2013

Table Of Contents
Overview of Plotting
Understanding terms and concepts that relate to plotting makes your first
plotting experience in the program easier.
Am I Printing or Plotting?
The terms printing and plotting can be used interchangeably for CAD output.
Historically, printers would generate text only, and plotters would generate
vector graphics. As printers became more powerful and could generate
high-quality raster images of vector data, the distinction mostly disappeared.
In addition to paper output, electronic delivery of multiple drawing layouts
uses the encompassing term, publishing.
Layouts
A layout represents a drawing sheet, and typically includes
A drawing border and title block
One or more layout viewports that display views of model space
General notes, labels, and possibly dimensions
Tables and schedules
Usually a drawing file contains only one layout, but you can create as many
layouts as you need. The first time you display a layout, it is initialized and a
default page setup is assigned to it.
Once initialized, layouts can be modified and published.
Page Setups
When you create a layout, you specify a plotter, and settings such as paper
size and orientation. These settings are saved in the drawing as a page setup.
Each layout can be associated with a different page setup.
You can control these settings for layouts and for model space using the Page
Setup Manager. You can name and save page setups for use with other layouts.
If you do not specify all the settings in the Page Setup dialog box when you
create a layout, you can set up the page just before you plot. Or you can
override a page setup at plot time. You can use the new page setup temporarily
for the current plot, or you can save the new page setup.
622 | Chapter 10 Plot and Publish Drawings