Plot2000 Manual

The Plot2000 Manual is divided into four sections:

Overview

Plot2000 consists of "Quick-key" macros that you will use to create Plots, Plus batch plotting. Each macro is configured to use a specific Plotter, Pen table, and sheet in your environment. These options are set during configuration.

Plot2000 can prompt for Project numbers and optionally, two other configurable prompts for whatever information you wish to gather before plots are generated. The information from these prompts can be written to the plot log and/or attribute blocks in your drawing.

Unlike plot macros of the past, Plot2000 uses Visual Lisp ActiveX controls to set the plot options and run plots without sequencing the command line. This enables Plot2000 to work with any type of plotter and "learn" from your environment.

Installation

• Installation consists of:
• Running the Plot2000 installation program (plot2000.exe)
• Configuring your plotter and Pen settings (see configuration in the next section) for each plot macro
• Configuring the location for plot logs
• Configuring drawing tags and prompts

Running the Plot2000 setup program

Make sure AutoCAD is not running. You need to have run AutoCAD at least once before using the Plot2000 setup program.

Locate and double-click on Plot2000.exe using Windows Explorer. Follow the installation prompts. You can install Plot2000 to any directory on your hard drive or network, including an existing AutoCAD support directory.

About printer names: Plot2000 "reads" and uses your AutoCAD and System printers. Many Hewlett-Packard system printer drivers have slashes in the name by default! This is not recommended and will cause problems with Plot2000. Please rename printers that have slashes in the name.

Manual Network install

Plot2000 NMS automatically handles the complexities of a network Installation for you. If you have a Network CAD standards area you wish to manually integrate Plot2000 into, you will need to take a few extra steps. Plot2000 will only load automatically on the workstation you installed it from. To make it load on the remaining workstations, you can take one of the following steps. Review these options to determine what will work best in your environment.

• Run the plot2000.exe install program on each computer.
• or: Place statement (load "plot2000.vlx") into one of your network startup lisp routines. (programmers only).
• or: Load plot2000.vlx using the APPLOAD startup suite at each workstation.
• or: Create a plot2000.mnl file with the statement (load "plot2000.vlx") in it and perform a menuload from each workstation.

By default, Plot2000 creates a Plot2000config.lsp file in your AutoCAD default startup directory - this happens in the next section, Configuration. After configuring and testing Plot2000 properly, we recommend moving the plot2000config.lsp file to your network support area so that all workstations will use the same configuration file. This will eliminate the need to configure Plot2000 on each workstation.

We also recommend that your organization store its "Plotters" and "Plot Styles" directories on the network in a standard location that all computers reference. This insures consistency in your plots and standards. These directories are configured using the AutoCAD OPTIONS command.

Configuration

Plot2000config

If you haven't done so already, try the Interactive Tour. It will give you a walkthrough of creating a Plot Macro.

The PLOT2000CONFIG command brings up the configuration dialog.

This dialog allows you to define an unlimited number of plot macros. For each plot macro you want, you set the appropriate plotter, pens, scale, and sheet size that is associated with that plot macro. To create a new plot macro:

1. Press NEW.
2. Enter a two or three key macro name in the "macro" box.
3. Enter an explanatory description to help you remember what this macro is for.
4. Select the plotter, scale, pens, and sheet size for this plot macro.
5. (Optional) Turn Scale lineweights on/off or adjust the origin.
6. When finished, press SAVE.

Detailed explanation of Plot2000Config options

Macro

This is the keystroke macro that will be used to initiate a plot with these settings. Choose something short and easy-to-remember. If you will have many plot macros, it makes sense to use a consistent naming scheme. For example, PF for Plot Fullsize, PH for Plot Half Size, etc.

Description

This is the description that will be shown on the Plot2000 menu and that will be displayed when the plot macro is used. Enter anything that helps you remember what this macro does.

Select Plotter

This lists all the available plotters on your system. See the section entitled Setting up your PC3 files correctly for tips on proper configuration of AutoCAD.

Select Pens

This lists all the CTB or STB files available on your system. Plot2000 supports "Scale Lineweights" so you should be able to use the same pens for Full, Half, and B size Plots.

Sheet Size

There are two important options available at the top of the sheet size list:

1. "Auto Printable Area", which automatically selects the sheet size based on your drawing extents and printable area of the available sheets. This takes into account the margins on the printer and selects the smallest possible sheet that your drawing fits on. This mode is appropriate if your drawing does not have trim lines. If you have trim lines on your drawing, use "Auto Sheet Area" instead.
2. "Auto Sheet Area" is appropriate if you have trim lines on your drawing. This mode selects the sheet size based on the extents of your drawing and the actual sheet sizes (not margins) on your print device. If you have the appropriate media size loaded in your plotter, this can result in a "no trimming required" plot. If you are using this mode, turn on Center Plot as well. The trim lines on your drawing will not be plotted because they fall outside the printable area of the sheet. Certain HP Plotters have "Oversize" media where the margins are zero. You may want to turn Oversize media off when used with this mode.

