Topic: Plottabs help

[ELOQUINTET]

CAB or whoever else migh tbe able to help. I am trying to setup a plottabs which has several settings hard coded. Basically when I send out a set of drawings for submission I need 5 different plot settings listed below. I have created 5 different plottabs for each setup and would like to be able to click a button and it would plot everything collated at once. I figured out how to change the page setup but the order and quantity are driving me nuts. i cannot get a quantity other than 1 and the reverse box checked. i am also wondering if i can even run everything from a macro. can anyone help me out?

Plot#1
Page setup:510
Reverse order: Yes
Number of sets:5

Plot#2
Page setup:500
Reverse order: No
Number of sets:1

Plot#3
Page setup:800
Reverse order: No
Number of sets:1

Plot#4
Page setup:Small copy
Reverse order: No
Number of sets:3

Plot#5
Page setup:1117
Reverse order: No
Number of sets:1

[ELOQUINTET]

mmmm one thing i forgot this won't work for me because plottabs doesn't work across mutliple drawings. my submission consists almost always of 5 or more dwgs 

[CAB]

Dan I moved the thread.
I off to lunch but I'll look at the problem when I return.

PS Are the DWG's one layout per DWG? Just curious.

[CAB]

Perhaps you could explaining exactly how the sheets & sets are plotted. EXACTLY which dwg & witch layout & which plot setting & how many copies.
How are they collated?

[ELOQUINTET]

Cab we usually have multiple tabs per drawing and the complete set usually consists of:

1) Location plan(s)

2) Excel Schedule and/or elevations (Elevations are done in a seperate drawing then xrefffed in except for on bigger jobs that have an entire page of elevations)

3) Details

4) Wiring (we have a notes page and if the schematic is small enough it is xreffed into notes page except for on bigger jobs that have an entire page of schematics)

When we submit a job we have to send
5 sets to our bond printer reverse order
3 8 x 11 copies for our records
1 set of Vellum for flat file
1 set of Vellum for architect (i send vellum sets to 2 different printers because they are slow)
1 11 x 17 set for project manager

The number of tabs per file and total files really depends on the size of the job but this is basically it. Does that make more sense now? Thanks

[CAB]

No not really.
As I have no knowledge of your system I need more detail as to how you want things to work.
This is what I need:

Code: [Select]

<drawing1> send as <plot: 510> <reverse order: Yes> <5 sets>
<drawing1> send as <plot: 500> <reverse order: No> <1 sets>
<drawing1> send as <plot: 800> <reverse order: No> <1 sets>
<drawing1> send as <plot: Small copy> <reverse order: No> <1 sets>
<drawing1> send as <plot: 1117> <reverse order: No> <1 sets>

<drawing2> send as <plot: 510> <reverse order: Yes> <5 sets>
<drawing2> send as <plot: 500> <reverse order: No> <1 sets>
<drawing2> send as <plot: 800> <reverse order: No> <1 sets>
<drawing2> send as <plot: Small copy> <reverse order: No> <1 sets>
<drawing2> send as <plot: 1117> <reverse order: No> <1 sets>

<drawing3> send as <plot: 510> <reverse order: Yes> <5 sets>
<drawing3> send as <plot: 500> <reverse order: No> <1 sets>
<drawing3> send as <plot: 800> <reverse order: No> <1 sets>
<drawing3> send as <plot: Small copy> <reverse order: No> <1 sets>
<drawing3> send as <plot: 1117> <reverse order: No> <1 sets>
Or should it be like this:

Code: [Select]

<drawing1> send as <plot: 510> <reverse order: Yes> <5 sets>
<drawing2> send as <plot: 510> <reverse order: Yes> <5 sets>
<drawing3> send as <plot: 510> <reverse order: Yes> <5 sets>

<drawing1> send as <plot: 800> <reverse order: No> <1 sets>
<drawing2> send as <plot: 800> <reverse order: No> <1 sets>
<drawing3> send as <plot: 800> <reverse order: No> <1 sets>

<drawing1> send as <plot: Small copy> <reverse order: No> <1 sets>
<drawing2> send as <plot: Small copy> <reverse order: No> <1 sets>
<drawing3> send as <plot: Small copy> <reverse order: No> <1 sets>

