Use the Print tab to specify the printer name, select from the available printers, define the print destination, color and format. You can print to a device, a command or a file. You can print in color or black and white. VX supports a number of printer formats including HP-GL, HP-GL/2, EPS, PCL 5, TIFF, EMF and BMP.

 

 

 

 

Printer Settings

 

Printer name

Enter a name for the current printer. This name is for convenience and identification purposes only. It does not relate to the printing device and is not used for printing.

 

 

Print

 

Available printers

This list shows all printers (local and remote) that are currently defined for use by your system. Select a printer from the list.

 

Print destination

Enter the print destination based on the following destination types.

 

• Device - Contains the port name such as "LPT1", "COM1" or "\\HPSERVER\HP" assigned to the available printed selected. For EMF printing only, it can also be the name of the printer as shown on the General tab of the Printer Properties dialogue.

• See also: The Windows Advanced Print Dialogue.

• Command - Enter the path and command name.

• File - Enter the path and file name or pick the folder icon to select a destination using the File Browser.

 

Destination type

Left-click-hold the Destination type indicator and make one of the following selections.

 

• Device - Sends the print to a device (e.g., printer) attached to the port indicated in the Print destination input field.

• Command - Executes the print command indicated in the Print destination input field and submits the print data as input to that command.

• File - Writes the print data to the file specified in the Print destination input field.

 

Print color

Left-click-hold the Print color indicator and make one of the following selections.

 

• Color - Sends color output based on the default colors.

• Black/White - Sends black and white output.

 

Print format

Left-click-hold the Print format indicator and make one of the following selections. See also: The Windows Advanced Print Dialogue.

 

• HP-GL - Hewlett-Packard Graphics Language

• HP-GL/2 - Hewlett-Packard Graphics Language standardized version

• EPS - Encapsulated Postscript (supports printing in shaded and hidden line display mode)

• PS - Postscript

• PCL 5 - Printer Control Language version 5

• TIFF - Tagged Image File Format

• EMF - Microsoft Enhanced Meta File

• BMP - Windows bitmap file

 

 

 

Use the Paper tab to specify the paper size and set paper margins and borders. You can choose from a selection of standard paper sizes or specify the dimensions of your own custom paper size. You can also choose to print the margins and borders or ignore them.

 

 

 

 

Paper size

 

• Size - Select from the list of paper sizes. Make sure the same paper size in loaded into your printer in the same Paper orientation shown on this form.

• Custom - To setup for a custom paper size, select Custom and then enter the length and width (in the current part, drawing sheet or CAM plan units)

• Source - Specifies the bin number for your printer's paper source (e.g., tray1, tray2, envelope, etc). You can use the Get List of Paper Bins button (see below). The selected bin number will be displayed here.

 

 

Paper margins and border

 

• Top, Bottom, Left, Right - Enter the size of the paper margins in the Top, Bottom, Left, and Right input fields.

• Print paper margins - Pick Yes or No to print the paper margins.

• Print drawing border - Pick Yes or No to print the drawing sheet border.

• Get List of Paper Bins - Displays a list of valid paper bins for the printer selected from the Available Printers field on the Print tab of this form. Select a paper bin from the list to print to.

 

 

 

Use the Layout tab to specify the print rotation and scale. The scope of the print is also defined here. You can print to the limits of the part or drawing sheet or just the portion that is displayed. Print to limits provides additional options. You can dynamically position the paper to define the limits, default to the origin of the part or drawing sheet and show the limits of the print.

 

 

 

 

Print rotation and scale

 

• Rotation - Pick 0, 90, 180, or 270 degrees of rotation. Print rotation is measured counterclockwise about the print origin. You can also change the print rotation during Dynamic Print (see below in this table).

• Scale - Enter the print scale (i.e., 1=Full Scale).

 

 

Print area/limits

 

• Print area - Defines the area to be printed. Choose from the following selections.
  
  Limits - Print all entities within the currently defined print area. Any entities that cross the print boundaries will be clipped to the boundaries.
  Display - The current display position and orientation. For practical purposes, the actual print area is slightly larger than the display.
   

• Dynamic - A view of the current paper size is displayed. Use the mouse buttons as defined below to locate and orient the print.

• Default - The current printer origin and paper size defaults to 0,0 of the active part or drawing sheet.

• Show - The location of the current paper size is displayed.

 

 

Mouse Button Assignments for Dynamic Printing

 

Left-click to select the dynamic print origin.

 

Middle-click to reset the print origin as follows.

 

• At the part level - middle-click to reset to the 0,0,0 origin of the default XY plane as seen from the top view.

• At the sketch level - middle-click to reset to the 0,0 origin of the sketch plane.

• At the Drawing Sheet Level - middle-click to reset to the lower-left corner of the drawing sheet.
   

Right-click to display the Input Options Menu for Dynamic Printing shown here. You can change the rotation angle of the current paper size that is displayed.

