"Printer" tab

You can use the Printer tab to select the layouts or layout elements you want to output and define further settings such as formats and qualities.

Selection

Layout

Shows the layouts you have selected for output. You can select as many layouts as you need.

Click the button to the right to open the Select layouts dialog box, where you can select the layout(s) you want to output.

If you select several layouts, the Multiple printout area opens.
You can visually check the selected layouts using the options on the viewport toolbar. Use the arrows to switch between layouts: takes you to the previous layout and to the next one. You can use the list box to select a layout of your choice.

Elements to print

Filters the layout elements.

To limit output to particular element types, click the Set button and switch off the elements you do not need using the Element Filter palette. You can also place the surface elements in the background of each document.

Click OK to confirm the settings. This selects the filter and closes the Element Filter palette.

Multiple printout (for several layouts)

Printer / Format / Print profile -> Current, As in layout

Use the settings in the Printer, Format and Print profile areas to specify whether to use the current setting for all layouts or the output device, page format or print profile saved with each layout.

Printer - Current
All layouts print with the output device set here. Allplan proposes the setting of the current layout.
Printer - As in layout
Each layout prints with the output device saved for the layout. If an output device is not available for a layout, Allplan does not print this layout.
Format - Current
All layouts print in the format and orientation set here. Allplan proposes the setting of the current layout.

If the page format defined for a layout is not within the printable area specified here, Allplan does not print this layout.
Format - As in layout
Each layout prints in the format and orientation saved for the layout in question. The printable area of the output device is irrelevant.

If the page format saved for a layout is not available as a paper format to the output device, Allplan does not print this layout.
Print profile - Current
All layouts print with the print profile set here. Allplan proposes the setting of the current layout. You can find the settings of the current print profile on the Print profile tab; however, you cannot change these settings.
Print profile - As in layout
Each layout prints with the print profile saved for the layout. You can temporarily change the settings on the Print profile tab. However, those changes apply only to the current layout.

In addition, you can use the following options to control printing in batch mode.

Format - Similar format

Allplan prints layouts even if the printable area specified for the Format - Current setting or the page format saved with the layout (with the Paper format - As in layout setting) is not available as a paper format to the output device.

First, the program tries to find an identical paper format with a different name. If the program cannot find such a format, the program selects the next largest paper format. The program uses this paper format if the resulting larger printable area is within a specific tolerance range defined as a percentage in the Options and you have selected this option.

Otherwise, Allplan does not print the layout in question, adding a note to the print log or test log.

Format - Orientation

You can choose between portrait format and landscape format.

Print profile - Check output

When you select this option, the program checks the settings before printing, writing potential problems to a log file, so that you can solve these issues in advance. This prevents incomplete printing output.

Print profile - Number of copies

You can specify how many times you want to print each layout.

Settings (for outputting a single layout with Windows drivers)

The settings you make here define the output device and its printable area. The bottom left corner of the printable area of the page is always equivalent to the global point 0/0/0. This defines the printable area of the output device.

With Windows drivers, you can specify whether to display the border of the printable area. To do this, use the Show/Hide tool (How). Note that this is only possible when no tool is active.

Driver

If you have configured output channels using the Services application, you can choose between Windows drivers and Allplan vector drivers for print output.

Printer

Windows drivers: Select the output device in the list box. Click the Settings icon to define the properties (for example, paper and color options) of the selected output device or the raster driver specified.

If you use Allplan vector drivers: Select the printer in the list box. The output device of the output channel is displayed for information.

Allplan raster drivers

Allplan raster drivers, which are available for certain printers in conjunction with Windows drivers, are especially useful should you want to print large-format plans. The advantage of raster drivers is that they not only speed up printing but also enhance the quality of printouts. In addition, they are very reliable.
If you want to use raster drivers, select the Allplan raster driver option and open the list box to select a raster driver that can be used with the selected printer.

Note: The first time you select an output device for which Allplan raster drivers are available, you are prompted to activate the appropriate raster driver.

Format

With Windows drivers, you can select the paper size in the list box. The program reads the values of the printable area from the driver, displaying them for information.

Note: If the When setting up page - adjust paper format (printer) option is selected ( Options, Layouts page) and you set up the page, Allplan automatically adjusts the paper format of the device to the format and orientation of the page. In doing so, Allplan tries to select as identical a paper format as possible. If you have not defined margins for the page, the program tries to select a format without margins. If formats without margins are not available, Allplan selects the next largest paper format. If Allplan cannot find a suitable format, it selects the largest format available for the output device.
If this option is not selected, click Select paper format (printer) based on page format to manually match the format and orientation of the page.

