printing multiple layouts

. Viehweger · December 2010

Hello,

Ii'm looking for a way to print multiple (or at least all) layouts at once. At the moment I need to select and print each layout one by one, quite annoying at a count of 15 or more.

I've found only one posting from 2006 but no answers.

Best regards.

Gerben Schmidt · February 2011

Hi,

Use a script file (*.scr). This is a plain text file with the extension *.scr
The text inside represent the commands from the commandline

Type on the commandline -plot (with dash!)
The following questions are asked:

: -plot
Detailed plot configuration? Yes/<No>: y
Enter a layout name or [?] <A0>: A0
Enter an output device name or [?] <ScanSoft PDF Create!>:
Enter paper size or [?] <A0>:
Enter paper units Inches/<Millimeters>: m
Enter drawing orientation Portrait/<Landscape>: l
Plot upside down? Yes/<No>: n
Enter plot area Display/<Extents>/Layout/View/Window: E
Enter plot scale (Plotted millimeters = Drawing Units) or Fit <1:1>: 1:1
Enter plot offset (x,y) or <Center>: C
Plot with plot styles? <Yes>/No: Y
Enter plot style table name or [?] (enter . for none) <VanOord_color.ctb>:
Plot with lineweights? <Yes>/No: Y
Scale lineweights with plot scale? Yes/<No>: N
Plot paper space last? Yes/<No>: N
Remove hidden lines? Yes/<No>: Y
Write the plot to a file? Yes/<No>: N
Save changes to page setup? Yes/<No>: Y
Proceed with plot? <Yes>/No: Y

Put the answers in your script file as text.
An example script file for 1 Layout would look line this:

LAYOUT S [LAYOUT NAME]
Zoom E
-plot
y
A0
<ScanSoft PDF Create!> (printername or pc3 name: name.pc3)
ISO A0 - 1189 x 841 mm.
Landscape
No
Extents
1:1
Center
Yes
VanOord_color.ctb
Yes
No
No
Yes
No
Yes
yes
LAYOUT S [LAYOUT NEXT NAME]
Zoom E
-plot
y
A0
<ScanSoft PDF Create!> (printername or pc3 name: name.pc3)
ISO A0 - 1189 x 841 mm.
Landscape
No
Extents
1:1
Center
Yes
VanOord_color.ctb
Yes
No
No
Yes
No
Yes
yes

etc....

you can list the LAYOUT NAMES in a textfile and with a macro editor you can repeat this for all LAYOUT TABS
Save the *.SCR file and drag it into the Drawing.

Tip: Test it first with one layout

Greetzzz,

Gerben

Jason Bourhill · February 2011

Hopefully this is something that will be improved in the next version. Had a client contact me with the same issue.

Non Bricscad way is to download and use DWGTrueView from AutoDESK (free). This allows you to batch plot all layouts in a drawing, as well as printing several drawing files.

Alternative to script above to use some Lisp. You can make use of the funtion (layoutlist) to list all paperspace layouts in a drawing, then print each of them. example code below does this, assuming that all the layouts are the same size and you want to send to the same printer.

; PrintAll.LSP
; Routine to print all Layouts in a drawing
; Assumes you have PDFcreator installed free from http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator/
; Check paper size. Description must match the one held for that specific printer
; eg PDFcreator describes A3 as "A3"
; whereas ScanSoft PDF Create! describes A3 as "A3       297 x 420 mm"
; Replace plot style table name with your own

(defun C:PrintAll ( / layouts num)
    (setq layouts (layoutlist)) ; list all paperspace layouts in the drawing
  (setq num 0) ; zero counter
   (repeat (length layouts) ; Repeats the plot command on all layouts
        (command "._PLOT"
             "YES" ; Detailed plot configuration? Yes/<No>:
              (nth num layouts) ; Enter a layout name or [?] <Layout1>:
               "PDFCreator" ; Enter an output device name or [?] <Default>:
                "A3" ; Enter paper size or [?] <A3>:
                "Millimeters" ; Enter paper units Inches/<Millimeters>:
             "Landscape" ; Enter drawing orientation Portrait/<Landscape>:
               "No" ; Plot upside down? Yes/<No>:
              "Extents" ; Enter plot area Display/<Extents>/Layout/View/Window:
               "1:1" ; Enter plot scale (Plotted millimeters = Drawing Units) or Fit <1:2>:
                "Center" ; Enter plot offset (x,y) or <Center>:
             "Yes" ; Plot with plot styles? Yes/<No>:
                "CCL-BW.ctb" ; Enter plot style table name or [?] (enter . for none) <CCL-BW.ctb>:
              "Yes"   ; Plot with lineweights? <Yes>/No:
              "Yes" ; Scale lineweights with plot scale? Yes/<No>:
                "Yes" ; Plot paper space last? Yes/<No>:
                "No" ; Remove hidden lines? Yes/<No>:
               "No" ; Write the plot to a file? Yes/<No>:
              "No" ; Save changes to page setup? Yes/<No>:
                "Yes" ;Proceed with plot? <Yes>/No:
     )
     (setq num (1+ num)) ; Increment counter
   ) ; end repeat
) ; end function

Jason Bourhill

CAD Concepts

http://www.cadconcepts.co.nz

[Deleted User] · February 2011

i would like to see it like a spreadsheet where you can select multiple tabs and print.

Jerry

Jason Bourhill · February 2011

Further option on printing multiple layouts is to use the sample VBA utility called batch_plot_tool.dvb. you should find this located in the folder “C:\Program Files\Bricsys\Bricscad V11\API\vba" where Bricscad has been installed on your machine.

Bricsys have a movie on how to use this utility.
http://www.bricscad.com/en_INTL/movie/bcad/Batch_Plot/Batch_Plot_skin.swf

Jason Bourhill

CAD Concepts

http://www.cadconcepts.co.nz

. Viehweger · February 2011

Thank you, I'll try out your solutions. Shouldn't be the problem, because all layouts are pre-configured. The *.scr sound simple and even the Lisp doesn't looks too difficult, maybe a reason to take a closer look at Lisp.

Jason wrote:

> [...]use some Lisp. You can make use of the funtion (layoutlist) to list all paperspace layouts[...]

Is there a way to get the info if a layout is marked? Sth. like "IF layout.marked = TRUE"

Best regards.

. Viehweger · February 2011

Jason wrote:

> Further option on printing multiple layouts is to use the sample VBA utility called batch_plot_tool.dvb. you should find this located in the folder “C:\Program Files\Bricsys\Bricscad V11\API\vba" where Bricscad has been installed on your machine.

Great, and at least since v9 on board (we've also an old v9 installation here, nobody has uninstalled it). Simple to use (i didn't watched the move yet), and we are able to override the pre-config. Why are such things always deeply hidden? Maybe I'll record a macro for a simplier way to load the stuff.

Thank you for enlightenment :-)

Jerry:

Menu --> Tools--> VBA --> Projekt Manager
--> Load... --> \API\VBA\batch_plot_tool.dvb
--> Macros... --> Macros in: [Pulldown] --> batch_plot_tool.dvb
--> Run
Then a "programm window" pops up:
--> Open --> choose your file--> ok
--> Mark (will only work in the 1st column "Drawing File") --> the other icons gets active
--> Layout --> choose (multiple with CTRL+LMB)

Best regards.

. Viehweger · February 2011

Ok, finally: Simply make a new tool in your toolbox and use this cmd:

^c^c_-vbaload batch_plot_tool.dvb;_-vbarun BatchPlotTool.BatchPlot.BatchPlot;

printing multiple layouts

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