Plotting layouts, general settings

Plot Layouts, Settings tab

You can make general settings for the plot operation here. The number of options available varies from device to device.

Use plot profile

You can use a plot profile to give a uniform look-and-feel to your layouts. Click the button and select the plot profile file you want to use.

As the pen assignment is also saved in the plot profile, you can only make a selection when the pen and color assignments are taken into account when plotting. For this, the Use check box must be activated.
Tip: If you still wish to use the uniform parameters of a plot profile, select the Use check box, choose a plot profile and then clear the Use check box.

Resizing factor

Allows the plot to be stretched in a centric manner. Entering a value higher than 1 causes the contents of the layout to be resized evenly along the x and y axes while retaining the aspect ratio (you can use Resize pen thickness to specify whether the pen thickness is retained or resized correspondingly).
You can enter the resizing factor directly in the data entry box or click the Resizing factor button to calculate the factor in a separate dialog box:

• The printable area is displayed in the Size area.
• In the Source size area, enter the orientation and size of the area you want to print. The resizing factor is calculated automatically based on this information.
• The Resizing factor calculated by the system is displayed in the area below. If a layout fits better on the page when rotated, then rotation is enabled for the resizing calculation. The layout is then printed rotated by 90 degrees.

Pen optimization

• On: this setting reduces the number of pens used to plot the layout and consequently the time it takes. You should select this option if the output device has no pen optimization option itself.
• Off: the elements are plotted in the sequence in which they occur in the documents. You should select this option if the pen optimization can be determined by the hardware settings on the output device itself.
• Use one pen: the entire layout is plotted using a single pen. Enter the pen number in the Use one pen only field.

Pen and color assignments

You can make assignments betweens Allplan's pens and colors and the printer's/plotter's pen thickness and colors in the Pen and Color Assignments dialog box. This is only possible when the Use box is checked.
Otherwise, all elements are printed out using the pen thickness and colors currently assigned. This way you can output layouts independently of resources (if the layout contains NDW files in which the pens were assigned different thickness settings).
You can use the Color stands for pen and Use color 1 for all elements options provided in Show/Hide to control how colors and lines are displayed.
As the pen assignment is also saved in the plot profile, you cannot select a plot profile when the Use check box is not activated.

Print at highest quality

You can use this setting to control the printout quality, regardless of the settings you specified in the Options - Desktop environment - Display.
When this option is selected, the following settings are used for printing:

• Display bitmap areas in high-quality: on
• Hardware acceleration - speed / quality: Perfect
• Use anti-aliasing: on

When this option is not selected, the following settings are used for printing:

• Display bitmap areas in high-quality: off
• Hardware acceleration - speed / quality: Balanced
• Use anti-aliasing: off
  

Number of copies

Prints several copies (with Allplan vector drivers only; with Windows drivers, the number of copies is set in the Print dialog box, which you can open by clicking the Windows Settings button).

Paper feed

A3 feed: select the relevant feed option.

A4 feed: select the relevant feed option.

Form feed

To help you cut the paper when the plot operation is complete, you can define an additional form feed value.

Number of pens

Number of pens currently available on the plotter for layout output.

Pen speed

• The pen speed is software-controlled.
• 0 (= automatic): the pen speed is determined by the hardware settings on the output device.
• Other value: speed in cm/second (enter a value between 1 and 45 cm/s). With ink pens enter a value between 1 and 30 cm/s to avoid breaks in the ink flow.

Optimize location

When this option is enabled, layouts are rotated by 90 degrees when this results in reduced paper consumption.

The layout is rotated by 90° when

• all the elements (documents, border) you have placed fit into the paper format after being rotated

In addition, select the following hotline tool:

• this leads to reduced paper consumption when printing to a continuous roll of paper.

This feature is only available with Allplan vector drivers and specific output channels. With Windows drivers, this feature is enabled within the driver itself and can be set there. It is not available with all drivers.

Auto-pen

Displays the current setting in the Text module's defaults.

Pen settings

Hardware: plotter’s settings are used.

Software: program’s pen settings (pen and color assignments) are used.

Auto-cut

Some plotters allow you to have the paper cut automatically when the layout printout is complete.

Endmove at start of paper

With certain pen plotters, this specifies the location for the paper after output.