Printing

[Mikerosen]

So, I have set a layer scale 1/1, and have drawn a rectangle 11 x 8.5 inches, the size of my paper in landscape mode.

And I have set a new layer scale of 1/12, for my drawing of a unit approximately 100 X 84 inches. I can do the drawing, and see that it fits nicely in my page size. I can delete the "page" lines.

But when I want to print, how do I get my drawing centered on the print page? I tried a couple, and the picture is off-center, and spreading to 2 or more pages. My old program would show an image of a page, and you could move your drawing (or rescale it) to fit in those boundaries. When you printed, there it was. How do I do that in rC?

[debenriver]

In Preferences, select Display and check the Show Page Breaks.

Go to File >> Page Setup.

In Format For: select your printer from the drop-down menu

In Paper Size: select US Letter from the drop-down menu

In Orientation: select Landscape

In Scale: leave it at the default 100%

Close the window. A new window will come up called Drawing Size, This deals with the actual size of your drawing, not the paper size. You will see that the top section is Page of Printer, which is the size you selected in Page Setup, less the margins that your printer driver will have specified – it will probably read something like Width = 10.7 Height = 8.0.

If you simply want your drawing to fit the paper, which I think you do, in the Drawing Size window enter:

In the Width Box: *1 (that's asterisk-1)

In the Height Box: *1 (asterisk-1 again)

I don't quite know what the At best with margin: box does so I never use it! No doubt Eric knows.

Close the window.

On your drawing you should see a single page, outlined in grey. Position your drawing elements wherever you want within the page and this is how they will print. If you want a border around the page, title box etc. draw a rectangle just inside the page borders. The page size you are seeing will already have allowances for your printer standard margins.

*1 is multiplying the page size by the number that follows the asterisk. So *1.5 would give you 1½ page width (or height). *2 will give you 2 pages. *2 in both width and height will give you four pages. And so on. You can also enter exact dimensions, rather than multiples of the page size if you wish, in whatever units you have selected to use (in preferences)

Note – if you select Any Printer in the first step you can enter any page size you want from the drop-down menu or make your own custom size. And you can set custom margins (including 0). This is useful if you want to make a drawing for a roll feed or long sheet feed. Most Epson printers for example will print paper up to about 44" long – so you can have a custom page, say 9" x 44" . Then that is the page size you will see on your drawing and you can position your material anywhere within it, and it will print as a single sheet. Otherwise, doing the same thing with multiple pages (4 - 11" pages) you will get page breaks when you try to print so your drawing will have breaks in it and missing bits.

Hope this helps!

George

[Mikerosen]

George,

Thanks. Still a few things to explore, but at first blush, this does what I need.

I really appreciate your knowledge, and willingness to share it!

[debenriver]

A pleasure Mike.

Like you I had a much-beloved CAD program – in my case ClarisCad – that I used for about 20 years or more, and which I had to give up because it would no longer run on new intel Macs. Even after all that time I would still discover (usually by mistake!) a feature that I didn't know about and which improved productivity/ease.

And starting a new CAD program is a bit of a nightmare, whatever they say about "intuitive" and so on! It can be very frustrating to say the least!

I am lucky with RealCADD, in that is not unlike ClarisCad – but, though I hate to admit it, – better!

George

[Eric Pousse]

I am lucky with RealCADD, in that is not unlike ClarisCad – but, though I hate to admit it, – better!

George

Thank you George for your appreciation and for your response !