<drawing1> send as <plot: 1117> <reverse order: No> <1 sets>
<drawing2> send as <plot: 1117> <reverse order: No> <1 sets>
<drawing3> send as <plot: 1117> <reverse order: No> <1 sets>

[ELOQUINTET]

well it would seem logical to group the to each printer together but as they are 5 standalone printers they could be sent either way as long as each comes out collated i don't care in what order they are processed. I mean it may make the most sense to send the 500 and 800 prints first as they take the longest to print but other than that it doesn't matter, am i understanding you cab? you have the basic idea in sceme #2 below except it is missing the 500 plot and small copy requires 3 sets. You have an idea of how i might achieve this?

[CAB]

Ran into a snag trying to use ObjectDBX.
This would not work (vla-get-Plot dbxdoc)

Unless someone has a way around that I am afraid you will have to use a script.

Put something like this in a script:

Code: [Select]

open <dwgName>
(or sub_plottabs (load "PlotTabs.lsp"))
(foreach ps  '(("500" nil 1) ("510" t 5) ("800" nil 1) ("Small copy" nil 3) ("1117" nil 1))                                                                             
          (sub_plottabs                                                                                   
              ;;  Option variables passed to this routine in this order                                   
              (list                                                                                       
                (car ps)  ;  plot-config    Config Name if plot, default to "Current"                     
                (nth 2 ps);  plot-qty       number of copies of each sheet                               
                "Tab"     ;  plot-order     Sort order of tabs "Alpha" "Numeric" "Tab" order             
                (cadr ps) ;  revorder       t/nil Reverse the order of plots                             
                nil       ;  savelayout     Always set to True- Not an option in this version             
                t         ;  collatesets    t/nil  Collate plan sets when more than one plotted           
                t         ;  excludetab     t/nil  Flag to exclude tabs with flag character               
                "~"       ;  excludechr     "~"  Character marker for exclude tabs                       
                nil       ;  zoom-all       t/nil  Zoom layout before plotting                           
                nil       ;  PlotToFile     t/nil                                                         
                t         ;  PlotAllTabs    Ignore the Pick List of Tabs                                 
                T         ;  setlaystate    ACAD>2000 set layer state by name of tab before plotting     
                ""        ;  MyPath         Path for 'Plot To File'                                       
                "*"       ;  Tabs2Plot      List of tab names  ("Sheet 1" "Sheet 2" "Sheet*") wild card ok
             )                                                                                           
          ) ; end sub_plottabs                                                                           
                                                                                                         
) ; end foreach PSlist

close   

If you decide to try the script let me know & I'll send you an updated PlotTabs.lsp as the old one will not work with this.

[T.Willey]

Ran into a snag trying to use ObjectDBX.
This would not work (vla-get-Plot dbxdoc)

Unless someone has a way around that I am afraid you will have to use a script.

I was never able to use ObjectDBX for plotting.  Maybe if you have the full version of ReadDwg, then you could print it without opening it in an editor.  Haven't tried it with anyother languages thatn lisp though, so maybe it would work with .Net or Arx.

[CAB]

Thanks Tim for confirming my suspicions.

PS what is ReadDWG?

[T.Willey]

RealDwg is the new ObjectDBX.  The full version is something you have to pay for, and it gives you full access to drawings, so you might be able to print fromt here (I think you can).

[CAB]

Thanks again.

[ELOQUINTET]

sorry guys for not chiming in sooner. i'm actually working from home today (a little under the weather). i will have to try the script route tomorrow when i'm back at work. thanks for helping me out with this as it's been urking me for some time

[CAB]

Dan,
Make sure you are using version 2.14, get it here
http://www.theswamp.org/index.php?topic=1916.msg24899#msg24899

[ELOQUINTET]

Cab,

I brought the script into Hurricane and am trying to run it but am getting an error message that reads:

Error in plot options
Bad plot config name

I put the page setups in there but should it be the printer names, what is plot config name?
Here's my script:

 

Code: [Select]

