Why does plotting with AutoCad need to be such a frustrating experience?

I'm hoping that GOD monitors this discussion group cause I think that he (or she) is the only one with any hope of possibly plotting an AutoCad document on any printer or plotter and having it actually turn out the same as what the preview screen shows.

You would think that the good folks who designed AutoCad would include the ability to actually print a paper copy of what you've worked so hard to design - but I guess they laid off the guys that were responsible for the print routines.

Don't get me wrong, I love AutoCad, I just find it absolutely impossible to ever print anything properly - no mater which printer or plotter I use! The Print/Plot dialog is a monster of conflicting settings.

Thanks for the rant, now I feel better - but still don't have a print out of my drawing :(

mine works fine everty time.. no matter which printer I send it to. :-)

What version autocad and are you plotting from a layout (paperspace) or from modelspace?

Nothing plots or it plots wrong ? Do you have problems with portrait/landscape or size/scale ? On Autocad 2006, default plot dialog is stupidly reduced by a little > button. so it don't display the portrait/landscape choice, so many 2006 beginners are lost : so they try to directly change pc3 settings, but it can't work until it is not well set in autocad plot dialog. It's a sample, maybe it's a bit of your problem ?

"On Autocad 2006, default plot dialog is stupidly reduced by a little button. so it don't display the portrait/landscape choice, so many 2006 beginners are lost ?"

Are you saying there's a way to change portrait/landscape orientation from the Plot Dialog Box? I always have to back out, right click on the PSpace tab, and go to Plot Set Up to do that.

Barb a écrit :

yes, there is a circle button © to display/mask the right pnale of plot setting, where there is landscape, shading mode and plot style specifications. this button doesn't exist in tab plot setup.

Plotting in any version of AutoCAD since version 2000i has been fairly easy and straight forward. I have managed up to 80 users on network and stand alone printer/plotters and have had very few problems with the exception of large Oce print/scan devices and Xerox printers. Their drivers are a little more difficult to deal with. If you have an HP printer/plotter it should be very easy to set up. But you have to understand how to manage printers in Windows before you can manage them in AutoCAD since AutoCAD makes use of the Windows system printers. That means also obtaining the correct and most up-to-date driver for your printer/plotter. Once you have your print/plot device set up in Windows it is easy to get it set up in AutoCAD. As was pointed out in a previous reply you may have the plot dialog reduced. You have to click the little circle/arrow down in the lower right corner of the dialog to get all the options. With the full dialog open it is much easier to manage plots. Of course your ranting doesn't make understanding your problem any easier. You should see if the nearest Autodesk reseller has a plotting course. It sounds like you could make use of it.

Daryl Stockton CAD/GIS Consultant e-CAD-IT, Inc.

I'm using AC 2005.

Same inconsistent results - although different, when printing from paper space or model space.

The size is not consistent with what shows on the preview page for a given size of document.

The rotation issue may be the problem. I can't find any way to successfully rotate the print.

Hi Daryl:

Sorry for the rant, but it's very frustrating. I've been a Windows guy for more than 20 years, and I've printed from all manner of programmes to all manner of devices, but in all those years, I rarely have success at getting the results I want from AutoCad plots.

In this particular case, I'm printing to an HP 42" wide roll fed plotter/printer. It's impossible to change the orientation of the plot (unless, of course, I rotate the drawing). Changing the plot orientation in AC (yes, I'm expanding the plot dialogue) doesn't work! Changing the orientation in the HP printer driver doesn't work! I have the latest printer drivers installed (and have in fact tried all manner of old, recent, and new drivers - without success). All other applications that I print from (including Word, Photoshop, Illustrator ,Excel, Project, etc - all print fine and allow me to rotate at will! The only problem is plotting from Auto Cad.

When I had a large roll fed drawing master plotter, I had the same difficulties with AC. Maybe AC doesn't like roll paper?

The AutoCad plotter configuration has become significantly easier over the years, but obtaining the desired end result is just as frustrating as it ever was!

What is shown in the "name" field in the "Printer/Plotter" section of the plot dialog?

NT, Just to date myself and my experience I got an MCSE on NT when NT 4.0 was pretty new, so I have also been around Windows pretty long. I've done Windows support, network support, wireless support, and I do AutoCAD support for a local reseller on a consultant basis now. And I can say that I get very few print/plot problems from the users that call in for AutoCAD support. Every once in a while we get a company that just cannot get plotting up and running, and they pay for an on-site set up call. In my office I have a 42" HP 500 plotter. I print landscape all day long and the only gripe I have with the 500 is that it sometimes prints extra paper on the top and bottom that I have to trim off manually. But, I'm sure that if I took the time to tweak those particular page layouts I could get rid of that also. I have printed drawings up to 10' long in portrait orientation without a hitch. They used a lot of ink and paper though. I also print to an HP 2600 Office Deskjet printer without any difficulties. I am being totally honest when I say I haven't had any plotting difficulties since release 2000i. You may want to find some local tech support that can come to your shop and take a look at your problem.

Daryl

Thought I'd mention this, just as mind-jog.

When choosing the paper size, it is important to pick not only size, but orientation.

In our office we have a 24" paper roll and choose 24x36 portrait for the paper size and then pick landscape as the plot orientation in the plot dialog box. If someone new picks 24x36 landscape and then tries to plot - well let's just say we go through a lot of paper!

Good luck.

NT wrote:

I am amazed that anyone LOVES AUTOCAD. I have used it for 12 years and everbody I work with uses it but it could and should be so much better. At best I TOLERATE it!

I just find it absolutely impossible to

If you feel that way try one of the other CAD programs. None of them measures up to the Autodesk offerings. I'm sure some Microstation lover will chime in about how Bentley's products are so much better. But the

80% marketshare that Autodesk holds does bare that out I have used AutoCAD and their vertical products since release 11. With the exception of R13, 2000, and possibly 2000i I have found their products to be easy to use and very productive.