Introduction to Printing

Always familiarize yourself with your printer or plotter before a deadline. It takes a little time to configure the machine properly when you first start.

Chief Architect offers printing options for a variety of needs. You will benefit from understanding the output options clearly and choosing the one that makes the most sense for the project at hand.

Output Options

Printing From Layout - For professional quality drawings and details in full size format, printing from layout provides the most control and the best results. For more information, see "Layout".

Printing Directly From a View - For individual drawings or details, you may prefer to print directly from a view. The process is quick and allows control over scaling, positioning, and line weights, depending on the view type. See "Printing Directly from a View".

Printing to a Remote Plotter/Printer - Plans can be saved as a .pdf file and printed remotely. See "Printing to a PDF File".

Print Model - If your final printed output will be used to create a 3D model of your design, the Print Model feature works best. See "Print Model".

Terminology

There are a few terms that you should familiarize yourself with.

Sheet Size - The dimensions of the final printed output. This may or may not be the same as the paper size. If the sheet size and paper size are the same, only one page is required per sheet. See "Page Setup Dialog".

Paper Size - The dimensions of the paper to be printed on. Specifying a paper size that is smaller than the sheet size allows large drawings to be printed across multiple pages.

The preview diagram in the Page Setup dialog illustrates the difference between page size and drawing sheet size. See "Page Setup Dialog".

Check Plot - A test printing, typically at a smaller scale, made before final output to large paper format. For more information, see "Check Plots".

Line Weight - The thickness of a line. A thicker lineweight is easier to see, but may not show as much detail. See "Line Weights".

Printing Scale - Drawings are often printed to scale for accuracy. ¼" = 1' and 1 m = 50 m are examples of common scales. When accuracy is not important, drawings can also be sized to fill a particular area. See "Printing to Scale".