Print to Scale

[defjef]

Tried the print to scale on VW 8.52...PC win ME. HP 930.. checked the little box in the print set up. The drawing was drawn to be a D size but I used 8 1/2 x 11 and checked scaled to fit... NOT 100%. The print window SHOWED an8 1/2 x 11 in the middle of a larger D size drawing.. and that's what came out of the printer. NO SCALING just an letter size section from the middle of the drawing... What gives???

[defjef]

Perhaps I am not being clear one what I am wanting to accomplish. Our output is normally D size or C size plots. If I am working on a drawing to fill a D size page... I will use say... a hatch for stone which looks correct at 1/4" scale... My arrowheads on leader lines are say 1/8" lomg when plotted at 1/4" scale on a D size plot.

What I would like to do is be able to print this D size drawing on 11x17 or even in some cases 8 1/ 2x 11. If I use the Scale object command and scale entire drawing and scale text... I have to hunt around for the right percentage to get the D size into a letter size for example... OK this may not be hard to compute.... but after printing, you need to scale back by the receiprical amount and this is inconvenient. The idea of defining a D size drawing and then having the software reduce it in scale to fit onto a smaller page is what I am looking for and what I understood to be the "scale to fit" command.

However, a small format printer does not have large format size to use as the "paper size" to shrink from so you cannot select D size. If you do select D size in Set Print Area dialog you get a tiled page. If you select ONE PAGE you can only print to the sizes available to the particular printer in the Page Set up Drop down.

So can this SCALE to fit be accomplished as I want... essentially creating a minature print the way you would do if you did REDUCE on a photo copier.

[ 06-11-2003, 08:32 AM: Message edited by: defjef ]

[Cloud Hidden]

I'm interested in the best approach to this, too, be/c I have to do final prints Arch D, but proof them Tabloid. So I want the scale on the Drawing Label to adjust, too. Doesn't always turn out as I expect, so looking for what works for others.

[defjef]

Can we get some sort of answer here??? I was on the phone with VW tech and the fellow was to junior to figure it out and was waiting for Katie to rule on this... Never got a call back.... Nothing here either.

HELP!!!!!!!!!!!

[jan15]

VW version 8 doesn't have print scaling. That started in version 9.

You found a little tick box called "Scaled to Fit"? Where? It must be part of your printer's software.

Some HP printers have reduced size printing. My 1220c has it, under Features>Zoomsmart>Percent of Normal Size. There's also a choice called "Print Document On", with a paper size specification. I'm not sure what that's supposed to do, but I know that print scaling doesn't work unless I uncheck it.

[jfmarch]

'Scaled to fit' must be a printer driver feature.

VW doesn't have this feature. ARCH D will fit on a 11x17 if the PERCENTAGE is changed to 50% in the print dialog box. I would think that 25% would work to get you on an letter sized sheet, but man, that's small. We use a graphic scale on all our drawings so that when they are reduced, someone can figure out the PERCENTAGE themselves.

Also, make sure the the box called 'Print current view only' is unchecked under the Vectorworks settings of the print dialog box.

[defjef]

Obviously in VW8, this scale to fit is not a VW feature and for the printer drivers I have, not an option offered either on my PC machines... haven't checked the MAC recently. Therefore, I conclude that there is no was to minaturize a drawing reducing everything proportionately... including line weights arrowheads hatches etc... from WITHIN the software.

[AndyM]

I use adobe acrobat for this. Just print to pdf then acrobat will scale the whole page up or down all day.

If it's just for proofing you could also export an image file and print that.