Used to adjust printing settings and create a print file,or to print directly to a system printer. Opens when File > Print is chosen. A Show Preview button to the right of the icon bar lets you expand the dialogbox to display a preview image. A further Show Details button at the lowerright corner of the preview image lets you expand the dialog box to displayadditional settings in the Print Size/Scale and Print Position group boxes.The title bar of the dialog box displays the name of the printer driver filebeing used.
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Basic Print dialog box. | |
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Print dialog box expanded to show preview image. | |
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Print dialog box, fully expanded to show all settings. | |
Area
Option menu that lets you choose the area to print.
By default, raster references are not included in the fitting of views.Raster references are included when the configuration variable MS_PLT_FIT_RASTER_REFSto 1.
Once calculated, the print dialog's fit design range remains unchangeduntil “Update from View” is selected, which forces the designrange to be recomputed. If the design range could not be calculated for anyreason (such as no elements being present), the print area mode reverts toview.
Only file-based elements are examined in the design scan. Transientelements, such as the shadowed sheet definition border, are not included.
If you are not using sheet or fence print area modes, the configurationvariable MS_PLT_AUTO_FIT_VIEW can be set to either 1, or 2, to force the Printdialog box to default to “Fit Master” or “Fit All”respectively, instead of view.
- View — Contents of the view number as shown in the View setting.
- Fit Master — The print area is automatically calculated to include everyelement in the master model.
- Fit All — The print area is automatically calculated to include everyelement in the master model and all references.
- Fence — The print area is defined by an existing fence.
- Sheet — The print area is defined by the sheet definition.
Rasterized
A read-only control. This checkbox indicates if the effectiveview mode (wireframe, hidden line, smooth, and so on) requires that the viewbe output to the plotter as a single raster image. The effective view modeis a combination of the real view mode and the presentation states of anyreference files. If any reference presentations are anything other than wireframeor wiremesh, the effective view mode is raster. If the Rasterized checkboxis set, vector features such as pen tables, the vector color mode, and .pltpen records are not honored.
View
Sets the view to use for printing.
Pen Table
Displays the pen table, if one is loaded.
Copies
(Windows printer only) Lets you set the number of copiesto be printed.
Color
Option menu that lets you select the output format —Monochrome, Grayscale, or Color. Available options depend on the capabilityof the selected printer.
Printer option menu
Lets you choose the printer driver to use:
- Windows Printer — The Windows printer driver, printer.plt, is used. Whenthis option is selected, clicking the Configure Windows Printer icon to theright opens the system printer configuration dialog box, which lets you changethe Windows printer's settings.
- Bentley Driver — The currently selected Bentley printer driver is used.Clicking the Select Printer Driver icon to the right opens the Select PrinterDriver File dialog box, which lets you choose a new printer driver.
Paper
Lets you choose the paper size from a list of availablepaper sizes for the selected printer.
Usable area/Total Area
(Windows Printer only) When Full Sheet is off, displaysthe Usable area, or printable dimensions (width x height) for the selectedPaper. When Full Sheet is on, displays the Total area (width x height) forthe selected Paper.
Orientation menu
Lets you choose the orientation of the paper — Portraitor Landscape.
This control lets you quickly reverse the X & Y values of the papersize record without having to edit the printer driver file. This is necessaryfor printer.plt, and helpful for some PostScript-to-PDF workflows, but notdesirable for most HP-GL/2 and HP/RTL workflows. To reduce confusion and toprevent any accidental swapping of the X & Y sizes, the orientation controlis disabled for Bentley printer drivers, by default.
You may control this behavior for Bentley printer drivers only, using a configurationvariable, MS_PLTDLG_ENABLE_ORIENTATION.
Valid values for this configuration variable are:
0 — orientation always is disabled for Bentley drivers(default).
1 — orientation always is enabled for Bentley drivers.
This variable does not apply to system printers.
Full Sheet
(Windows Printer only) If on, is the same as having /fullsheetspecified in the sysprinter record. As well, it changes the “Usablearea” field to “Total area”.
If off, only the printable portion of the sheet is considered.
For example, when printing to a letter size sheet, typically 8.5 x 11inches, the maximum print size may be only 8 x 10.5 inches. If full sheetis enabled, the maximum print size is the size of the sheet (8.5 x 11 inches).
When full sheet is enabled:
Form offsets (set by the /offset switch in the .plt file)are ignored.
Borders are not printed. The border controls in the PrintAttributes dialog box are disabled.
Windows Page Setup margins are not supported.
Some geometry may get clipped (by the printer) if it fallsinto the unprintable area around the edges of the paper.
Key-in: print fullsheet <on | off>
Rotation button
(Bentley Driver selected only) Lets you select the rotationof the printed output.
- No rotation — No rotation is applied to the printed output.
- Rotate 90 cw — A rotation of 90° in the clockwise direction is appliedto the printed output.
- Rotate 90 ccw — A rotation of 90° in the counter-clockwise directionis applied to the printed output.
