which is equivalent to a plot scale of 1 = 96. To make a half-size model space plot of it, specify a plot scale of 1 = 192 (or choose 1/16" = 1'–0" from the Scale drop-down list).

www.it-ebooks.info

Chapter 16: The Plot Thickens 347

Type a ratio... ...or choose a prede ned scale.

Figure 16-5: Lots of ways to scale.

Even if you work with drawings created to be plotted at a specific scale, plotting with a Fit to Paper scale may be the most efficient way to make a reduced-size check plot. For example, drafters in your office might create drawings that get plotted on D-size sheets (24 x 36 inches), whereas you have access to a laser printer with a B-size (11 x 17 inches) paper tray. By plotting the D-size drawings scaled to fit on B-size paper, you end up with check plots that are slightly smaller than half size. You won’t be able to measure distances on the check plots with a scale, but you can give them a visual check for overall correctness.

www.it-ebooks.info