BricsCAD Printing / Plotting Options

Question

How can I customize the default settings for plotting drawings?

 

Answer

Under File > Page Setup the following Options can be configured:

Use Plot Settings From

Recalls plot settings used previously:

• Layout – uses options from a previous plot with the Save Changes to Layout option.
• Previous Plot – uses options save the last time this dialog box was used.

Printer / Plotter Configuration

Selects the printer or plotter. BricsCAD works with any output device installed on the system, including networked printers, print to file, faxes, and PostScript devices. It also uses predefined printer parameters stored in PC3 files.

Paper Size

Chooses the size of paper.

You can select standard sizes listed by the droplist; these are sizes supported by the printer.

While printer may appear to support many different sizes, you should select only the size of paper that is actually in the printer.

If User Defined appears in the list, the paper’s dimensions are specified by the printer’s Properties dialog box.

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

Units: Switches paper measurements between imperial and metric.

Plot Area

Specifies which area of the drawing to print:

• View – prints the current view or a named view. See View command.
• Extents – prints the extents of the drawing, which ensures every visible entity is printed. Entities on frozen layers are not taken into account when calculating the extents.
• Limits – prints the limits of the drawing, as specified by the Limits command.
• Window – prints a rectangular area of the drawing. You define the rectangular area by entering x,y coordinates or by clicking the Select Area to be Printed button.

Plot Scale

Scales the drawing so that it fits the printable area of the paper.

The scale is calculated automatically by BricsCAD, and takes into account the print area of the drawing.

The printable area is the size of the paper, minus the margins.

The margins are the strips along the four edges that the printer uses for handling the paper.

Note: When this option is turned on, you cannot specify the scale factor.

Scale specifies the scale factor of the printed drawing.

Choose a scale factor from the droplist, or select Custom to specify a scale factor.

• 1:1 – prints the drawing full size, with no scaling.
• Custom – allows you to specify a scale factor.

  Specifies user-defined scale factors.

  For example, to print a drawing of 50′-long house on paper 11″ wide, enter:

  Printed Inches = 11″

  Drawing Units = 50′

  BricsCAD works out the scale factor automatically.

For scale factors like 1:5, the drawing is scaled smaller.

For scale factors like 5:1, the drawing is scaled larger.

Plot Style Table

Specifies the plot style table to use, which assigns properties to “pens,” colors, and entities.

If the drawing does not use plot styles, then only CTB (color-based table) files are listed.

If the drawing uses plot styles, then only STB (style-based table) files are listed.

When you switch from Non to a named plot style, BricsCAD prompts you:

Assign plot style table to all layouts? – click Yes or No.

• Yes – assigns the CTB or STB plot style file to all layouts.
• No – assigns the plot style file to the current layout only.

Other Options

• Drawing Orientation: Portrait, Landscape, Print Upside Down
• Plot Offset: Offset distance for the print. Accepts positive and negative values (moving the drawing up and to the right, down and to the left respectively)
• Center on page: Centers the print on the page
• Plot object lineweights. This option is unavailable when Plot with Plot Styles is turned on
• Plot with plot styles. Plot styles override lineweight settings
• Plot paperspace last. This option is unavailable in model tab
• Save changes to layout.