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Making a PDF for 24 x36 drw'gs


scarth

Question

I live in the sticks wihtout a plotter in my office and to plot large is impossible unless I load the VW software on my local printer's hard-drive. (who plots large items form Auto-cad)

Or is it?

I would love to make a PDF with a true scale and send it to my local guy for printing. Is this possible?

I do not see it offered as an export option. I have used JPEGS when desperate but could not control the scale.

Thank you!

Michelle

xp and vw 12.01

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5 answers to this question

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I've been exporting large format PDF's for years using pdf995 ($10 or free with adware). Lots of other PDF writers available too, including Acrobat (I had trouble with Acrobat when I first tried to print 24x36 with it long ago).

Do you know about the VectorWorks Viewer? If your print shop is amenable they can install the free viewer and then you can just send them your MCD files.

Another option is to find out what plotter they use, download its driver from the manufacturer's site, install it on your system as if you had that model plotter, and then print to it, checking the box that says "Print to File." Send them the file that it creates, which most printers love because they can just send it directly to their printer port without doing any print set-up. It might be good to send a PDF anyway, so they can tell whether the print came out right. As with any new plotter, there may be glitches at first.

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Yes, pdf995 acts like it's a printer. You select it in Printer Setup instead of your Epson or HP, then select a paper size and orientation as with any printer, and set Properties if you want. But you don't need to check "Print to File" because that's all it ever does. It creates a normal PDF file. Available at pdf995.com

A nice way to look at PDF's, by the way, is Foxit Reader. It's free and it loads instantly. From foxitsoftware.com

The other route is similar, but an actual printer driver is used, and the file it creates isn't in PDF or any other such format. It's the stream of printer codes that the operating system would send through the parallel or USB cable to that specific printer to create that specific print. You intercept the stream of printer codes and save it as a disk file, which the print shop can send directly to their printer port. They don't have to use VW or Autocad or Acrobat, and they don't have to do any print setup because you've already done that.

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when making a pdf, remember that the page setup is for "one printer page" then control what that "one printer page" is via the print setup box. Since you're outputting to a virtual printer (pdf) you can control what that page size is (A-Super E size). Islandmon is right, there are are range of flavors, in my experience on large prints going over 150 dpi creates some serious coffee break time.

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