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#72220 by esme103
Fri Sep 01, 2017 6:22 pm
I have been creating plans etc. and saving them to sheets that are 11" x 17" which I see on my screen. How do I create a Title Block that is 2' x 3' in the program and see it in the print menu? I need to set up sheets that are that size for final printing and I can't see those borders so I don't know how to place the details on the sheet or indicate the scale.

In advance, thank you for your help.
Esme

P.S. I tried drawing a Title Block at full scale (i.e. 144' x 96') and putting a plan within it. Although I have that on my drawing screen, I can't figure out how to create a "sheet" with that as a detail. It is too big for the "sheet" and thus, when I ask to save it as a PDF, I only get a piece of it. I tried using the "output scale" at 1/4" which is what I would like the plan to print at on a 2' x 3' sheet but the image is only a small part of the drawing. The Datacad manual tells you how to print on an 8 1/2" x 11" paper but not on a sheet size that the commercial printer would be using. How do I save this at the right size or scale to send it to a commercial printer to have correctly scaled drawings?
Last edited by esme103 on Mon Sep 04, 2017 11:31 am, edited 1 time in total.
#72221 by joshhuggins
Fri Sep 01, 2017 6:46 pm
Two things to do to get you going.
1. You can just stretch your 11x17 border to 24x36
2. You will need a print driver that has support for 24"x36" paper in order to print to a PDF that size. Bullzip, CutePDF, PDF995 are some that I remember worked well. Once you have the print driver installed, you should be able to set that as your printer and then pick a large format sheet size like 24x36. Let us know if you need more help. :D
#72222 by esme103
Mon Sep 04, 2017 12:04 pm
Thanks Josh. I did download PDF995 which says that you can save these larger PDFs. The application shows up in "printers" on the computer and I have checked it. Unfortunately, when you go to "setup" in Datacad, PDF995 is not listed as an option. The PDF995 tells you not to "print to file but instead to choose it from the printer "dialog box" which I imagine is the setup dialog box.

Should I try downloading another of the programs you suggested or it there something I am not doing correctly?

Thanks,
Esme :)

PS. As I mentioned in my edit to the original post, I tried a full scale "border". I also have it set up on the program with a 2' x 3' border but without the plan inside. For the full scale "plot" I set the output scale as 1/4".

My computer recently recognized PDF995 and I can save PDFs of larger sizes. However, there does not seen to be an actual sheet size of 2' x 3'. The A1 is 24 + and 36 - so the border is cut off on the long side. Do I make a smaller border or will Bullzip (which you have to pay for) give me that exact size.
#72318 by Ted B
Sun Sep 17, 2017 1:35 am
The nomenclature of paper-sizes can be misleading. Size ISO-A1 594×841mm (22"x32.11") isn't the same as Arch-D 24x36-in., nor is ANSI-D 22×34-in. You need to be selecting Arch-D for the full-sheet. Depending on your virtual-printer's paper-sizes available, you may need to create a "custom" sheet for 36x24" or 24x36", it could be either depending on the virtual printers internal definition of landscape versus portrait. For .PDF it's apparently important to define the actual paper-size, not the image-size for accurate printing later. Outside of architecture and engineering, Arch-D is a very "odd" size in the printing-world. Most handmade and machine-made papers are still made in increments of 20x32", 22x32" or 22x34". [The free PDFill PDFTools virtual printer-utility* has Arch-D and the other Architectural sizes. I've used versions of it for decades now.]

The other thing I find is that when a real-printer is selected in Datacad's Print-Setup, the mechanically-unprintable edge-borders are reflected in the QuickLayout's cross-hairs box, versus a virtual-printer's .PDF cross-hairs will be of the full-sheet. I leave reference marks so I can repeatably align the cross-hairs in both modes.

If you actual original is 11x17" Tabloid, and you just want to print it out a dbl-scale on Arch-D as a .PDF-file for others to print-out and use; set Datacad's set-up "printer/plotter settings" using your normal office 11x17" printer as the default, then select checkplot to the .PDF virtual printer and select Arch-D -- then correct "factor" to 200%...and print to .PDF virtual-plotter and save the output file*. The output-file with then print-out as an Arch-D at accurately with a generous border. Don't select "fit to page", or they''ll lose the to-scale accuracy.

* - I use PDFill to combine all my separate sheet-plots into one dated-issue .PDF-plot file both for record and to ensure the end-user gets all the pages, and in correct order.
#79357 by esme103
Sun Feb 14, 2021 11:45 am
Thank you again Josh Huggins and Ted B,
I was having the same problem as in 2017 and didn't remember the name of printer driver you suggested at the time. I found your post from that time and downloaded the same driver as I had before, PDF995. It worked easily and I am now able to set up an Arch D sheet.
Best,
Margaret Esme'

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