 

A change to the rotation angle will be reflected in the Print Setup Form. You can also set the input mode for the left-mouse button (see above) to Grid, Absolute, or Critical.

 

 

 

Use the Attributes tab to specify additional print attributes such as geometry x,y scale and line width and line style scale. You can set three levels of printing priority and specify the print tolerance. There is also additional data that you can print with each print job such as file name, path, time and date.

 

 

 

 

HP-GL/2

 

Optimize

The HP-GL/2 print format allows for the following optimization techniques. Check the optimization methods that you wish to enable.

 

• Color - Vectors are sorted by pen color rather than the order in which they were received.

• Endpoint - (Bidirectional printing) swaps successive vector endpoints to minimize pen-up moves.

• Geographic - Sorts all vectors by their geographic area before moving to another area.

 

 

Print attributes

 

Geometry x scale, Geometry y scale, Line width scale, Line style scale

Enter the print scale for the geometry x axis direction, geometry y axis direction, line width and line style for all geometry (i.e., 1=Full Scale).  If you want all geometry, line widths, and line styles to scale uniformly, set all to the same scale value.

 

 

Priority

 

Attribute priority

Sets three levels of priority for printing based on Color, Line Style and Line Width. Left-click and drag to select the attribute for each level of priority.

 

 

Print tolerance

 

Arc step size

Enter the arc step size for printing arcs, circles, and curves measured in degrees. This setting is used for printing only.

 

 

Print data

 

Print file name, Print file path, Print time, Print date, Date format, Print info

Use these attributes to print information along with the print. The Print file name option also prints the active object name.

 

• Select Yes or No for each attribute.

• Select the date format (if the date attribute is selected).

• Select Yes or No to print the information selected.

 

 

 

Use the Color tab to map VX colors to specific printer pen numbers, set the pen speed and the maximum pen distance. You can also set the line style and line width for each color of use the default VX attributes.

 

 

 

 

Pen/color assignments

 

Color

Lists the VX default color number and color for printing.

 

VX supports true 2-color mapping (e.g., black on white).  For the pixel-based print formats TIFF and BMP, only color numbers 15 and 16 are enabled.  Color 15 represents the foreground color and 16 the background color.

 

In VX, set your background color to black or any other solid color.  Also, the gradient background and background image options on the Background tab of the VX Configuration Form should not be enabled (i.e., not checked).  You can then set color 15 and 16 to your desired two colors.

 

You can also set the background color to white while using other color print formats by setting color 16 to pen # 15.  Use the Print Preview option to experiment and verify your results before printing.

 

Pen #

Your printer's pen number. Enter the Pen # for the assigned color or margin.

 

A Pen #

Your printer's alternate pen number. The alternate pen is used when the same primary pen has been used continuously for the Max Pen Distance without being swapped out. Enter the A Pen # for the assigned color or margin.

 

Speed

Your printer's pen speed measured in centimeters per second. Enter the pen Speed for the assigned pen.

 

Line style

Left-click and drag to select a line style to assign to each pen. If Ignore is selected, this attribute is ignored and the assigned VX line style is used. This refers to the default line style defined in the Line Attributes Form at the time the geometry was created.

 

Line width

Left-click and drag to select a line width to assign to each pen. If Ignore is selected, this attribute is ignored and the assigned VX line width is used. This refers to the default line width defined in the Line Attributes Form at the time the geometry was created.

 

Max pen distance

The maximum distance a pen will travel in a single run. When this distance is reached the A Pen # (Alternate Pen Number) is used.

 

 

 

Use the Line Style tab to customize the output of the VX default line styles. You can specify the exact lengths of the line and space segments that make up each line style. You can also customize the output line widths and colors assigned to each line style or use the VX default line widths and colors.

 

 

 

 

Line styles

 

Line style

Refers to the default line styles defined in the Line Attributes Form. Geometry assigned to each of these line styles will be printed based on the definition in this form.

 

Line style definition

Defines the pattern for each line style. Refer to the note Defining Line Style Text Strings below

 

Line width

Left-click and drag to select a line width to assign to each line style. If Ignore is selected, this attribute is ignored and the assigned VX line width is used. This refers to the default line width defined in the Line Attributes Form at the time the geometry was created.

 

Color

Left-click and drag to select a color to assign to each line style. If Ignore is selected, this attribute is ignored and the assigned VX color is used. This refers to the default color defined in the Line Attributes Form at the time the geometry was created.

 

Use adaptive length line styles

This setting is specific to HP-GL and HP-GL/2.  The line patterns are automatically adjusted to make sure two lines always meet at corners.

 

 

Defining Line Style Text Strings

 

The line style text string is a series of numbers separated by commas. It defines the pattern for that line style. Lets look at an example.

 

The first number (15.600) defines the overall length of the pattern. The second number (3.00) defines the length of the first solid line portion of the pattern. The third number (3.00) defines the length of the first broken portion of the pattern. The remaining numbers define the lengths of the solid/broken portions remaining in the pattern. The pattern begins with a solid length and ends with a broken length.

