Datasheet

c h a p t e r 1: PREPARING DRAWINGS IN CAD OR BIM FOR ENHANCEMENT ■

12. Click the Save & Close button. A file called Images.ctb is automatically created

in the

Plot Styles folder on your hard drive.

13. Click Finish to close the Add-A-Plot Style Table Wizard and close the Plot

Styles

folder.

Now you have conﬁgured the ImagePrinter as a raster printer driver that you

can use to convert vector line work in AutoCAD to the pixels of an image that you’ll be

able to manipulate with Photoshop.

Making a Test Plot to Determine Scale

Before you use the LISP program to automate the conversion of each AutoCAD layer

to a separate image ﬁle, you must do one test plot in order to work out the scale of the

drawing relative to the image size. Every building has a different physical size, so you’ll

need to work out the plot scale each time. Let’s give it a try:

1. In AutoCAD, open Home.dwg, which is the first-floor plan of my home. This file

is already “cleaned up” (see the “Cleaning Up Drawings” section earlier in this

chapter), so it’s ready to be transferred into Photoshop.

2. Press Ctrl+P. Click OK if a warning dialog box appears indicating a missing

driver; you’ll select the correct driver in a moment.

3. Click the Name drop-down under Printer/Plotter, select ImagePrinter.pc3, and

click to select the default paper size when prompted.

4. Click the More Options arrow button in the lower-right corner (see Figure 1.14)

if the dialog box is not already expanded.

5. Select ImageSize as the Paper Size.

6. Open the Plot Style Table drop-down and select Images.ctb (Figure 1.15).

7. Under Plot Area, select Extents from the What To Plot drop-down. Under Plot

Offset, select the Center The Plot check box. Under Plot Scale, select Fit To

Paper.

At this point, we’re ready to plot the entire drawing to an image, but we’re not

going to do this yet because we still have to work out the scale. Instead, we’ve simu-

lated the plot with the Fit To Paper option to work out the plot scale. Take a look at the

grayed-out numbers in the Plot Scale area, shown in Figure 1.16.

Note: If you don’t have AutoCAD, you can skip ahead to the next section or Chapter 2. Plotted AutoCAD image

files are provided so you can jump right into Photoshop.

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