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Print scaling in Minicad 6


RAM

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I hope there are still some Minicad 6 users here. I've been using the Windows version since it came out. In fact we were a beta site. I've asked this question of everybody at Graphsoft that I could get to talk to me and never come close to a satisfactory answer. In my line of work I need to make large drawings, often C & D size. Also, I often need to fax these drawings to customers or vendors. To do this requires requires a print driver with a scaling function, however I've only found one printer driver with a scaling function that works with Minicad. It's a Panasonic KX-P6500. I've tried every brand of printer available locally and only the Panasonic works and only with their "GDI" driver. The good folks at Graphsoft have as much as told me that it wasn't their problem and that everybody but them was doing something wrong. I can't believe I'm the only person with this problem. Will somebody please give me a sanity check and tell me how you have solved this problem.

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If you can't find a printer driver that works with your printer and provides the ability to scale your output, then you might consider looking for a printer driver that actually "prints" to some sort of file and provides scaling. Acrobat, for example, comes with a printer driver which "prints" into a PDF file. Some printer drivers (even ones that usually print to a real printer) may also provide the option of saving to a PostScript file. (I'm more a Mac guy than a Windows guy, so I'll not speculate on which these might be.) Once you've got a PDF file or a PostScript file, you may be able to use other tools to scale your output appropriately.

Another possibility is to simply to make a copy of your drawing and then, inside MiniCAD, scale the objects in the copy to fit on whatever size sheet you like using the Scale Objects... command. (Does this command exist in MiniCAD 6? I haven't got a copy right now to check, but I expect it does.) Or you might just change the scale of the drawing.

Good luck,

Caleb Strockbine

(another Graphsoft guy)

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Thanks for your suggestions Caleb. I may have misled you in my original question. What I'd like to find is a PRINTER that has a driver with a scaling function that actually works with Minicad 6. It doesn't seem reasonable to me that I should have to go through file conversions to make this work. Files never look the same after conversions as before and I don't want to have to check every aspect of every drawing I print for accuracy before I use it. I tried using the "scale objects" command years ago and gave up on it. The problem is it will only reduce one layer at a time even if you check thwe "whole drawing" check box, and you wind up piecing the layers back together after you scale them down. Also, the values of dimensions are reduced by the conversion factor. If I were just making pretty pictures this might be a usable alternative but my drawings must be accurate.

It has always seemed to me as if Graphsoft was shooting itself in the foot by stonewalling me on this issue. Before I realized the extent of the problem I actually spent my own money to buy a HP 5L laser printer because it had a driver with a scaling function. When I actually tried to use it with Minicad6 it wouldn't work. I've been reporting this to Graphsoft ever since and nothing has changed. People have told me that they were working on it but I'd have to believe that you all were all pretty stupid to have not been able to solve this in the years I've been reporting it. At the time that I reported it the HP 5L was probably the commonest low end laser printer being sold and I believe that it's successors probably still are. For a company to ignore this degree of non-functionality in the most common printer being sold seems short sighted to say the least. By the way, this is only one of the bugs I've reported over the years and they haven't fixed the others either. That's why I never bought VW. It's probably full of the old bugs and a bunch of new ones they won't fix. Who needs it?

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Shawn, you and I have discussed this on many occasions. I upgraded to Minicad 7 (which I don't use) on the word of somebody at Graphsoft, maybe you, saying that many print issues had been solved in Minicad 7 and that surely this was one of them. When you demonstrate to me that VW solves my problem I'll buy VW. Not until. Been there, done that.

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Send me a file I will be happy to print it from Vectorworks for you and fax it back

Just send it to tech@diehlgraphsoft.com

Attn:shawn

include your fax number and I will fax the output back to you.

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Shawn Waithe

Diehl Graphsoft inc.

Tech Support Manager

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The Vectorworks software works well with the ZoomSmart technology that is being used by some HP printers. Although help information it does not solve your problems with the Mincad 6 software. by upgrading to the latest version of the software you will get the functionality you are looking for.

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Shawn Waithe

Diehl Graphsoft inc.

Tech Support Manager

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Well Ram, have you checked your fax machine?

I faxed it back the same day. But, I will fax it again when I get back in the office

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Shawn Waithe

Diehl Graphsoft inc.

Tech Support Manager

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