Show Design in preview
(Show Preview displayed only) If on, the region of thedesign to be printed is displayed in the preview image.
Preview (icon)
(Show Preview displayed only) Clicking the Preview icon,below the preview image, refreshes the preview image.
Show entire page in preview
(Show Preview displayed only) If on, displays the definedsheet, with margins.
Print Scale
(Show Preview and Show Details displayed only) Sets thescale of the printed output. By default, this is displayed as masterunits to paper units. You can use the Method setting in the ScaleAssistant to change this display to paper units to master units.
Additionally, you can define the default scale display using a configurationvariable, MS_PLT_SCALE_METHOD. Valid values for this configuration variableare:
1 — default scale display is paper unitsto master units.
2 — default scale display is master unitsto paper units.
With this configuration variable set, the scale display still may bechanged via the Method setting in the Scale Assistant. When the Print dialogbox is closed and then reopened, however, it will revert to that set by theconfiguration variable.
Scale Assistant
(Show Preview and Show Details displayed only) Clickingthe Scale Assistant icon opens the Scale Assistant dialog box, which lets you select the scale for the printed output.
X
(Show Preview and Show Details displayed only) Sets theX, or width, dimension of the printed output, in printer units.
Y
(Show Preview and Show Details displayed only) Sets theY, or height, dimension of the printed output, in printer units.
X Origin
(Show Preview and Show Details displayed only) Sets thehorizontal distance in printer units from the lower left corner of the printablearea to the lower left corner of the page. The default X Origin and Y Originsettings center the printed output in the printable area of the page.
Y Origin
(Show Preview and Show Details displayed only) Sets thevertical distance in printer units from the lower left corner of the printablearea to the lower left corner of the page. The default X Origin and Y Originsettings center the printed output in the printable area of the page.
Auto-center
(Show Preview and Show Details displayed only) If on, theprintable area is centered on the page.
File menu > Page Setup
Opens the Windows Page Setup dialog box, which is usedto set the paper size, orientation and margins of the printout for printingto the Windows system printer. If the selected printer driver file is notthe Windows system printer, this menu item is disabled.
File menu > Preview
Opens the resizable Preview window, which lets you previewthe proposed printed output.
Effect is the same as clicking the Preview icon.
File menu > Print
Where the selected printer is the Windows system printer,the printed output is sent to the printer.
Where the selected printer is not the Windows system printer, the SavePrint As dialog box opens, to let you save the print file to disk for latersubmission to the required printer.
Effect is the same as clicking the Print icon.
File menu > Select Windows Printer
Selects “printer.plt” as the print setup file,which uses the Windows system printer.
File menu > Select Bentley Driver
Opens the Select Printer Driver File dialog box, whichlets you select a printer driver file.
File menu > Edit Printer Driver File
Opens Windows Notepad with the current printer driver loaded,for editing.
File menu > Reload Printer Driver File
Reloads the current printer driver to include any changes.For example, after editing the printer driver, you need to reload it to takeadvantage of any changes that you have made.
File menu > Exit
Closes the Print dialog box.
Configuration menu > Open
Opens the Select Print Configuration File dialog box, whichlets you choose a previously saved print configuration file.
Configuration menu > Save
Saves the current printing configuration for future use.If the printing configuration has not been saved previously, then the SavePrint Configuration File As dialog box opens, which lets you specify a namefor the print configuration file. By default, the print configuration fileis given the name of the design file, but with a “.ini” extension.
Configuration menu > Save As
Opens the Save Print Configuration File As dialog box,which lets you specify a name for the print configuration file that you wantto save for future use.
Settings menu > Units
Opens an option menu that lets you select the printer measurementunits used for the printing dialog box. Choices are: inches, feet, mm, cm,dm, or m.
Settings menu > Maximize
Automatically fits the selected view or fenced area intoas much of the printable area as possible.
Effect is the same as clicking the Maximize Print Size icon.
Settings menu > Print Attributes
Opens the Print Attributesdialog box, which lets you set various printing attributes.
Effect is the same as clicking the Print Attributes icon.
Settings menu > Raster Options
Opens the Raster Optionsdialog box, which lets you set the parameters for raster referenceplotting.
Settings menu > Update from View
Updates the preview area.
PenTable menu > New
Opens the Create Pen Table File dialog box, which is usedto load new pen tables and activate pen table processing.
PenTable menu > Attach
Opens the Select Pen Table File dialog box, from whichyou can select the pen table you want to load.
PenTable menu > Edit
Opens the Modify Pen Tabledialog box, which is used to define a newly created pen table or modifyan existing one. If no Pen Table currently is loaded, then the Select PenTable File dialog box opens, to let you select a pen table first. On selectinga pen table, the Modify Pen Table dialog box then opens.
PenTable menu > Detach
Detaches the currently loaded pen table, thereby disablingpen table processing.
PenTable > Import
Opens the Import AutoCAD plot style table dialog box, whichlets you select a CTB file to import.