The first sheet sizes listed for A, B, C, D and E size sheets in the sheet size drop-down are "generic" sheet sizes that are not specific to any printer. These are followed by sheet sizes specific to the selected printer. If you are defining a plot macro for "Current System Printer" - which may be used on different devices, drivers, or different computers - select one of the generic sheet sizes. Plot2000 will "find" the closest sheet by searching the sizes available on the printer at plot-time, rather than a device or driver-specific sheet size set at configuration-time. If the sheet sizes that come with plot2000 don't meet your needs, they may be customized in the file "plot2000-customization.lsp".

Scale

The "Use Dimscale" and "Half Dimscale" options are appropriate if your company standard is to set the AutoCAD DIMSCALE setvar to the scale of your model space drawing. This will result in Full or half size plots. When plotting from a layout (paper space) with "Use Dimscale" or "Half Dimscale", 1:1 or 1:2 will be used for the plot scale. This means that you can create one macro that works from both paper and model space for plots-to-scale on any of your drawings.

You can also select from a list of standard plot scales and Fit. If the built-in scales don't meet your needs and you need to add to the list, they may be customized in the file "plot2000-customization.lsp".

Scale Lineweights

When this option is checked, your pen weights will be reduced or enlarged by the Plot scale. This allows you to maintain one set of pens that works well for full size plots, and have them automatically reduced on halfsize and fit plots. This option only works in paper space. If you plot from model space, this setting will be ignored.

Plot upside down

This rotates the plot 180 degrees on your plotter. It is useful in some situations where the plotter has a wider margin at one end of the sheet.

Units

This indicates if your layout is using millimeters or inches as a unit of measurement.

Center Plot/Plot Offset

If checked, the plot will be centered on the sheet. This is usually preferable. If you want to use a specific offset, you can turn off CenterPlot and enter the X and Y offset into the spaces provided.

Be sure to press save when done editing each macro!

Copying a macro

Select the macro you wish to copy and change it's macro field to the new macro name. Press save. This will create a copy of the macro.

Deleting a macro

Select the macro you wish to delete from the list, then press Delete.

Edit Available Sheet Sizes and Margins.. (ADVANCED)

This dialog is for editing the Sheet sizes that Plot2000 knows about. Since most Plotters have far more sheet sizes available that you would want to use, this dialog allows you to remove selected sheet sizes from the list. This is especially useful for limiting the sheet sizes Plot2000 will use in "Auto" Sheet size mode to a particular list of standard sizes for your industry. This dialog also allows you to edit the printable area that each sheet actually has - some printer drivers do not accurately report this information to Plot2000 and need to be edited here to match the actual printable area of the sheet.

Plot billing log

This controls where the plot billing log is written. We recommend pointing this somewhere on your network, where all users have read-write access. The plot billing log is a comma-delimited text file which can be easily imported into a spreadsheet or any database for billing purposes. Plot data is written in chronological order. For billing purposes you usually want to import this file and sort it on PROJECT, the first field.

Reverse Collating (select face up devices)

Most Plotters stack output face down. This allows you to specify plotters that stack output Plot Face up (like Xerox plotters). When a plotter is selected as reverse collating, during batchplot the drawings and tabs will be sorted alphabetically in reverse order.

No-Plot Tab name

Many times you will have Layout tabs in your drawing that you do not wish to plot during batch plotting. For convienience, you can define a "prefix" for a tab name to indicate a layout that you do not wish to plot. This defaults to "NP*". For example, a layout tab named "NPLayout2" would not plot during batch plotting. You can use any wildcard sequence that AutoCAD supports to specify your No Plot Tab.

More Options.. Button

The "More Options" button brings up the "Configure Drawing Tags, Prompts and options dialog:

This Dialog allows you to configure the options relating to Plot labeling (drawing tag) and two additional custom prompts. A drawing tag block is provided called TIMESTAMP that you may use if you do not have your own. The provided timestamp.dwg uses RTEXT (an AutoCAD 2000 express tool) for all of it's information except PROJECT. It is always up-to-date, as when the filename changes it changes automatically. The Plot2000 timestamp.dwg may not be compatible with your environment.