 

 

Line Style Definition Example

 

 

 

Use the Line Width tab to customize the output of the VX default line widths. You can specify the exact line widths and customize the output line styles and colors assigned to each line width or use the VX default line styles and colors.

 

 

 

Line widths

 

Line width

Shows the default line widths defined in the Line Attributes Form. Geometry assigned to each of these line widths will be printed based on the definition in this form. You can change the line widths values here to override the default line widths.

 

Line style

Left-click and drag to select a line style to assign to each line width. If Ignore is selected, this attribute is ignored and the assigned VX line style is used. This refers to the default line style defined in the Line Attributes Form at the time the geometry was created.

 

Color

Left-click and drag to select a color to assign to each line width. If Ignore is selected, this attribute is ignored and the assigned VX color is used. This refers to the default color defined in the Line Attributes Form at the time the geometry was created.

 

 

 

Use the Advanced tab to set advanced features of the print setup including printer origin, software clipping, the printer device unit and printer control strings. You also use the Advanced tab to load/save your own custom print setup configuration files. This allows you to personalize a setup configuration to your needs and then load it when you need it. There are also default setup configuration for a number of popular print formats.

 

 

 

Printer origin

 

X offset, Y offset

Use the X and Y Offset values to fine tune the placement of the print on the paper.

 

 

Software clipping

 

Enable software clipping

Clip geometry to the set paper margins.

 

Print software clip area

Similar to the Print paper margins option. Refer to the Print tab.

 

 

Printer device unit

 

Device unit

For vector based prints (e.g., HP-GL, HP-GL/2, EPS) the device unit refers to the smallest distance recognizable by your printer. Set it to the valued specified by your printer user's manual.

 

Dots Per Inch (DPI)

For raster based prints (e.g., PCL 5, TIFF and BMP) the DPI refers to the highest resolution your printer is capable of producing.The actual resolution of the print is based on the screen resolution within your monitor's graphics window.

 

Image size (pixel)

This will be the image size measured in pixels based on the current paper size (see Paper Tab above) and the DPI settings (see Dots per inch above).

 

File size (MB)

This is the size of the file measured in megabytes (MB) if you output the print to a file.

 

Memory (MB)

This is amount of memory that would be required to process and output the print job measured in megabytes (MB).

 

 

Printer control strings

 

Print prefix

Printer command codes that should be sent before the print file. Refer to your printer user's manual for available command codes. Pick Yes or No to enable or disable the print prefix.

 

Print suffix

These are printer command codes that should be sent following the print file. Refer to your printer user's manual for available command codes. Pick Yes or No to enable or disable the print suffix.

 

If you have a roll-feed printer you can disable the page advance command code by emptying the print suffix input field or by selecting No next to Use suffix.

 

 

Printer setup file

 

Available files

VX contains preset print setup configuration files for many of the supported formats. You can also save and load your own configurations. All settings currently active in the all of the Print Setup Form (i.e., all tabs) are saved with the configuration.

 

This makes it convenient for example when the majority of your print jobs use the same size paper or the same printer. You can personalize and save the configuration to your needs and then load it when you need it.

 

Setup file

Use this input field to load or save print setup files. You can customize the print setup, enter a name (do not enter a path) and then use the Save Setup File option below to save the current setup.

 

Load Setup File

Load the print setup file currently displayed in the Setup file input field.

 

Save Setup File

Save the current print setup to the file whose name is currently displayed in the Setup file input field. If the file exists pick OK to overwrite it or Cancel to close the form without saving.

 

Make Default

Make the print setup file currently displayed in the Setup file input field the default setup at startup.

 

Delete Setup File

Delete the print setup file currently displayed in the Setup file input field. Pick OK to confirm the deletion or Cancel to close the form without deleting the file.

 

 

 

Use the Calibrate tab to calibrate the current printer setup configuration to your specific printer. Follow the steps outlined on this form to complete the calibration.

 

 

 

 

The following options are common to many (or all) of the Print Setup Form tabs.

 

Paper orientation

Shows the paper orientation as defined by the Paper size selection on the Paper tab of the Print Setup Form.

 

Dismiss

Close the Print Setup Form and save the current setup.

 

Print Preview

Displays a preview of the print based on the current setup. This preview assumes that your printer's control are set properly and that the correct paper is loaded.

 

Print to Destination

Send the print data to the location specified in the Print destination input field. You can also Dismiss this form now and then select File> Print or pick the print icon from the Tool Bar to print based on the active setup.  See also: The Windows Advanced Print Dialogue

 

 

 

• The Windows Advanced Document Properties Dialogue - With Print destination set to Device and Print Format set to EMF, the Windows Advanced Document Properties Dialogue is displayed when the Print to Destination button is selected. This allows you to fine tune the print job with settings that are not available from within VX.