Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
find that checking drawings the old-fashioned way — with a hard-copy print and a red
pencil — turns up errors that managed to remain hidden on the computer screen.
Whatever the reason, you'll want to print drawings at some point — probably sooner
rather than later. Depending on where you are in a project, plotting is the pop quiz,
midterm, or final exam of your drawing-making semester. This chapter helps you ace the
test.
You Say Printing, I Say Plotting
Plotting
originally meant creating hard-copy output on a device that was capable of
printing on larger sheets, such as D size or E size (or A1 or A0 for the metrically in-
clined), that measure several feet (or a meter or more) on a side. (See Chapter 4 for in-
formation about drafting-paper sizes.) These plotters often used pens to draw, robot-
fashion, on large sheets of vellum or drafting film. The sheets could then be run through
diazo blueline machines
— copying machines that create blueline prints — in order to
create less-expensive copies.
Printing
meant creating hard-copy output on ordinary
printers that used ordinary-sized paper, such as A size (letter size, 81⁄2 x 11 inches) or B
size (tabloid or ledger size, 11 x 17 inches) — that's A4 or A3 for you metric folk.
Nowadays, AutoCAD and most CAD users make no distinction between plotting and
printing. AutoCAD veterans usually say “plotting,” so if you want to be cool, you can do
so, too.
Whatever you call it, plotting an AutoCAD drawing is considerably more complicated
than printing a word-processing document or a spreadsheet. CAD has a larger range of
different plotters and printers, drawing types, and output procedures than other com-
puter applications. AutoCAD tries to help you tame the vast jungle of plotting permuta-
tions, but you'll probably find that you have to take some time to get the lay of the land
and clear a path to your desired hard-copy output.
Get with the system
One of the complications you face in your attempts to create a hard copy is that
AutoCAD has two distinct ways of communicating with your plotters and printers. Oper-
ating systems, and the programs that run on them, use a special piece of software called
a
printer driver
to format data for printing and then send it to the printer or plotter.
When you configure Windows to recognize a new printer connected to your computer or
your network, you're actually installing the printer's driver. AutoCAD, like other Win-
