Kinko's and/or Print to PDF on PC ?

[wangell]

Newb here. The only way Kinko's will print is from a PDF file. I have been unable to find that option in Vectorworks (v12 on WinXP SP2). The only manual implies that PDF is only available in the Mac version which would make it useless to us. A post down below mentioned adding it but I have been unable to figure out how. Any assistance anyone can provide would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Walk

[alanmac]

You add it as a printer and go through the print dialogs to print it, but of course this is as a pdf rather than a actual physical print.

A free one is avaiable at pdf995.com and will go up to Ao size.

Alan

[wangell]

Thanks Alan. I wasn't sure if VW included a driver or not.

I'd seen 995 as well as EasyPDF ($19) and a few others for $10 - $50. Do you use 995? What problems have you run into with it? It scares me a bit because it looks like it installs an adware/spyware app.

Thanks,

Edited January 12, 2007 by wangell

[Guest]

If you have VW 12, you should see it under File>Export>Export PDF

[alanmac]

No problems here. What you are talking about is a function of the "free" version. Each time you use it the program connects to the web site and shows a pop up window with an advert for one of their other products.

To get rid of this you have to buy the program or just, as I do, put up with it and then just close those windows when they appear.

It depends how often you use it is how much it gets on your nerves and you buy it.

I've got the whole suite and find it great for single pdf's, combining pdf's, watermarking proofs etc.

It may not have all the bells and whistles of Adobe Distiller but it does not have the price either.

I use Adware filters and virus filters as well and its not an issue with using this software.

It's just like any other program inserting a link to their web site for whatever reason, just with a little more to it. No need to worry.

All the best

Alan

Edited January 12, 2007 by alanmac

[jan15]

I've had great luck with 995. The adware is harmless, only a nuisance, and after you test it just give them ten dollars and the ads go away.

Check the "Advanced" section of the Printing Preferences control panel and make sure it's set for a high enough resolution. I use 600 dpi and get very small pdf files.

One reviewer said he had problems with the "Substitute with Device Font" setting and recommended using "Download as Softfont" instead. Either setting seems to embed the fonts so that anyone you send a file to doesn't have to have your fonts installed in order to read the file properly.

Another nice pdf program, totally free, is Foxit Reader. It's a small program and it opens pdf files instantly.

[wangell]

Thanks all. I'll give 995 a shot.

Katie, there is no Export PDF option. I am running v12.0 on a XP PC. Licenses prods include Designer, Renderworks.

Thanks,

[Ray Libby]

Add Export PDF and Export PDF (Batch) to your workspace with the workspace editor.

[Guest]

wangell - You should also update to 12.5.1 at your earliest convenience. There have been new features and fixed bugs added to the subsequent versions.

[Andrew Bell@NV]

Alternatively, have you tried using Kinko's "print to Kinko's" printer driver? Install their driver (PC only, I think), and it'll show up as a printer you can choose from the Print command.

Might be dangerous though, I'd hate to accidentally print private info to the wrong printer. If you go that route, you would probably want to enable and disable it from the Printers control panel so you don't accidentally print to the wrong place. (And have to pay for having done so.)

[wangell]

Thanks all. The 'export to pdf' was apparently in the 12.5 update so appeared when I installed that and all worked well. I was glad to see that the resolution seemed good after reading of others having problems with export and having to use print to pdf.

Andrew, thanks for the heads up on the driver. I was not aware of it. 3 different Kinko's that I'd talked to about printing had never mentioned it and when I picked up some prints this morning they were not aware of it. I downloaded and attempted to install it, but it would not complete an install on 2 different computers (said it couldn't find some file, but wouldn't say which one) so I gave up. In the future it might be a good solution if they can get it to work.

Thanks again... Now on to figuring out how to use Vectorworks.

[wangell]

I didn't get a chance to take a scale to the drawings until today. They are large by about 7/8" per foot (1/4" & 1/2" scale drawings). Any thoughts on what could be causing them to be off by so much?

Thanks,

[atari2600]

If you used the "export to pdf" tool to create your pdf's in Vectorworks, then the only possiblity is the people at kinko's had the scaling setting on, which would have scaled the drawings to fit the printer's margins. That is, of course, assuming your viewport scales are set correctly.