- Introduction
- Creating a New Drawing
- Model Space and Layout Space
- Communicating with AutoCAD
- Object Snaps, Ortho Mode, and Polar Tracking
- Undo/Redo
- Grid and Snap
- Draw a Circle
- Navigating Around the Drawing
- Object Properties
- Layers
- Dimension Styles
- Dimensioning
- Modifying Drawing Objects
- Grip Editing
- Introduction to Advanced Editing Techniques
- Cleaning Up Layout Space
- Plotting and Page Setups
- Chapter Summary
- Chapter Test Questions
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Plotting and Page Setups
When you plot a drawing, AutoCAD needs to know a number of different settings (printer, paper size, orientation, margins, color settings, plot scale, etc.). You can specify these settings each time you plot, but for consistency AutoCAD allows you to save all these settings to a page setup. A page setup is simply a group of plot settings saved to a user-specified name. In the following exercise, you will make changes to the page setup associated with the ANSI A Title Block layout.
EXERCISE 2-28 PAGE SETUP
Select the Output tab of the ribbon to display the plotting tools and options.
Choose Page Setup Manager from the Plot panel. This displays the Page Setup Manager dialog box shown in Figure 2-58.
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FIGURE 2-58 The Page Setup Manager dialog box
Choose New… to display the New Page Setup dialog box (see Figure 2-59).
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FIGURE 2-59 The New Page Setup dialog box
Enter ANSI A Title Block—Windows System Printer as the new page setup name and choose OK. This displays the Page Setup dialog box (see Figure 2-60).
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FIGURE 2-60 The Page Setup dialog box
From the Printer/plotter list, select Default Windows System Printer.pc3. This is your default Windows printer.
From the Paper size list, choose Letter.
Choose Extents from the What to plot: list. This tells AutoCAD to plot everything currently shown in the drawing.
Check the Center the plot option in the Plot offset area.
If checked, clear the check from the Fit to paper box.
Choose 1:1 from the Scale drop-down list.
Choose Landscape in the Drawing orientation area. Your selections should be the same as those shown in Figure 2-60.
Choose Preview… to see how your drawing will look when it is printed. AutoCAD will switch to a print preview view. The buttons at the top of the print preview window allow you to pan and zoom around the preview.
Choose the Close button to close the preview window.
Choose OK to save the page setup. The Page Setup Manager dialog box returns with the new page setup listed.
Select the page setup you just created and then choose Set Current. This applies the page setup settings to the current layout.
Choose Close to close the Page Setup Manager dialog box.
Save your drawing.
Notice the dashed line that appears around the edge of the layout (see Figure 2-61). This dashed line represents the printable area on your drawing. It’s not an actual drawing object (you can’t select it), but only a visual indication of what part of your drawing will be printed. If any part of your drawing extends outside this dashed line, those parts will be clipped from the final print. To fix this, you can adjust the plot scale of your drawing, move or adjust the geometry within your drawing, or adjust the margins of your printer.
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FIGURE 2-61 The printable drawing area
Plotting
When you plot a drawing in AutoCAD, you are presented with the Plot dialog box (see Figure 2-62). The Plot dialog box has all the same options as the Page Setup dialog box (in fact, you can use the PLOT command to create page setups). These options allow you to make last-minute changes to your page setup or temporarily override settings contained in the page setup. For example, your page setup may be defined for a C- or D-size plot, but you may want to create a quick check plot on an A-size sheet. The PLOT command allows you to change your plot setting without going through the process of creating a new page setup.
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FIGURE 2-62 The Plot dialog box
In the following exercise, you’ll create a plot using the page setup you just created.
EXERCISE 2-29 PLOTTING
Choose the Plot tool from the Plot panel. The Plot dialog box appears (see Figure 2-62). If your dialog box looks different, choose the arrow next to the Help button at the bottom to expand the dialog box and see all options.
From the Page setup list, choose ANSI A Title Block—Windows System Printer.
Verify that all the settings are correct and choose Preview…. The plot preview displays.
Choose the OK button to plot your drawing to your default Windows system printer. A plot progress bar will appear briefly, and AutoCAD will return to the command prompt when the plot is complete.
Save your drawing.
Once the plot is complete, the Plot/Publish icon is displayed in the notification tray in the lower-right corner of the status bar (see Figure 2-63). This indicates the results of the PLOT command and reports any errors that may have occurred. To view the plot results, click on the icon to display the Plot and Publish Details box. Here you can view the results of all plots submitted during the current AutoCAD session.
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FIGURE 2-63 Plot/Publish details