; ***************************************************************
;  HURRICANE 6.5.13 - SCRIPT CREATED 1/18/2007 : 11:02:32 AM
; ***************************************************************
_OPEN
"d:\Drawings\M-2630EM ONE CHRISTINA CRESCENT\COMPLETE SUBMISSION\DETAILS.dwg"
; << START OF PRE-USERSCRIPT COMMANDS >>
(SETVAR "MODEMACRO" "Drawing 1 of 2")
; << START OF USER SCRIPT >>
(or sub_plottabs (load "PlotTabs.lsp"))
(foreach ps  '(("d-prot-500ps" nil 1) ("d-prot Xerox510" t 5) ("d-prot-800" nil 1) ("small_copy" nil 3) ("HP LASER 11x17" nil 1))                                                                             
          (sub_plottabs                                                                                   
              ;;  Option variables passed to this routine in this order                                   
              (list                                                                                       
                (car ps)  ;  plot-config    Config Name if plot, default to "Current"                     
                (nth 2 ps);  plot-qty       number of copies of each sheet                               
                "Tab"     ;  plot-order     Sort order of tabs "Alpha" "Numeric" "Tab" order             
                (cadr ps) ;  revorder       t/nil Reverse the order of plots                             
                nil       ;  savelayout     Always set to True- Not an option in this version             
                t         ;  collatesets    t/nil  Collate plan sets when more than one plotted           
                t         ;  excludetab     t/nil  Flag to exclude tabs with flag character               
                "~"       ;  excludechr     "~"  Character marker for exclude tabs                       
                nil       ;  zoom-all       t/nil  Zoom layout before plotting                           
                nil       ;  PlotToFile     t/nil                                                         
                t         ;  PlotAllTabs    Ignore the Pick List of Tabs                                 
                T         ;  setlaystate    ACAD>2000 set layer state by name of tab before plotting     
                ""        ;  MyPath         Path for 'Plot To File'                                       
                "*"       ;  Tabs2Plot      List of tab names  ("Sheet 1" "Sheet 2" "Sheet*") wild card ok
             )                                                                                           
          ) ; end sub_plottabs                                                                           
                                                                                                         
) ; end foreach PSlist

close
_QSAVE
; << END OF USER SCRIPT >>
; << START OF POST-USERSCRIPT COMMANDS >>
qsave
; << END OF POST-USERSCRIPT COMMANDS >>
_OPEN
"d:\Drawings\M-2464EM\M-2464EF\umdnj elevations.dwg"
; << START OF PRE-USERSCRIPT COMMANDS >>
(SETVAR "MODEMACRO" "Drawing 2 of 2")
; << START OF USER SCRIPT >>
(or sub_plottabs (load "PlotTabs.lsp"))
(foreach ps  '(("d-prot-500ps" nil 1) ("d-prot Xerox510" t 5) ("d-prot-800" nil 1) ("small_copy" nil 3) ("HP LASER 11x17" nil 1))                                                                             
          (sub_plottabs                                                                                   
              ;;  Option variables passed to this routine in this order                                   
              (list                                                                                       
                (car ps)  ;  plot-config    Config Name if plot, default to "Current"                     
                (nth 2 ps);  plot-qty       number of copies of each sheet                               
                "Tab"     ;  plot-order     Sort order of tabs "Alpha" "Numeric" "Tab" order             
                (cadr ps) ;  revorder       t/nil Reverse the order of plots                             
                nil       ;  savelayout     Always set to True- Not an option in this version             
                t         ;  collatesets    t/nil  Collate plan sets when more than one plotted           
                t         ;  excludetab     t/nil  Flag to exclude tabs with flag character               
                "~"       ;  excludechr     "~"  Character marker for exclude tabs                       
                nil       ;  zoom-all       t/nil  Zoom layout before plotting                           
                nil       ;  PlotToFile     t/nil                                                         
                t         ;  PlotAllTabs    Ignore the Pick List of Tabs                                 
                T         ;  setlaystate    ACAD>2000 set layer state by name of tab before plotting     
                ""        ;  MyPath         Path for 'Plot To File'                                       
                "*"       ;  Tabs2Plot      List of tab names  ("Sheet 1" "Sheet 2" "Sheet*") wild card ok
             )                                                                                           
          ) ; end sub_plottabs                                                                           
                                                                                                         
) ; end foreach PSlist

close
_QSAVE
; << END OF USER SCRIPT >>
; << START OF POST-USERSCRIPT COMMANDS >>
qsave
; << END OF POST-USERSCRIPT COMMANDS >>