You can specify your own Plot stamp block instead of using the one provided. If you do it is recommended that you store the project in an attribute in your block if you are using the Plot2000 billing feature.

Drawing Tag Options

To configure a block and the attribute tags you wish to use, first insert it into the current drawing - this is required so that Plot2000 can determine the attribute tags that are available in it.

Select the block in the first drop-down. The "Insert if not present" option will cause the block to be inserted when you use any of the plot macros (except batchplot). The "Insert layer" option controls the layer the block will be inserted on. If not present, this layer will be created with the color white. "Insert At" controls the coordinates that Plot2000 inserts the block at. "Lower left extents" is a popular selection if you often use different borders. The "Offset" option allows you to move the location the block gets inserted at relative to the Insert At location.

Project Number Tag

This is probably the most important option in this dialog. The "Require project" checkbox will cause Plot2000 to prompt for the project before doing a plot. We recommend that the drawing tag block you use contain an attribute tag for storing the project. Select this tag in the drop down provided. If you want to customize the prompt for project, you can do so in the "Prompt" box provided. Once the project has been entered in a drawing and stored in the attribute block with one of the plot macros (except Batchplot), subsequent plots of that drawing will default to the project stored in the attribute. The project is written to the plot billing log.

The "Filter" option allows you to specify a wildcard match to ensure the user's input matches your project numbering standard. The default of "*" will accept anything. This value follows standard AutoCAD wildcard naming conventions. The pound sign "#" will match a single number, question mark"?" a single character, the @ sign will match an alphabetical character. You can get fairly specific using the filter. For example, if your project numbers contain five numbers followed by a letter, you could enter #####@ for your project filter to validate something the user entered. For more information on wildcards, see your AutoCAD manual.

Username

The default "Obtain username from" ACAD username option will be sufficient for most offices. If you prefer to use an environment variable that is set in your network login script or something similar, you may select that option and enter the name of the environment variable. This username is recorded in the plot log. If your drawing tag block provides an attribute for username, select it's tag in the available drop-down.

Other Options

The Timestamp tag stores the date and time of the last plot. The Filename Tag stores the drawing name. Both of these are written to the plot log, and if you want them to show up on your plots select the appropriate tags here.

Custom Prompt and Tag(s)

Here you can define two additional items to prompt for, and if desired, write them to the plot log and/or update a drawing tag attribute. A common use for this is to prompt for a billable/non-billable state for each plot (Check or Final).

The "Require" checkbox enables the option. The "Write to logfile" option causes the operator's input to be written to the plot billing log. "Prompt" is what will be displayed on the AutoCAD command line when prompting. You can optionally select an attribute tag from your Plot stamp to make the user's answer to the custom prompt show up on the drawing.

"Valid Response List" controls a list of values that this prompt will accept - carefully build this list. Capital letters indicate what single keystroke will be accepted as a shortcut for each option. Spaces are not recommended. The option at the top of the list (the last value you input) will be the default option that will be selected by simply pressing enter at the custom prompt.

Where this is all stored:

All of the configuration options are written to a file called PLOT2000CONFIG.LSP in the AutoCAD "start in" folder. When you are done testing the options you will use for Plot2000 it might be advisable to move this file to a network directory that is on your AutoCAD search path so that all workstation will operate with the same options.

Licensing

By default Plot2000 will operate in a full 30 day demo mode. If you purchase a license, a serial number and key will be provided to you. This information should be input into the PLOT2000CONFIG "License.." Button Dialog.

Using Plot2000

Plot2000 consists of easy-to-remember macros that you define and enter at the AutoCAD Command prompt. If you forgot what macros you defined, type PLOT2000config at the command prompt and look at the drop-down. Here you can easily add, delete, and modify your plot macros.

• BATCHPLOT - Run this from a new drawing with no other drawings open
• PLOT2000CONFIG - Configure Plot2000

To run a plot, type the Plot macro for the type of plot you want. You may have to enter a project number or other optional information required by your company.

.P2k files

The first time you use a plotter with Plot2000, it takes a little longer. This is because Plot2000 has to learn the sheet sizes and printable margins for your plotter. These are stored in a file in your AutoCAD "start in" directory. If you add or customize your sheet sizes it may be neccessary to delete these files to cause Plot2000 to re-learn the new sheet sizes available. The files are named "Plottername.p2k".

Batch plotting

To run batch plots, start with a new, empty drawing. No other drawing files should be open. Type BATCHPLOT at the command line. Select the files you want to plot in the multiple-file select dialog. You will need to enter the plot macro that corresponds to the type of plot you want when prompted. You may also be prompted for a Project number or other company-required information.

