forum.datacad.com

Mark F. Madura wrote:Dear Forum Members:

Quick Layout, GoTo Views, and MSP Sheets:
The Batch Printing Setup dialog currently displays the Quick Layout, and if they exist, GoTo Views and MSP Sheets for selection to batch print. The enhanced dialog I'm currently working on allows you to choose which of the available Layout Types to display so you can, for example, exclude the Quick Layout and GoTo Views if you only need to select MSP Sheets. I'd like to make these choices mutually exclusive (one at a time) versus mutually inclusive (one or more at the same time).

Do any of you need to batch print the Quick Layout AND MSP Sheets, or GoTo Views AND MSP Sheets, etc.?

Thank You,

MFM

Hi Mark,

1. We only use Batch Printing with MSP's which send out to PDF, with Quicklayout used for one off prints generally to PDF, sometimes directly to a printer. I don't recall having done a combination batch print noted above so, for us, not really necessary,
2. When accessing Batch Printing from the DataCAD/File/Batchprint menu, then Loading a .SET file, it would be good to see how many MSP sheets are set for printing perhaps as a second column to the right of the filename selected?

We use MSP all the time, but we separate our files. Plans, ceiling plans, elevations, etc. are all separate files. This keeps file size down and allows other people to work on other sheets. Being able to print batch plots to one pdf file would be helpful. Reducing the number of files to be merged.

Some printing enhancements that could be improved:
1) How images are processed. When we use images, the pdf file size is often over 30,000 kb. We are able to reduce the file size down to 3,000 to 5,000 kb with Photoshop without effecting printing quality.
2) Use actual sheet size and not the printable area. If the printer is changed, even though the sheet size is the same, the printed sheet can sometimes be shifted on the sheet. Here is one example, we often print to 24x36 that is printed to a large format printer. We often use the check plot to print to 12x18 (half sized) on a different printer. One, we have to manually change the scale to 50% and when printed, the drawing is shifted. If we save the full size pdf file and use a pdf program to print the half size drawings, they come out perfectly centered.

David Porter wrote:...each PDF sheet has to ... have a naming nomenclature that shows the project name or address, the sheet number, and a brief description about the sheet (Floor plan, site plan, elevations, etc.).

At a minimum, you'll be able to enter an 'Out Filename' for each sheet and a 'Merge Filename' for the merged PDF file. You'll be able to sort the Layout list either by Layout Name or Out Filename alphabetically (descending or ascending), or custom sort by dragging items to a desired position.

Is the user-definable Out Filename sufficient for this naming convention? (i.e., 'MyProject_A1_First_Floor_Plan')

joshhuggins wrote:I would also suggest looking at Tracker's PDF printer's output options as there are TONS of useful features which I think would suite a multitude of Datacad users very well.

Hi Josh,

Are you referring to PDF-XChange's print options, or a different menu?

Here's how the new Batch Printing Setup Dialog is shaping up. Hopefully, BETA testing can begin in the next week or so.


New Batch Printing Setup Dialog

This appears to me to be the layout for an individual file. If you batch plot multiple files how would that relate to this setup? Would plots from different files also be merged?

(External) Batch Printing Setup Dialog

Here's the 'External' Batch Printing Setup Dialog. The Master PDF Filename you set here will be the name of the document that contains the output from all of the files in the 'set'.

Mark F. Madura wrote:Hi Josh,
Are you referring to PDF-XChange's print options, or a different menu?

If you install the PDF X-Change PDF printer driver, and go into it's Preferences. Each section on the left has a dialog with some great options that could be applied to batch plotting, and obviously PDF output in general.

For the batch print dialog box, will one be able to change the order by dragging the file up/down?
What about MSP sheets within, will it have a line for each MSP?

Roger D wrote:For the batch print dialog box, will one be able to change the order by dragging the file up/down?
What about MSP sheets within, will it have a line for each MSP?

Yes, for both dialogs (internal and external) you can select items in the list and drag them up/down to change the order.

Mark F. Madura wrote:Roger D wrote:
For the batch print dialog box, will one be able to change the order by dragging the file up/down?
What about MSP sheets within, will it have a line for each MSP?

Yes, for both dialogs (internal and external) you can select items in the list and drag them up/down to change the order.

Adding a sort function might be nice - I use it frequently in PDFill Tools when merging documents.

Lane wrote:Adding a sort function might be nice - I use it frequently in PDFill Tools when merging documents.

You can click on either of the column headers to sort alphabetically in ascending order (or click once more for descending order).

David Porter wrote:With digital permit submittals in most of my jurisdictions, each PDF sheet has to be digitally signed and sealed...

What digital certificate are you using to sign your PDF files? Do you have a PFX file you can select on disk? How is the 'seal' applied to the document?

Mark Bell wrote:4. Add a third option to the output File Format as Bitmap/raster, compressed and at a high resolution. This also provides a level of 'security' as it prevents conversion back to CAD using PDF to DWG etc.

Do you mean to print directly to JPG, PNG, or BMP files, or to create PDFs that only contain raster images?

Mark F. Madura wrote:

Mark Bell wrote:4. Add a third option to the output File Format as Bitmap/raster, compressed and at a high resolution. This also provides a level of 'security' as it prevents conversion back to CAD using PDF to DWG etc.

Do you mean to print directly to JPG, PNG, or BMP files, or to create PDFs that only contain raster images?

Hi Mark,

Ideally both options, but the preference would be to generate PDF's that have converted the typical drawing information into a raster format, whichever is the most efficient (bitmap, jpg, png etc.).

Another idea to add to your list is to include an option to print a text overlay on a transparent background. This would allow wording such as DRAFT ISSUE or any other wording an office may need to print in a faint or water-mark type format. Irfanview https://www.irfanview.com/ has this feature and it's useful when we work directly with images but I see a use in the Batch Print utility as well.