4 | Project Drawing with Basic CADD 1

UNIT 6: Plotting

1.0 Intended Learning Outcomes

1. Prepare layout;
2. set up plotter/printer preferences; and
3. plot/print drawings

1.1. Introduction

Output a drawing layout to a printer, a plotter,

or a file. Save and restore the printer settings for
each layout. Originally, people printed text from
printers and plotted drawings from plotters. Now,
you can perform both with either device, so this
guide will use the terms ‘print’ and ‘plot’
interchangeably.

1.2 Topics/Discussion (with Assessment/Activities)

1.2.1 Preparing Layout

Plotting AutoCAD drawing can be tricky. Especially for people who just learn
AutoCAD. Why the plot result is not correctly scaled.

Plotting is actually very easy. Simple. Just click plot or publish then you’re done.
But there are some rules and steps you have to do when you draw and arrange your
model in layouts, it’s already started when you create your file!

The command to output a drawing is PLOT and you can access it from the Quick
Access toolbar.

General Steps in Plotting:

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1. Set Units
The first rule is set your drawing unit correctly, and draw with that unit. Many
AutoCAD users actually don’t care about units. When they insert blocks with
incorrect unit, it’s kind of messy. They have to rescale it manually. And this might
sound weird, but some of them actually draw it by scaling it, just like drawing it
manually on paper. Use appropriate template for your drawing. If you use metric,
then use ISO templates. Or you may change the units after you draw. Basically
AutoCAD only recognize two units in plotting: inch and mm. So the easiest for you
is drawing in those units. Of course you can draw in meters, feet, or other units.
But that’s a different story. Let’s talk about the basic first. Draw the object original
size, not scaled. Draw all your objects. For annotations, there are two choices:

 Draw all your objects in model and annotation in layout

 Or you can annotate in your model and use annotation scaling (for AutoCAD
2008 or newer)

2. Set Page/Layout

Next thing you should do is setup

your page. Use layout, because it is
easier to understand and easier to
manage.

Open your layout. We should

already have a viewport. Delete it, we
don’t need it at this time. We will
create a new one, this one might will
be seen too small or too large after we set our page.

Now let’s set the page setup. Open your page setup manager. You can open it by
right clicking over the tab name, then select page setup manager. Or by right click
over quick view layout.

On your page setup manager dialog box, you can see a list of your layouts.

Let’s create a new page setup. Click new, give it name such as ‘My A4 layout’,
then click OK. This will open page setup dialog box.

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Set this values below:

1. Your printer/plotter type and sheet size.

2. On what to plot, select Layout.
3. Ensure plot scale 1:1.
4. Plot style table you want to use.

We created this layout with real paper size. So we use scale 1:1. The only
scaling we will do is scaling our objects view inside viewports. Click OK.

Now click set current to apply the changes to your active layout. Your layout1
is ready. Open your layout2, then open page setup manager again. Select your
previous page setup, then click set current. I believe there is an easier way, but can’t
find it.

I usually already have it setup in my template, or simply make a copy from

existing layout. Do you have any suggestion how to apply the page setup to multiple
layout?

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3. Setup Title Block

Now you should see your real paper size. The dashed rectangle is the area
where your printable area. Place your title block here. You can insert existing title
block if you already have one, or draw a new one. Remember, this is 1:1 scale. So if
you want to have 3mm height text, use 3mm as it heights.

4. Place Viewports and Set the Scale

Now we are ready to place our viewport. You can place it by clicking new in
view tab, viewports section, new icon. Or you can use viewport configuration.

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In the opened dialog box, select single standard viewport, then click OK. Draw
your viewport as you desired. You should see all your drawing inside it. Or in the
old way, I prefer to type MV then [enter] :) Next, set the scale. Select your viewport,
and select the scale you wanted. You can do it from viewports toolbar or annotation
scale bar.

5. Plot
Just activate plot by hitting [ctrl] + P or typing PLOT [enter]. Or of course,
from menu or ribbon. Everything should be ready now, but check it first by seeing
the preview. If you already familiar with it, you can try to publish multiple drawings
at once.

Not so difficult now, right? I’m looking forward if you have other plotting tips
you would like to share.

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1.2.2 Setting Plotter/Printer Preferences

For the sake of convenience, you can save and restore collections of these
settings by name. These are called PAGE SETUPS. With page setups you can
store the settings that you need for different printers, printing in grayscale,
creating a PDF file from your drawing, and so on.

1.2.3 Plotting Drawing

After we have set the plotter preferences, it is now time to output the
drawing file by using the plot command. As simple as that, we can now have a hard
printed copy of the file.

After the process, the file will now be

printed to the plotter. You can now
share, review, or send it to your
client.

Plotting process window.

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Assessment No. 1:
Directions: Read each statement carefully and select the letter that corresponds
the best answer.

1. What is the term used in AutoCAD to output the file?

a. Print c. Plot
b. Save As d. Export
2. For you to be able to print the file, what specific command you are going to
select?
a. Print c. Import
b. Plot d. Save As
3. What is the first step in plotting the file?
a. Set Page Setup c. Plot
b. Set Units d. Set Up Title Block
4. This option stores the settings that you need for different printers,
printing in grayscale, creating a PDF file from your drawing, and so on.
a. Title Block c. Set Units
b. Save As d. Page Setup
5. What is the keyboard shortcut in plotting the file?
a. [ctrl] + S c. [ctrl] + A
b. [ctrl] + P d. [ctrl] + O

1.3 Reference

Books
1. Arch. G. A. Barbara. (2006). Simple AutoCAD 1 for Beginners. Convergelink
Books Corp., Andes Mountain Printers. (This is the latest version of
the book of Barbara)

Images
1. https://bit.ly/3l561ZR

Online Resources
1. https://bit.ly/3o5QV9i
2. https://bit.ly/31pXNEJ
3. https://bit.ly/3kcxUj6
4. https://autode.sk/3dHMlck
5. https://bit.ly/3nSHJnC

1.4 Acknowledgment

The images, tables, figures and information contained in this module

were taken from the references cited above.

C. M. D. Hamo-ay