BATCHPLOT will open each drawing, plot it, and close the drawing. Do not disturb the computer during batch plotting. BATCHPLOT will tell you when it is done with all the plots.

Plot2000config

See the earlier section titled "Configuration".

RunBatch Manual

Note: RunBatch is not Plot2000 Batchplot. If you are looking for instructions on how to batchplot drawings in Plot2000, please look here. Like Plot2000, RunBatch does not work with AutoCAD LT.

RunBatch is a stand-alone utility for batch processing drawings. RunBatch allows you to select a group of drawings to process. RunBatch opens each drawing, loads a lisp routine (that you write or already have), and runs a function from your lisp file.

To use RunBatch, put it in your APPLOAD startup suite. Type RUNBATCH at the AutoCAD command prompt. RunBatch will then:

1. Ask for you to select the drawings to be plotted
2. Ask you to pick a lisp routine to be loaded into each drawing (select the lisp file here)
3. Ask you for a function to run after the lisp routine is loaded. You must know what this is and type it in here. There are three ways to answer this prompt:
   • Lisp commands are entered as C:COMMANDNAME
   • Lisp functions are entered as FUNCTIONNAME
   • NONE, if your routine runs automatically when loaded

Important: Your lisp routine must not prompt for any input when running.

Because RunBatch is Free, support is limited to paying Plot2000 customers. I also will not help you write or debug lisp routines you are trying to use with RunBatch. I am available on a consulting basis for this type of customization.

AutoCAD Configuration Guide

There are several known issues relating to PC3 files documented in the newsgroups. From actual hands-on implementations and experimentation I have decided it would be appropriate to discuss what works, and what doesn't, based on my experience.

Setting up your PC3 files correctly

Getting your PC3 files to work correctly on all workstations in a networked environment can be tricky. To make Plot2000 work correctly, your PC3 files need to also work correctly with the PLOT command on all workstations. This is important because Plot2000 uses the same PC3 files AutoCAD uses.

1. Run the same Operating System and System Printer driver versions on all workstations. I know this isn't always possible, but it certainly helps matters.
2. Store your PC3, CTB, and PMP files on the network. Ensure all workstations are configured using the OPTIONS command to point to the same locations on the network for the "Plotters" and "Plot Styles" directories.
3. Don't put shortcuts to anything in these directories. If you do, make sure they point to a valid location on all computers or it will result in slow operation of the PLOT command and PLOT2000.

Windows System Printers

1. Avoid using PC3 files to override system printer settings. Instead, use the system printers directly without an intermediate PC3 file.
2. If you can't stick to my advice in #1, then when using a System Printer you must "Modify Standard Paper Sizes (Printable Area)" in the PC3 file for each sheet that you are going to be using, taking the defaults for the margins provided. This causes AutoCAD to report the correct margins to Plot2000 for each of these sheets. Also you must "Filter Paper Sizes" and remove the sheets you aren't going to use. Save the resulting PMP file on the network with the PC3 file.
3. If you are using System Printers attached to an NT server, make sure the Printer name, Share name, and comment are identical on the server. This is because different versions of Windows look at different things to establish the name of the locally installed system printer.
4. The system printers that are installed on the workstations should be named consistently and exactly the same.
5. Many Hewlett-Packard system printer drivers have slashes in the name by default! This is not recommended and will cause problems with Plot2000. Please rename printers that have slashes in the name.

How to tell if your PC3 file is using a system printer: If the "General" Tab in the Plotter configuration editor under "Driver Information" says "System Printer", then you are using a windows system printer driver. Follow the advice under step 2 in this section.

HP, Xerox and Other Large-Format Plotters

1. It works better to use the built-in AutoCAD drivers with HP Plotters than the "recommended" HP System Printer drivers. There are two reasons for this conclusion on my part: Better portablity across computers with different versions of Windows, and the ability to "Browse" to a UNC network path that works consistently across all workstations.
2. If your Model of Plotter isn't listed, try using the Highest-revision plotter available. For example, if you have an HP 1055CM, use the built-in AutoCAD HP 755CM driver instead. This driver will allow raster output, and even works well on non-HP plotters that understand HPGL/2.
3. Xerox plotters are excellent, fast high-output devices and work very well with Plot2000. Use the AutoCAD driver provided. Set the Xerox Plotter to use "Software" sheet size in it's web interface, and setup Plot2000 to use "Auto" sheet size. "Filter" the sheet sizes in the PC3 file so that only the sheet sizes you want are available. This should result in a neatly trimmed sheet that will only require trimming on one side, if any.