Width / Height

If you use Allplan vector drivers, you can specify the maximum coordinates that can be handled by the output device. Large values do not have a negative effect on most output devices (for example, HP DesignJet). Note that the page format is cut in accordance with these values.

Number of copies

Specify the number of copies.

Orientation

When using Windows drivers, you can switch between Portrait format and Landscape format.
Depending on the orientation you select, the program reads the values for the margins from the driver, displaying the values for information.

The maximum printable area is calculated from the printable area defined by the Format minus the device margins.

Setting up the page

By clicking the Set button, you can change the settings you have specified in the Page and Margins areas of the Set Up Page tool. These parameters define the area of the layout, which is displayed as a white area with a shaded border. The margins of the page are displayed in light gray. The printable area is reduced by these margins. The documents and elements that are within the printable area of the page and output device are included in the printout.
Note: If you have selected the With (single sheet) option for the margins of the page and the values specified for the margins are smaller than the associated values of the output device, these values are displayed in red. When you close the tool, the program automatically corrects the margins.

If you use Windows drivers and the With (single sheet) option is selected for the margins of the page, you can click to match the device margins of the printer set.

Note: This parameter is not available for printing several layouts with Allplan vector drivers.

More settings

You can define further output settings in this area. The number of options available varies from device to device.

Note: The settings for each output channel/printer are saved separately for each user. If you require different settings, it is advisable to use a separate output channel or printer for each. For Allplan vector drivers, you can restore the administrator’s settings by clicking .

Special settings

Click the Set button to open the Special settings dialog box, where you can adjust the settings to the output device by entering control sequences for the printer or large-format printer.

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, Allplan uses the following settings for printing:

Display bitmap areas of high quality: on
Hardware acceleration - speed / quality: perfect
Use anti-aliasing: on

When this option is not selected, Allplan uses the following settings for printing:

Display bitmap areas of high quality: off
Hardware acceleration - speed / quality: balanced
Use anti-aliasing: off

Optimize location

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

The layout is rotated by 90° if

all the elements (documents, border) placed fit into the paper format after the rotation.
this leads to reduced paper consumption when you print to a continuous roll of paper.

This feature is only available with Allplan vector drivers and specific output channels. With Windows drivers, this feature can be selected within the driver itself; it is not available with all drivers.

Pen control

Hardware
Uses the settings of the printer.
Software
Uses the pen definition and the pen and color assignments.

Auto-cutter

Some printers automatically cut the paper when printout is complete.

Customize

These are temporary settings. When you have chosen to print several layouts, you can use the Resizing factor for all selected layouts. The same applies to the Resize pen thickness option. All other settings must be defined separately for each layout.

Resizing factor / Adjust to paper

You can use this setting to stretch the printout in a centric manner: Values > 1 enlarge the layout evenly along the x-axis and the y-axis by the factor you enter.

If you use Windows drivers, you can select the Adjust to paper option instead of entering the resizing factor directly in the data entry box. In this case, the resizing factor adapts automatically when you change the format or orientation of the page or the format or orientation of the paper used by the output device. To calculate the resizing factor, the program adjusts the page to the paper used by the output device. Allplan does not automatically rotate the layout by 90°.

The program resizes a page without margins so that the page is within the printable area of the output device.
The program resizes a page with margins so that that the page is within the paper size of the output device, ignoring the margins of the output device. However, Allplan takes into account the margins of the page but does not resize the page margins; that is to say, the program resizes only the printable area of the page.

Rotation by 90°

The program rotates the layout by 90 degrees before printing. When you select Optimize location, the program automatically rotates the layout if this is required.

Resize pen thickness

You can specify whether Allplan is to resize or retain the pen thickness.

Output area

This option is only available if you have selected a single layout: You can limit output of the current layout to a section you define. For example, this is useful if you are short on time and want to check a particular area only.

You can find more information in "Output area of layouts".

Centered / Offset to left / Offset to bottom

These options are only available if you have already defined an output area: You can define the position of the section in the current output format.

Output mode

Use this to define what you want to output.

Note: You cannot select the Print option and the Print to file option at the same time.

Uses the output device you have set to print the selected layouts.

PDF export

Creates PDF files of the selected layouts.

Select this option and click the Set button to define parameters for PDF export in the PDF Export palette.

Archiving

Archives the selected layouts in TIFF format or PDF format. If you want, you can also create and archive an attribute file with project attributes and layout attributes.

Select this option and click the Set button to define parameters for archiving in the Archiving palette.

Print to file

Creates PRN files of the selected layouts, saving these files to the folder specified.

You can find more information in "Creating print files".